Where to Invest $5,466 a Month

Posted On February 5, 2021 By Scott Stratton, CFP(R), CFA In Financial Planning /

Why should you invest $5,466 a month? Why that very odd number? Well, at an 8% hypothetical return, investing $5,466 a month will get you to $1 million in 10 years. That’s what we are going to explore today and it is very possible for many professional couples to save this much.

Last week, we looked at where to invest $1,000 a month. That’s a reasonable goal for many people, a 10% savings rate for a couple making $120,000 or 15% for an individual making $80,000. And while saving $1,000 a month may be okay, it will take decades to amass enough for retirement. If you want to accelerate the process or aim for a higher goal, you have to save more.

Saving $5,466 a month is $65,592 a year. For a couple making $200,000, that represents saving 33% of your income. That’s challenging, but not impossible. After all, there are many families who get by with making less than $134,000.

There are many different ways you could invest $5,466 a month, but I’m going to focus on adding tax benefits both in the present and future. Let’s get right to it!

Retirement Accounts

Maximize 401(k), $1,625 a month each. That will get you to the 401(k) annual contribution limit of $19,500. It is surprising to me how many people don’t do this. For a couple, that is $3,250, more than half our goal to invest $5,466 a month.
Company match, $416 a month each. Many companies match 5% of your salary to your 401(k). For an employee making $100,000 a year, that equals $416 a month. I am assuming this couple each makes $100,000. For two, that’s $832 a month. Added to your 401(k) contributions and we are now at $4,082 a month.
Backdoor Roth, $500 a month each. At $200,000 for a couple, you make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA. However, you may still be able to make Backdoor Contributions to a Roth IRA, for $6,000 a year or $500 a month each. Added to 1 and 2 above and your monthly total is $5,082. We only need to find another $384 to invest a month to reach the goal of $5,466.

Additional Places to Invest

Health Savings Account (HSA), $600 a month. If you’re a participant in an eligible family plan, you can contribute $7,200 a year to an HSA. That could be up to $600 a month, and that is a pre-tax contribution!
529 Plan, $1,250 a month. If you are saving for a child’s future college expenses, you could contribute to a 529 College Savings Plan. A 529 Plan grows tax-free for qualified higher education expenses. Most parents choose to stay under the gift-tax exclusion of $15,000 a year per child, which is $1,250/month.
Taxable Account, $ unlimited. You can also contribute to a taxable account. And while you will have to pay taxes on capital gains, dividends, and interest, we can make these accounts relatively tax efficient.

Other Notes

Tax Savings. While trying to invest $5,466 a month is a lot, you will be helped by the tax savings. A couple making $200,000 a year (gross) will have just entered the 24% Federal tax bracket after the Standard Deduction of $25,100 (2021). Some of your tax deductible contributions will be at 24%, but most will be at 22%. Using just 22%, your joint $39,000 in 401(k) contributions will save you $8,580 in taxes. That is $715 a month back in your pocket. Add in $7,200 to an HSA and save another $1,584 in taxes ($132 a month).
Catch-up Contributions. If you are over age 50, you can contribute more to your 401(k) and Roth IRA accounts. There are also catch-up contributions for an HSA if age 55 or older.

I wish more people had the goal of becoming a Millionaire in 10 Years. We cannot control the market, but we can do our part and do the savings. At an 8% hypothetical return, starting to invest $5,466 a month can put you on track to $1 million in a decade. And if you already have $1 million, saving $5,466 for another 10 years would get you to $3.2 million.

For couples making over $200,000, can you afford to invest $5,466 a month? Can you afford not to? Planning is the process of establishing goals and then creating the roadmap to get you there. If you’re ready to create your own roadmap, give me a call.

How to Save More Money

Posted On August 29, 2020 By Scott Stratton, CFP(R), CFA In Financial Planning /

Growing your net worth is the product of saving and investing. Sometimes, we assume this means we have to slash our spending to be able to save more. Sure, you want to have awareness and planning regarding your spending. But it’s not much fun to give up coffee or never take a vacation. There has to be a balance between sensible spending and your saving goals.

Luckily, there is another way to increase your savings rate: earn more. Especially for younger investors, as your income grows you will find that you can easily save more. This may take a number of years. But, as your career takes off, your income may increase at a double digit rate during your twenties and thirties.

So, don’t despair if you cannot save as much as you would like today! Focus on growing your career and increasing your income. Saving will get easier.

Hold Your Spending Steady

As you get promotions and raises, avoid the temptation to keep up with the Joneses. You will see friends and classmates who are buying fancy cars and huge houses. Good for them! But what you might not see is how much debt they have, how little they save, or their net worth. You won’t know how stressed they are about their finances. They may be two paychecks away from being broke.

Hopefully, your current lifestyle is enjoyable and you find happiness in your relationships and the things you do. Getting more expensive things is not likely to create lasting satisfaction. The temporary, but fleeting, pleasure from consumption is known as The Hedonic Treadmill. If your priority is becoming financially independent, using a raise or bonus to save more is a better choice than spending it.

Put Your Savings On Autopilot

As your income grows, save your raises. Establish recurring deposits to your retirement plans and other accounts, and increase them annually. If take this step when you receive a raise, you will not miss the extra money. Skip increasing your monthly savings, and you probably aren’t going to have extra money leftover at the end of the year. If it’s in your checking account, you will spend it!

For couples, a joint income is a tremendous opportunity. If you can live off of one salary and save the second salary, you will grow your wealth at an amazing rate. In some cases, this could literally be saving one of your paychecks. Or, it may make more sense to participate in both of your 401(k) plans, and save the equivalent of one salary.

Multiple Sources of Income

Given the economic fallout from Coronavirus, many people aren’t getting a raise this year. A lot of us are seeing that our 2020 income will be lower than 2019. Hopefully, this will be temporary, but there are lessons to be learned. It is a risk to have all your eggs in one basket with one job. If you lose that job, you’re really in trouble.

As an entrepreneur, I have always had multiple sources of income. My financial planning business is diversified across a number of clients. I also sell insurance. I make music in a couple of orchestras and teach a few lessons on the side. Some of it is small, but having multiple sources of income gives me flexibility and safety.

Have you considered finding a side hustle, second income, part-time business, or online gig? Find something you enjoy and make it into a business. Find something people need and provide that service. You never know where that part-time work might take you. Maybe someday it will allow you to retire early or be your own boss! In the mean time, use your additional income to save more and build up your investment portfolio. Don’t give up your time just for the sake of buying more things.

How and Where to Save More

How much should you save? If you are saving 15% of your income, you’re doing way better than most people in America. Start at a young age, and a 15% savings rate will likely put you in a very comfortable position by retirement age. For those who are more ambitious, or just impatient like me, aim to save more than 15%. You could be putting $19,500 into your 401(k) each year ($26,000 if over age 50).

And you might be eligible for an IRA, too, depending on your income. Or, consider a taxable account, Health Savings Account (HSA), or 529 College Savings Plan. There are lots of places you could be saving! Put your savings on autopilot with recurring deposits to your retirement plans and other accounts. If take this step when you receive a raise, you will not miss the extra money, but you will be growing your wealth faster.

Do you need a reason to save more? The sooner you save, the faster you can achieve financial freedom. Even if you enjoy your work, it’s great to have the means to not have to worry about your job.

You can save more by spending less. That’s true, but you can only eliminate an expense once. Most people will have some tolerance for cutting costs, but austerity is no fun. Focus on increasing your income, hold your expenses steady, and increase your monthly savings. Put your energy into building your career, and aim for a high income. Couples have a great ability to save, if they can aim to live off one income. Look for creating a second or third income stream. A lot of the wealthy people I know have an entrepreneurial mindset. They have multiple income streams.

As your earnings grow, you will be able to save more and invest more. Most of my newsletters deal with investing, tax, or planning questions. But those benefits only accrue after you’ve done the first step of saving that money. It’s not how much you make that matters, but how much you keep!

Become A Wealth Builder

Posted On June 15, 2020 By Scott Stratton, CFP(R), CFA In Financial Planning /

Is this a terrible time to become a wealth builder? With market uncertainty from the Coronavirus, and the very real destruction of jobs and income, it’s easy to dispair. But you shouldn’t and here’s why.

There remains a unique opportunity in America to become financially independent. Building wealth is a slow process that requires patience, discipline, and smart decisions. But once that process has begun, it is simple. And by simple, I mean not complex. That’s not to say it is easy! Like running a marathon, it’s a long haul, but it is also just one step at a time.

You can begin those steps today. We offer two programs at Good Life Wealth Management. Our Premier Wealth Management program provides holistic financial planning and tactical asset management for investors with assets over $250,000. The Wealth Builder Program is designed for investors who are starting out and have less than $250,000 to invest. In fact, many of my clients in the program start with zero dollars to invest with me.

You can read more about the Wealth Builder Program here. Today, I want to share three reasons why now is a great time to start the process.

Long-term Expected Returns

Investing should be a 30+ year process, but people are so focused on the month to month volatility. Don’t! It’s noise that will distract from your goals. The Vanguard Capital Markets Model, projects the following expected annualized returns for the next 10 years (as of June 3, 2020):

US Large Cap 5.4% to 7.4%
US Small Cap 6.2% to 8.2%
International Equity 8.5% to 10.5%

That’s not bad. Will Vanguard be right? No one knows. But I do know that leaving your money in a bank account earning 0% won’t grow. If you have more than 10 years until retirement, history suggests you are likely to be wise to invest. And if the market does drop, that is often a great buying opportunity for investors in Index Funds. Stick with diversified funds, and Dollar Cost Average with monthly automatic contributions.

Consider Inflation

Right now, there is no inflation and the concern in the near months is deflation. However, globally, governments are expanding the supply of money and taking on new debt at an unbelievable pace. How will economies be able to repay all this debt?

There are a couple of possible scenarios. Some smaller countries will default and not repay their debt. Some will introduce austerity measures, slash spending, and raise taxes. This will be very unpopular. I think the preferred way for many developed economies will be to try to gradually inflate out of debt. That is to say, it is easier to repay a fixed dollar amount of debt as the GDP and taxes of a country grows. So, some inflation will be good and very welcome.

Inflation does not help consumers, as the cost of living increases. We also have very low interest rates today, which penalizes savers. But if the eventual scenario is modest inflation, it will benefit borrowers like the government. People who hold cash – nominal dollars – will see their purchasing power decline with inflation. Wealth Builders investing in stocks and real assets are more likely to see their net worth grow in times of inflation.

Positive Wealth Building Habits

Over the past 16 years as a Financial Advisor, I’ve met many people who are financially independent and observed their personal characteristics. Successful investors are not necessarily smarter than everyone else, but they usually are optimistically committed to good savings habits.

We’ve certainly had bad times in the past 20 years. It hasn’t been an easy road. We had the Tech bubble, followed by 9/11, and struggled with an unprecedented three down years in a row. The Death of Equities? No. We had the housing bubble and crash in 2008-2009. Was that the end of investing? No.

There are times when you have big drops and it’s ugly. Today, people may be thinking that the world is going to hell in a handbasket and that investing now would be pointless. But that is exactly what investors over the past 20 years faced, and it turned out fine. That’s why I think it’s important to educate yourself on history and think positive. Create wealth building habits now without worrying about what is going to happen in the rest of 2020.

Make automatic contributions to your accounts like a 401(k) or IRA. Dollar Cost Average and keep investing.
Diversify. Consider Index Funds as core holdings. Evidence shows that a majority of active funds underperform their benchmark over 5 or more years.
Don’t get greedy. Chasing performance can hurt returns. Avoid speculating on individual stocks, sectors, or countries.
You cannot control what the market does. Your goal should be to be a participant in the market, not to try to get in and out of the market.
Focus on what you can control: your mix of investments (asset allocation), and keeping taxes and expenses low. Rebalance.
Live beneath your means. Keep your housing and car expenses down and create the room in your budget to save. Increase your savings rate over the years, not your lifestyle expenses.

Conclusion

In spite of today’s uncertainty, there are reasons why young people need a plan to become a wealth builder. Long-term equity expected returns are still attractive, especially relative to cash and 10-year bonds. If you anticipate inflation picking up over the next several decades. you want to be invested for growth. Good savings and investing habits can create wealth over time. The more years you have, the earlier you start, the more chance to compound your returns. Eventually, your money will work for you.

In our Wealth Builder Program, we begin with a Balance Sheet to quantify all your assets and liabilities. For many young professionals, this often starts as a negative number. We will track your net worth and create a plan to save, invest, and grow your wealth. We will address risks to you and your family and develop a plan that’s unique to your situation.

Yes, you can always wait for tomorrow. A decade ago, we had just come out of a crash. As of May 31, 2020 the 10-year annualized return of an S&P 500 fund (SPY) is 13%. Were people wildly optimistic 10 years ago about the opportunity to invest? No. There’s never that degree of confidence and certainty. You just have to get started and commit to making it work. Ready to become a wealth builder? Email me for information.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investing involves risk of loss of capital. Dollar cost averaging cannot guarantee against a loss.

Your Goals for 2019

Posted On January 13, 2019 By Scott Stratton, CFP(R), CFA In Financial Planning /

Welcome to 2019! A new year brings a fresh chance to accomplish your goals. Maybe you’re dreaming that this will be the year you buy your first home. Maybe you’ve realized that your kids are one year closer to college and it’s time you start preparing. Maybe this is the year you want to exit from your current job so you can spend more time doing the things you love.

Even if your goals are further out than 2019, by December 31 of this year, you can either be several steps closer to achieving those goals, or you can sit right where you are today and risk that they will remain forever out of reach. Time stands still for no one. This is the only chance to do 2019 before it is gone forever.

Many of your goals have a financial component. Whether it is becoming a home owner, paying off your student loans, getting married, saving for a college education, planning for your retirement, or supporting your favorite charity, we can help you achieve your goals. The objective of our financial planning is not to own a bunch of stocks and bonds or get a nice tax break, it is about finding an effective, efficient, and logical way to help you accomplish your life’s goals.

We love when someone has a concrete, specific objective. When you truly embrace an important goal, there is ample reason to find the discipline for whatever steps are needed to achieve your objectives. I can tell you all about the benefits of a Roth IRA or a 529 College Savings Plan, but if that doesn’t fit into your needs, all my words are worthless. The “why” has to be there first, before we can get excited about “how” we are going to do it.

If you have goals that you want to accomplish in 2019 – or 2020 or 2029 – I’d like to invite you to join us and become a client of Good Life Wealth Management today. We serve smart investors who value personalized advice centered on their goals.

I’d welcome the opportunity to share our approach and allow you to consider whether it would be a good fit for you and your family.

Our process focuses on planning first – we want to fully understand your goals and needs before we make any kind of recommendation. You would think this would be universal, but believe me, most of the financial industry has a product that they want to sell you before they have even met you. (Read our 13 Guiding Beliefs.)
We have no investment minimums. Younger professionals have financial goals and complex, competing objectives (hello, student loans!) even if they haven’t started investing or only have a small balance in a 401(k). We think helping young professionals build a strong financial foundation is important work. This is our Wealth Builder Program.
I’ve been a financial planner for 15 years and hold the Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Financial Analyst designations. Professional expertise and deep investment experience should be a given if you’re seeking financial advice. (More about Scott.)
Having your own plan means that you have taken an objective measure of where you are today, that we have created specific goals and objectives, and that we identify and implement steps to achieve those goals. While this is often savings and investment based, we’re going to evaluate your whole financial picture, from taxes and employee benefits to estate planning and life insurance. Bringing in a professional delivers accountability to a plan and protects you from what you don’t know you don’t know. (Financial Planning Services)
We are a Fiduciary, legally required to place client interests ahead of our own. Our fees are easy to understand and transparent. We aim to eliminate conflicts of interest wherever possible and if not possible, reduce and disclose. I invest in our Growth 70/30 model right along with our clients; if I thought there was a better way to invest, we would do that instead. (Skin in the Game)

Successful people – in any field – seek out the help and expertise of others. They surround themselves with knowledgeable professionals, not to abdicate responsibility, but to improve their understanding through asking the right questions. I became a financial planner to help others achieve their goals, and I love my job. For me, it is endlessly interesting and personally rewarding.

You could make a New Year’s resolution about your finances, but I genuinely believe you are more like to have a good outcome if you hire the right advisor who can help guide your journey. If you want 2019 to be the year when you turned your dreams into goals and a plan, then let’s talk about how we can work together.

The Cost of Waiting from 25 to 35

Posted On June 2, 2018 By Scott Stratton, CFP(R), CFA In Financial Planning /

I am on a mission to get people in their twenties saving and investing. Why? Because an early start on good financial habits creates an exponential difference later. The solution to the next generation’s retirement crisis of a bankrupt Social Security, underfunded pensions, and increased longevity will require people get an early start.

Let’s compare two investors, both of whom will earn an 8% return over time. Smart Sally starts a Roth IRA at age 25 and contributes $5,000 a year through age 35 (11 years). Then she makes no further contributions.

Late Larry starts his Roth at age 35, also contributes $5,000 a year, and makes this contributions all the way through age 60. He will end up contributing for more than twice as long as Sally.

At age 61, both Sally and Larry retire. Who has more money in their Roth IRA? Sally has $615,580. Larry, although he contributed for longer, never caught up to Sally’s early start. He has only $431,754.

Of course, if Sally had contributed all the way through age 60, which is what I hope she would do, she would have the sum of both amounts: $1,047,334. If you can start a Roth IRA at age 25, you could have a million dollars by retirement. But if you wait just a decade, until age 35, you will likely lose more than $600,000 from your retirement.

It’s that first decade of investing that is so important. At an 8% hypothetical return, you are doubling your money every nine years. The early bird will likely finish with at least twice as much money as someone who starts a decade later.

If you are a recent college grad, please sign up for your 401(k) and put in at least 10%, preferably more if you can afford it. Most of your friends will only contribute up to the company match. Do better, contribute more. If you don’t have a 401(k), determine if you are eligible for a Roth IRA, a Traditional IRA, or a SEP IRA.

But most of all, just do it now and don’t wait. Because when you wait one year, one year has a way of turning into 10 years, and then you are the 35 year old with no retirement savings. I know you have student loans, are saving for a car, house, wedding, etc. You may have kids of your own. No excuses, you just have to find a way to get started. Even if you can only start with $100 a month, get going, and then increase your contributions when you can afford it.

The truth is that there is never an easy time to save and invest. It will always require planning and maybe even a little sacrifice. At 25, you have student loans and credit card bills. At 35, you may have a big mortgage and young kids. At 45, you might be trying to figure out how you are going to pay for your own kids’ college. So don’t think that it will be easy to save later. That day may never come!

For the parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles reading this, you have the opportunity to help your twenty-something young adults get a leg up and make a positive impact on their whole life, even after you are long gone.

Talk about investing and the importance of starting early. Ask about their 401(k) and IRAs. Forward this article. Kids are NOT taught to be financially savvy in school. If parents don’t teach this, young adults are likely to miss the opportunity of an early start. (And thank you to my Mom and Dad for their wisdom.)
Send them this book: The Elements of Investing. It’s short and an easy read, but contains essential information for becoming wealthy.
Hire me to be their financial advisor. I love helping young investors, to teach them the ropes and help establish their financial foundation at an early age. See our Wealth Builder Program.
Instead of leaving a lump-sum inheritance when your children are middle aged, you might establish better money habits by funding their Roth IRA at an early age and involving them in the process. If a 16-year old has earned income, they can contribute to an IRA, or you can let them save their money and make the contribution for them. (Note that a student’s IRA is not reportable on the FAFSA, although some colleges will count the account as a part of their expected contribution.)

Good habits last a lifetime. While it is never too late to invest, there is an enormous cost to waiting from age 25 until age 35. It’s potentially the difference between having a million dollars or $431,000. You can’t control what the market is going to do, but the real game changer could be getting an early start. Of all the levers we can control, an early start is going to make a bigger difference in your lifetime outcome than anything else.

Helping HENRY

Posted On October 5, 2016 By Scott Stratton, CFP(R), CFA In Financial Planning /

On Thursday, the CFP Board published the results of a consumer survey they undertook this spring. Based on interviews of 1000 adults over age 25, they identified four groups: Concerned Strivers, Stretched Worriers, Confident Savers, and Tentative Savers. At 27% of the respondents, Concerned Strivers could benefit tremendously from financial planning, but many investment firms are not equipped to help them because they may have little or even zero in investment assets today outside of their 401(k).

“The Concerned Striver has many day-to-day challenges that make it hard for them to save with any regularity,” said CFP Board Consumer Advocate Eleanor Blayney, CFP®. “Concerned Strivers feel like they can deal with the immediate needs of their families, but may neglect saving for their own future. They have good intentions, adequate resources and employer-sponsored retirement plans, yet they feel they are unable to capitalize on these financial strengths.”

We have an acronym for Concerned Strivers: HENRY, High Earners Not Rich Yet. There are so many families and professionals here in Dallas who are in their twenties, thirties, and forties and have incomes of $100,000 to $500,000 and yet have little or no investment assets. Between mortgages, car loans, credit cards, and student debt, they may have a negative net worth with no relief in sight.

While some HENRYs are “not rich yet”, many will be not rich ever, based on their current trajectory. You can change this. If you are are a Concerned Striver, you need the guidance of a Fiduciary – an expert whose legal and sole obligation is to put your needs first – and not someone who gets paid a commission to sell you investments and then give you a “free” plan.

Many people assume that they don’t have enough assets to be a client of Good Life Wealth Management. I am a former educator and it’s in my blood to want to help people get started. I want to make a difference in people’s lives. That’s why we offer two distinct programs.

Our Premier Wealth Management program is for investors with over $250,000 and focuses on holistic financial planning, retirement preparation, and investment management. For our clients with under $250,000 – even $0 – we created our Wealth Builder Program to build a strong financial foundation and put you on the path to your first million.

With our Wealth Builder Program, we will help you accomplish your goals and priorities:

Get out of debt: managing loan repayments and cash flow priorities.
Invest monthly – however much or little you can afford – to build your wealth.
Track your net worth annually to measure your assets and liabilities. Awareness creates behavior to increase assets and reduce liabilities. It’s like knowing you have to step on the bathroom scale Monday morning.
Select employee benefits and advise on 401(k) decisions.
Term Life Insurance, if you have a spouse or children. (The only life insurance a Concerned Striver needs).
College planning for your children that considers all your other financial goals.
Bring a “neutral” coach to improve communication about money with your spouse. A financial planner is still cheaper than a divorce!

The Wealth Builder Program is $200 a month, and is cancelable at any time if you are unsatisfied. That’s probably less than your cell phone bill or how much you spend on coffee. Make an investment in your future. Find out more here.

I know that every fifty-year old millionaire was once a thirty-year old facing these very issues and concerns. Some of those thirty-year old professionals will become financially independent if they make smart decisions. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel, I can show you what works. But it’s not one-sided. You have to be coachable: eager to participate actively and willing to make changes. If that describes you, we could go a long ways together as a team. What are you waiting for, Henry?

Bringing Financial Planning to All

Posted On October 7, 2014 By Admin In Financial Planning /

In my first position as a financial advisor, I worked at a “Broker Dealer”, where we charged commissions on the sale of products. As an educator in my previous career, the sales aspect of the job was challenging and at odds with my belief that good financial planning encompasses much more than just which funds or securities to buy. Any investor in a transactional account is bound wonder from time to time if a trade is being suggested to improve their portfolio, or because the broker needs to make a sale.

In order to focus on a more holistic approach, in 2012, I joined a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), a firm which did not charge commissions on the sale of investments, but charged a management fee based on the assets under management. I think this is a much better solution for both investors and advisors. It’s completely transparent and the client pays for on-going service, rather than upfront commissions. This eliminates feeling like you have to stay on guard to make sure a broker is not placing unnecessary trades to make more revenue for their firm. A fee-based account places investors and advisors on the same side: if the portfolio goes up in value, the advisor will make more, and if the portfolio declines, so will the advisor’s compensation.

While the RIA approach has many advantages over the commission platform, as a business model, it is difficult to spend a great deal of time on a client with limited assets as the revenue is low and it might take years to justify the initial time and costs. As a result, most RIA firms have minimum account sizes, often $1 million or more; at my previous firm, we did not take any clients under this level. It was a good business model for the firm, and it gave me the chance to focus extensively on investment research, developing portfolio models, and implementing trades across $375 million in client assets.

However, I found it frustrating to have to turn away friends and family who wanted to use my services. I believe in the American dream of financial independence. I want to help others achieve those dreams and not limit my efforts to solely helping those who have already accomplished their financial goals.

That’s why we created a two-part structure at Good Life Wealth Management – to have the ability to help clients of all sizes and ages. Here’s how it works:

Families with over $250,000 in investable assets will participate in our comprehensive Good Life Wealth Management Program. This includes creating a financial plan and customized management of your assets in a tax-efficient investment portfolio. The fee is 1% annually, (charged quarterly). This approach provides established investors with an ongoing financial plan that addresses your unique needs and changes as your situation requires.

For families below $250,000, we offer our innovative Wealth Builder Program. We create the financial plan you need today, with a focus on improving both sides of your net worth statement: your assets and your liabilities. We invest your accounts using no-transaction fee funds or ETFs, and will advise how to allocate your other accounts such as 401(k)s. Rather than charging as a percentage of your accounts, the Wealth Builder Program costs just $200 a month, which can be paid by credit card or debited directly from your accounts.

Using a monthly retainer is a relatively new approach in the RIA business, but I think is the crucial next step we need to bring the benefits of financial planning to the 90% of Americans currently not being served by the “$1 million and up” firms.

For more information on this approach, check out this article in October’s Think Advisor magazine, which quotes myself and other advisors who are leading and advocating for this change in the industry. Here’s the link:

http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2014/09/29/experimenting-with-new-compensation-models