Our Pricing
What does it cost?
Transparent pricing
Know what you pay
No Surprises
Explained and agreed upon in writing
Full access
No “nickel and dime” charges
It’s important to us that you know exactly what you pay so there are no unexpected or unexplained costs. It’s also important that you know this before making any decisions so that you can do so confidently and without worry.
Our primary goal is to make sure you clarify, work towards, and achieve your financial goals. With that in mind, we will design a diversified investment and protection strategy built within our planning process. We are always looking for the most cost efficient, high value ways to deliver our planning experience.
Comprehensive Financial Plan
There is a $2100 total Initial Cost for our planning process. This includes all meetings, phone calls, emails, and follow up. For a detailed overview of our planning process, click here (link to “our process” page)
You will have online access to your plan, access to any vaulted documents, and your plan is updated in real time, so that you can see your progress whenever you want. We are available to review your plan and discuss any questions at anytime. There are no extra charges for phone calls, emails, or meetings when you are a client.
The $2100 can be charged to a credit card or debited from a checking account and we do have payment plans available.
After the first year, if you want to continue our planning relationship, there is a $75 per month cost.
Asset Management
Based on the financial plan that we build together, we may decide on an investment strategy that we manage for you. We hire and use various money managers and charge ongoing costs based on your account balance. These costs are deducted directly from the accounts that we manage (ie, you don’t pay these to us directly) and we are always monitoring the market to make sure we are using the most cost effective solutions.
| Below is the cost schedule: | |
|---|---|
| $0-99,999 | 1.45% |
| $100k-$499k | 1.3% |
| $500k – $999k | 1.15% |
| $1m – $2.5m | .85% |
| $2.5m + | .5% |
Insurance and Annuity Commissions
Based on the financial plan that we build together, we may decide that life insurance and/or an annuity would help reach a goal (ie, life insurance may help fund a special needs trust or fulfill a legacy wish. An annuity may help provide income, protect assets from Medicaid, or be an alternative to other investment options).
We disclose commissions we earn on any product sales. There is no law or regulation that requires this, we do it because it’s just a good and fair business practice. Commissions vary depending on the product and company and are paid directly to us from the companies (ie, you do not write a check for them nor will you see them deducted or added on anywhere, they are built into the price of the product). For life insurance, commissions are paid in the first year and range from 50% to 90% of the premium. For example, if your plan recommends that you buy more life insurance and it costs $1000 per year, we would earn around $500 to $900.
For annuities, our typical commissions range from 1.5% to 3% of the deposit and are a one-time payment. For example, if your plan recommends that you deposit $50,000 into an annuity, we would earn $750 to $1500.
Again, these are paid to us directly from the insurance company and do not reduce your investment.
Hourly Engagements
In some cases, we may accept a client engagement on an hourly basis. This may be for a “second opinion”, to review an existing plan, or to address a specific issue that does not require a financial plan. We’ve helped track down old life insurance policies, review retirement plans (401ks, 403bs, etc), consolidate old stock certificates, value and title/retitle/claim old savings bonds, analyze a real estate purchase, and a variety of other services under this arrangement. We accept these engagements on a case by case basis depending on our schedule at the time and whether or not we think can provide the outcome you are seeking. The cost is $250 per hour with a minimum of 4 hours.
Anything Else? .. Just ask.
If you have any questions about costs, fees, rates, commissions, and/or what you pay, please ask. We believe that any professional that you choose to work with should offer complete transparency.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and if it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is.