Financial Planning
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
In reality, most plans will change after they are put in motion, financial or otherwise. But there is so much value in planning itself. It defines the goal or the outcome we desire. And that’s the most important part of the original plan—that the destination is clear; that the reason you’re on the journey in the first place is understood. That’s why financial planning is a critical component of our approach to wealth management.
So, what is financial planning?
Financial planning involves looking at your entire financial picture and advising you on the best way to achieve your short- and long-term financial goals.
In other words, it’s charting a path together in the hope of getting you where you’d like to be financially.
We use extrapolated variables and testing scenarios that give us an enlightening view into the distant future, taking into account complicated concepts such as compounding returns, anticipated changes in incoming and outgoing cash flows, and inflation.
Our approach to wealth management is holistic and our goal is to become the hub, or the epicenter, of your financial world.
Our financial planning process is the most thorough, efficient way to achieve that.
You need a financial plan. We can confidently say that. Because realistically, wealth is only meaningful if it helps you achieve your goals. And goals can only be reached if they’ve been set.
Every financial planning engagement begins with a discovery phase in which we learn about where you are and where you’d like to be.
… AND THEN WE’RE GOOD AT THE “HOW” PART
It’s pretty powerful to be able to map out various courses of financial action with strikingly different outcomes in simple dollar terms.
“What happens if I pay off my mortgage in 2030 versus 2040?”
“What happens if I convert my IRA to a Roth IRA before I enter into a higher tax bracket?”
“Can I afford college for my 5 year old daughter if I invest $100 a month in a 529 Plan?”
“Should I retire in 2025 or 2028?”
“When should I start collecting Social Security?”
We use robust, sophisticated financial planning software that helps us figure out the most efficient way of helping you get where you’d like to go. It takes into account all of your assets and income, as well as your debts and expenses, but also incorporates more complex factors such as compounding interest rates and taxes. This rigorous process helps us draw smart, informed, scenario-tested conclusions about the best course of action for you to reach your financial goals. And the result is a living, breathing financial plan that acts as a North Star for your wealth management strategy.
“Personal finance, like most important aspects of life, is a never-ending quest. The competent investor never stops learning.”
William J. Bernstein, The Four Pillars of Investing
OUR FINANCIAL PLANNING APPROACH
Whereas investment management is best handled when emotions can be checked at the door, financial planning is its more emotional sibling. We seek to be perceptive and insightful about your beliefs and values so that we can help you identify what’s most important to you.
No stone should go unturned when it comes to financial planning or wealth management. The more information we have to work with, the more confident we can be that our assumptions for the future are reliable, accurate ones that paint a pretty complete picture.
We are smart and conservative with our financial planning assumptions and predictions. We’d rather you be pleasantly surprised to the upside than devastated by a surprisingly negative financial outcome.
For more than 30 years, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification has been the standard of excellence for financial planners.
Our CFP® professionals take a holistic, personalized approach to bring all the pieces of your financial life together. As part of their CFP® certification, they’ve made a commitment to act as a fiduciary when providing financial planning advice to you.
“The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM certification is the standard of excellence in financial planning. CFP® professionals meet rigorous education, training and ethical standards, and are committed to serving their clients' best interests today to prepare them for a more secure tomorrow.”
Our CFP® Professionals
Eric Udvari, CFP®
WEALTH MANAGER
Dylan Potter, CFA, CFP®
Sarah Swan, CFP®
Ryan Tomko, CFP®
WEALTH MANAGER
Elizabeth Hutton, CFP®
VICE PRESIDENT, Financial Planner
Michael Carrico, CFP®, CRPC®
Wealth Manager
Mary Grace Garniero, CFP®, CPA
FINANCIAL PLANNER
“The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily.”
Charlie Munger
WE LISTEN
Intently
Getting to know you and what makes you tick is maybe our favorite part; it helps us understand what you are looking to achieve and where we can add value.
WE PLAN
Comprehensively
We believe in the power of putting pen to paper to develop a plan. And this part is collaborative; you know your values better than anyone, but we can use our expertise to set priorities and figure out the best path forward.
WE WORK
Relentlessly
So that you can spend your time doing what you love and rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to invest in your tomorrow.
Financial planning is just one piece of what we offer our wealth management clients.
We employ active portfolio management of various stock, bond, and ETF solutions to help you meet your objectives. And since the impact of investment gains can be increased taxes, we actively consider tax-loss harvesting as part of our process.
A comprehensive evaluation of your current and future financial concerns helps us develop the best approach for meeting goals. We have several CFP® professionals on our team, and we utilize robust, sophisticated software for testing various variables and scenarios.
We are not experts in everything, but we will get you in front of any expert that you need. We have long, trusted relationships with many industry professionals and are happy to facilitate those conversations for you.
We love what we do, and we love to teach others about it. When we produce regular educational content, we aim to increase your financial literacy so that you’re better equipped to know what you can do to reach your goals.
Our processes, from onboarding to account maintenance to reporting, are electronic for increased ease, convenience, and security. We aim to make everything available with the touch of a button.
Latest FINANCIAL PLANNING CONTENT
Understanding the SECURE Act Inherited IRA Rules
How Political Change Impacts Markets (and Why It Doesn’t Define Your Portfolio)
