INDEPENDENT ADVICE: We are an independent financial planning firm. We have no affiliation with custodians like Charles Schwab or investment management companies such as mutual fund companies. This independence positions us to provide financial advice to our clients without the conflicts of interests inherent with financial advisors employed by or affiliated with custodians or investment companies. Our clients can sit easy knowing the advice they are receiving is truly objective and independent.

FEE-ONLY: We are a fee-only financial planner and investment management company. "Fee-only" means that your advisor receives no other compensation other than the fee you pay. There are a multitude of financial compensation arrangements available in the financial planning industry today, however the fee-only arrangement is by far the most transparent. Commission arrangements have a severe inherent conflict of interest. The fee-based arrangement, not to be confused with "fee-only," create conflicts due to its hybrid of commission and fee arrangements. We believe that having a fee-only compensation relationship with your financial advisor should be the standard bearer in all financial planning relationships. Transparency and objectivity. We can't imagine anything less when dealing with one of our client's most important assets - their life savings.

FIDUCIARY CARE: We provide financial planning advice at the fiduciary level of care. A fiduciary advisor makes investment decisions with the client's best interest in mind. It is the highest level of care between the client and the advisor. As a Certified Finanical Planner professional, we must place the interest of our clients above the interest of our advisors or the advisor's firm. To avoid conflicts of interest, we must disclose any material conflicts of interest and act with the care, skill, prudence and diligence that a prudent professional would exercise.

 

INDEX FUND-FOCUSED INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: Our investment philosophy centers around the well-established premise that markets are generally efficient and that cost is a major contributor to the returns for many investors today. With this principle in mind, we build and manage customized portfolios for each client using modern portfolio theory and a combination of low-cost tax-efficient index funds, mutual funds, individual stocks and bonds. Following the introduction of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the amount of index funds available to investors has exploded over the last 20 years. We specialize in navigating which funds perform best, what type of fund is best for a changing investment landscape, and when or if to include specialized mutual funds, individual stocks or individual bonds in a portfolio. Our portfolios commonly contain some of the most profitable funds available including funds from Vanguard, Charles Schwab, Blackrock I-shares and Dimensional Fund Advisor (DFA).