Investment Planning

Managing money IN retirement requires a much different approach than managing money PRE retirement.  We must take into account your need for income but we can’t forget about your additional need for long term growth.

In order to do this, we must first review with you your investment experience, historical market performance, realistic expectations for the future, and our investment philosophy. Then we mutually agree on an Investment Policy Statement that governs how your portfolio will be managed in retirement, taking into account your risk tolerance, unique cash flow requirements, tax situation, investment preferences, and any other constraints.

We balance your personal risk tolerance and cash needs with the time frame and funding status of your goals to determine an appropriate investment mix. Your income ladders will typically be built using money market funds, FDIC insured CD’s, US treasuries, and/or US agency debt instruments.  We may consider using a single premium immediate fixed annuity to fund your final income ladder.  

Your growth accounts will typically consist of a well-diversified mix of mostly passive oriented exchange traded funds (ETF's) as well as handful of actively managed funds in certain areas where we think it makes the most sense. We believe markets are becoming more and more efficient therefore our philosophy is to build very low cost, well diversified portfolios that have very little correlation to one another and can grow over time.

The asset classes that we will use in these various growth accounts may consist of:

Domestic Stocks and Bonds (all size companies)

Foreign Stocks and Bonds (all size companies)

Emerging Market Country Stocks and Bonds

Real Estate (US and Foreign REITs)

Other (multi asset, commodities, currency, hedge)

If appropriate for your situation, individual securities may also be used.

Whenever possible, we will try to minimize taxes while managing your portfolio. However, we view tax reduction, although very important, as a secondary consideration to having a well-diversified portfolio with appropriate risk levels and sufficient liquidity.

Your assets will be held with one of the major discount custodians. We will make changes to your investments, if appropriate, under the guidelines and constraints of your Investment Policy Statement. Being a fee-only firm we receive no payment of any kind for trading on your accounts. We also have no incentive to use certain products over others when managing your income ladders and growth accounts. Any trading commissions incurred are paid directly to the custodian for executing the trade.

You will receive detailed quarterly reports from us on your consolidated portfolio, as well as monthly or quarterly reports from the custodian on your individual accounts.