Financial Planning
Tax-Smart Financial Planning Built Around Your Life
We work closely with you to build a comprehensive financial plan built around your life and goals, not financial products. The most effective financial plans serve a guide to help you make prudent decisions, track progress, handle both expected and unexpected events as you go through life, and determine if you’re on track along the way.
Whether you are a high net worth individual, a high earner starting to build wealth, a mid-career professional, just sold a company, or are planning for retirement, our team of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional advisors are here to provide support where you need it most.
Employee Benefit Optimization
Employee Benefit Optimization
For many professionals, employer benefits and equity compensation represent one of the largest and most complex pieces of their overall financial picture. We'll help you maximize the after-tax value of your benefits and create a strategy that coordinates each benefit into your broader tax, cash flow, and long-term wealth picture.
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Incentive stock option (ISOs) planning
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Non-qualified stock options (NSOs)
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Restricted stock units (RSUs)
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Employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs)
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Net Unrealized Appreciation
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401(k), 403(b), and deferred compensation retirement plan elections
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Pension distribution elections
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401(k) rollovers
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Employer-sponsored life insurance and disability coverage
Risk Management & Insurance
Risk Management & Insurance
We take a comprehensive look at where your financial plan is exposed and help close those gaps thoughtfully without over-insuring or paying for coverage you don't need. This includes reviewing life insurance needs to ensure your loved ones can maintain their lifestyle if life takes an unexpected turn.
As an independent, fee-only fiduciary, we have no incentive to sell insurance products. Our role is to give you an objective assessment of your needs and, where appropriate, coordinate with trusted insurance professionals to help you implement the right coverage.
Education Planning
Education Planning
We'll help you prepare for the cost of college or other post-secondary education, whether for children, grandchildren, or yourself. Education planning involves selecting the optimal savings vehicles, determining an appropriate funding timeline, and coordinating contributions in a way that balances education goals with tax-efficiency and your other financial priorities.
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529 Savings Plans
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Roth IRAs
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Coverdell ESAs
Estate & Charitable Planning
Estate & Charitable Planning
We'll help you build an estate plan and giving strategy that reflects your values and protects your legacy. This includes reviewing and coordinating beneficiary designations across accounts, working alongside your attorney to ensure your estate documents align with your current wishes, and evaluating strategies like gifting appreciated stock directly to charity or using a Donor-Advised Fund to bunch multiple years of giving into a single tax year. We also help you navigate more complex planning opportunities, such as leveraging current estate and gift tax exemption levels before they change, and ensuring that both family and philanthropic goals are met as efficiently as possible.
Retirement Planning
Retirement Planning
The process starts with establishing realistic retirement goals and understanding your investment time horizon. We'll project future income needs, coordinate income sources, and create a sustainable cash flow strategy to maximize the longevity of your nest egg and help you retire with confidence.
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Tax-efficient withdrawal strategies
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Social Security optimization
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Healthcare planning
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Pension and employer benefit analysis
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Retirement income planning
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Monte Carlo analysis to stress test withdrawal rates with sequence of returns risk
Investment Planning
Investment Planning
A disciplined process of building and managing a customized portfolio designed to help you reach your specific financial goals. We start by gaining an understanding of your time horizon, risk tolerance, tax situation, and what the money is actually for. From there, we'll recommend a diversified asset allocation and adjust it over time if your goals or life circumstances evolve. The most prudent investment strategies are designed for the long-term and they do chase short-term performance. Rather, they help to assure you achieve sufficient returns to support your goals without taking excessive risk or causing needless anxiety.
Asset allocation is the mix of stocks, bonds, and other securities in your portfolio. It helps balance risk and growth over time, and it is the biggest determinant of your portfolio's returns and risk profile.
Tax Planning Strategies
Tax Planning Strategies
Taxes can quickly erode the returns of an otherwise strong financial plan. Tax planning involves proactive and ongoing coordination of income, deductions, and investment decisions to minimize current and future tax liabilities.
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Roth IRA conversion strategies
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Tax-advantaged saving strategies
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Tax-loss harvesting
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Inherited asset planning
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Strategic timing of disqualifying dispositions on ESPP shares
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Asset location and withdrawal strategies
Cash Flow & Debt Management
Cash Flow & Debt Management
Cash flow planning is the process of understanding and coordinating your money coming in and going out. It involves closely tracking income and expenses, identifying spending patterns and trends over time, and using that insight to make informed, proactive financial decisions. This discipline helps to ensure you can comfortably cover ongoing expenses, work steadily toward your financial goals, and avoid the kind of cash shortfalls that force reactive, costly decisions down the road.
Key Planning Expertise
Our advisors understand your goals and concerns may go far beyond investment returns. Preserving what you have built, minimizing unnecessary tax erosion, and creating a lasting legacy are of equal importance.
As key part of the planning process, our advisors develop personalized strategies tailored to the unique aspects of your life and wealth. We'll provide you with insights to understand the connections between your decisions and their impact on complex, interrelated questions.
How We Build Your Plan
Our process starts with building a relationship. The more complete our understanding of your life, goals, and objectives, the more comprehensive your plan will be. Whether you have a clear vision for the future or need guidance to shape it, we play a privileged role in helping our clients discover, design, and bring their possibilities to life.
Discovery
It starts with a conversation. During our first meeting, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of your financial goals, assets, liabilities, values, interests, time horizon, and risk tolerance. We'll request key information from you to create your plan.
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Construction of Your Plan
We'll leverage the information you provide to us and our team's financial planning expertise as we construct your plan. No two financial plans are alike, although it typically takes our team one to two weeks after receiving your information to complete, examine, and rigorously stress-test your plan.
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Evaluation and Review
We'll present your plan, results, and our analysis of your current investment portfolio. We'll walk through all key aspects of your plan, answering any questions you have. Lastly, we'll provide our recommended investment portfolio, tax strategies, and all other key tailored recommendations that will help you achieve your goals.
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Finalization
Sometimes new information comes up during the Evaluation and Review stage. If any adjustments to your plan are needed, we'll make the adjustments and deliver a revised plan. Once all aspects of your plan have been agreed upon, we'll finalize your plan and proceed to implementation.
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Implementation
We'll work together to begin implementing your financial plan. Implementation includes our client onboarding process, beginning with account opening and consolidation, followed by a portfolio transition conversation, tax considerations, and any advanced planning priorities, if applicable.
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Monitoring and Re-Evaluation
Regular reviews and adjustments keep your plan responsive to new opportunities and challenges presented, allowing you to stay on track as you navigate your financial journey. As your goals, priorities, and circumstances change, so too does your plan.
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