Fee Rates
We benchmark our fees periodically to make sure we believe this statement to be true:
We are not expensive and you do not want cheap.
Given the breadth and depth of our expertise, the attentiveness of our service staff, and ever-present fiduciary duty to our clients, our fees are more than fair.
With cheap, you get what you pay for – typically superficial (if any) real financial planning, conflicted implementation, cookie cutter approaches, a lack of proactivity, limited responsiveness, limited scope, limited depth of thinking, limited expertise, and people who usually owe their allegiance to a third party and often don’t really know you.
Each client is unique, so fees must be determined by each situation, however, they are not a mystery. There are no surprises or hidden fees. Prospective clients receive a written outline of the services to be provided and the associated fees. Clients receive a detailed written fee calculation before being billed. Once charged, the fees are shown clearly and prominently on client statements.
Clients with more than $1,000,000 in investment assets, regardless of what types of accounts are owned or at which financial institutions the accounts are held, pay us less than 1% per year. “Investment assets” are things such as stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, ETFs, REITs, closed-end funds, UITs, and all types of deferred annuities. (We do not count real estate holdings or personal assets like furnishings, cars, and jewelry).
For clients with less than $1,000,000 in investment assets, 1% annually is the most common rate.
Typically, we are engaged on an asset based fee, although alternate arrangements such as a flat project fee, an annual fee, or hourly consulting fee are available if better suited to the work.
When we say "we work for you," it is not a marketing slogan. It is a literal fact.
