What We Do.

We provide ongoing retirement planning, tax planning and investment management for individuals and families within 10 years of retirement (or already retired) for a flat annual fee.

Our Process

The starting point of our relationship is the creation of your financial plan, which is the guide for future financial decisions. As life happens, financial markets fluctuate, and tax legislation changes, your financial plan will evolve. We're there to be your trusted advisor to help you make the decisions and strategic changes along the way.

Financial and tax planning is an ongoing process and a close ongoing relationship between us involving regular meetings, calls, and emails. The ultimate goal is for us to help you make the best possible decisions around your finances to allow you and your family to have your best financial life.

Concurrently, with the implementation of your financial plan, we will create a custom Investment Policy to guide the management of your investment and retirement accounts. We provide ongoing management of your investable assets (with no AUM fees) through our custodians, Charles Schwab and Altruist. We use a straightforward investing approach that ensures your portfolio will remain globally diversified, low cost and properly allocated for your risk tolerance and financial goals. More information about our investment philosophy can be found here. 

If your accounts are not currently at Charles Schwab or Altruist, transferring your accounts is simple and secure thanks to the ACAT system, which moves assets “in-kind”—meaning nothing is sold or changed during the transfer. Whether you’re moving an IRA or trust account, your investments stay exactly the same; the only difference is where you log in. If you already have your accounts at Charles Schwab or Altruist, we simply establish a Standing Letter of Authorization (SLOA) so we may serve as the Investment Advisor to manage those accounts going forward.

After discussion of your initial plan and investment strategy, we'll work closely with you throughout our relationship. Typical areas in which we provide ongoing advice are:

• Ongoing discretionary management of your investable assets adhering to your custom Investment Policy

• Reallocating investment portfolios that we do not manage directly (i.e., outside retirement plan accounts)

• Setting up and implementing a portfolio distribution plan (i.e., sequence of withdrawals in retirement)

• Doing annual income and tax projections that include analysis and implementation of strategies such as:

• Roth conversions and Backdoor Roth contributions

• Minimizing Medicare Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amounts ("IRMAA")

• Tax loss or gain harvesting

• Charitable giving and gifting

• Creating a strategy for when to claim Social Security

• Design gifting plans to shift wealth to members of your family

• Assessing life insurance, property & casualty, and long-term care insurance needs

• Helping with the financial and tax aspects of buying and selling residential and commercial real estate

• Analyzing whether to pay off, keep, or refinance an existing mortgage

• Assisting in updating or putting in place estate documents and beneficiary forms

We typically have two or three formal meetings per year to update your financial plan, refine your investment strategy, determine tax planning actions, and discuss any concerns you have. We're accessible by Zoom, phone, email or in-person at our San Diego office.

Additionally, you'll have continuous access to your own personal finance portals through Right Capital or Income Lab, our two financial planning systems. Our portfolio reporting system, Advyzon, has a custom client portal for you to monitor the performance of the investment accounts we manage for you. 

Coordination with your professional team

Throughout the year, with no charge on our end, we will coordinate our financial planning efforts with your tax professional, estate planning attorney, and any other professional important to you. At the beginning of tax season, we will compile tax reports for your tax professional that includes the taxable activity in your investment accounts from the prior year, as well as any tax related decisions we made together (i.e., Roth conversions, Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs), tax loss or gain harvesting, etc.)

Who we do our best planning for

Our service is best for anyone in or within 10 years of retirement who's looking for a trusted fiduciary advisor to help with ongoing financial, tax and investment decisions throughout the pre-retirement and retirement stages.

Our typical client profile:

• 45 or older

• Single or married

• Retired or within 10 years of retiring

• Owns a home, and potentially one residential rental property

• Has investable assets between $2 million to $10 million

Because we charge a flat annual fee of $18,000, our service is generally the most cost-effective for those with investable assets in excess of $2 million. Unlike the majority of traditional advisors, our ongoing fee is not tied to the amount of your investable assets and does not increase as markets rise over time. The size of your investment accounts is generally a poor gauge of the complexity of your financial life and a poor gauge of the amount of time and resources necessary to provide you ongoing financial planning and investment advice.

It's our intention that your annual fee will be the amount shown above, assuming it's appropriate for your financial situation. However, the more your financial complexity differs from the profile of our typical client summarized above, a different level of fee may be appropriate. Your final fee will be agreed upon prior to entering a formal relationship with us. Your flat annual fee is expected to increase over time with inflation, and we will provide written notice to you if our fee will increase.