Retirement Income

Why might you benefit from using us?

1. Retirement Income Planning … is at the very heart of what I do. When most (of my) clients were younger, their focus was on accumulation.  Now that they are fast-approaching or already retired, their focus has shifted to retirement income.  As it should be.  Do you have a Written Retirement Income Plan?  When was it last updated? Get a Retirement Income Questionnaire in PDF form.

2.  56 Holistic Planning Topics … Many financial people want to get paid to “manage money” … provide investment advice … sell one or more financial products & services.  Fewer are capable of … or willing to do comprehensive planning.  If you review the 56 topics, you’ll find some that are important to you … and some that are not.  I welcome your questions and comments about them

3. Fiduciary Standard … Just ask Two "Yes" or "No" Questions
   1. “Are you following the Fiduciary Standard in all our work together?”
   2. “Will you put your answer in writing on your letterhead and sign it?”
      
      
4. Flavors of Financial Folks … Please see my linked post for definitions. Plus … here is another definition left out of that post …  Hybrid Advisor .
   
   
5. CFP^® / Certified Financial Planner^TM    Click the link and scroll down to understand the arduous process of becoming a CFP^®.  And elsewhere on that site, confirm my certification if you like. CFP^® is a certification.  It is not a license.  CFP^® was left out of the Flavors post because (with an obscure exception) being a CFP^® does not provide regulatory or legal authority to conduct various kinds of businesses.  The various licenses discussed in the Flavors post do.
   
   
6. Transparency #1 -- Compensation: Some products & services require multiple pages of documentation that sometimes include compensation disclosures.  If regulatory documentation does not include compensation disclosure, I will provide it to you myself.
   
   
7. Transparency #2 – Client Facts & Documents:  There is no dollar minimum to become my client(s.)  (Some products & services do have their own minimums I do not control.) I also do not require exclusivity.  (You do not have to give up existing relationships.)  However, the Fiduciary Standard does require me to gather 100% of the data and actual documents before I make any recommendations or implement them. I don't need to have all the money ... but I need to know about it.  Thank you for understanding.
   
   
8. I Do Not Try to “Beat the (Stock) Market:” The linked post title was meant tongue-in-cheek.  When I saw Jane Bryant Quinn speak live, she actually said if you try to beat the market, "you are paying your advisor to fail."  Two ways some try to outperform are security selection and timing.  I use stock index investments for the stock portion of your allocation.  And I do not time the market.  The research on the linked post actually showed that some professionals have beaten the market.  The research also concluded that the Money Managers did benefit from beating the stock market; the clients benefited rarely, if at all.
   
   
9. Implementation #1: Fee-Only Plan(ner:)  
   Jane Bryant Quinn also said in her live talk that she recommends you have a Written Financial Plan created by someone who does nothing else for you … just the plan.  If you read my linked bio, you might conclude I disagree.  True.   
   
   "In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is."  Source: Yogi Berra
   
   "The way to become rich is to put all your eggs in one basket and then watch that basket."  Source: Andrew Carnegie
   
   Regarding the above three "experts," (if you consider Yogi an expert ... ) I agree with Yogi and Andrew Carnegie and disagree with Jane.  The more complex and widespread your financial life, the more difficult it is to stay on top of it.  If you use one professional who only creates a Written Plan .. and you use other people to provide other products & services, it is difficult to hold any one accountable.
   
   
   
10. Implementation #2:  Jane Bryant Quinn -- Just one equity investment
    In her live talk, Jane told the audience that it is not necessary to use more than one (very diversified) equity investment.  She named it in her talk ... I will not name it here.  If you read much of Jane's material, in another life she could have been a "Quant" ... a financial person who does extensive quantitative research and makes her decisions based on that research.  I believe she has done that in this case.  My own view on this point is evolving ... it just might make sense ... for some clients at some times.