Our Philosophy

The Fee Only advice model acknowledges that how advisors are compensated for their service has a direct impact on the management of conflicts of interest between client and advisor.

We are compensated by advising fees only on a transparent fee schedule and do not receive commissions for any advice given. We do not receive a higher fee for one product or strategy over another, and that allows us to manage investments strictly according to the clients intentions and best interests.

We do not sell financial products. We sell investment and financial planning advice, and we are compensated by fees rather than commissions.

Being Fee Only means that we do not have a particular incentive to open one type of account or another. We’re compensated by fees no matter which investment vehicle, tax shelter, or investment strategies we use. This way, you know that if we’ve recommended taking advantage of tax-deferral advantages of an IOVA, we’re recommending it because it will provide an optimal benefit, for example

We recognize the value of individual security selection (strategies involving individual stocks, bonds, etc.) in meeting investment goals of individuals. When analyzing individual securities, we access third party research and analysis resources such as Morningstar as well as the financial statements of publicly traded companies such as the balance sheet, statement of cash flows, and income statements.

We employ a bottom-up, fundamental analysis approach to establish reasonable expectations of the financial stability of individual securities. We have a strong preference for Value style investing, where the growth of an investment opportunity can be purchased at a reasonable price.

The decision of what strategies to employ in the construction of a client portfolio is a highly collaborative process that places a great deal of importance on the attitudes and preferences of the individual client. We take client wishes in regards to the social responsibility of investments seriously where those concerns exist.

Though we place the highest importance on the fundamental financial situation of firms when investing in securities, we also monitor broader US and global economic business conditions. We use economic data to inform our expectations about cyclical investment conditions. Especially when making fixed income sector investments for our clients, we look at data from the publicly available Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), as well as sources like the Institute of Supply Management (ISM), to guide our expectations and apply those to the client’s attitudes toward risk and their time horizon before making allocations to specific investments.