How do you charge?

We charge for our services in several different ways, designed to meet your needs for specific services. The initial consultation (up to 45 minutes) is $150, payable at the first meeting. When you decide to engage us, the $150 is applicable to your total fee. We offer:

Customized fee-only advice, by the hour: We can work with you on an hourly fee basis (at $300/hour) in just the same way as other professionals such as lawyers and accountants. Each project is unique, but some typical charges are:

  • A comprehensive financial plan examining your investments, retirement planning, risk management, income tax strategies, estate planning and if applicable, college financial planning, usually takes about 7-15 hours. This is our most popular service and the place where most people should begin.
  • If you want advice on a specific issue, for example evaluating your retirement plan, portfolio opinion, college financial planning, investing an inheritance or any other consultation, usually this can be accomplished in 4-8 hours.
  • Divorce financial planning charges depend on your needs. If the project is analyzing settlement offers and projecting benefits and drawbacks, we are usually able to give you a firm project price based on our hourly fees. This service usually ranges from 7-15 hours. If, however, your case is more complex, we require a retainer and will bill you monthly if the retainer is expended. Our minimum retainer in this situation is $2,000. If you are seeking assistance with post-divorce financial planning, either hourly or asset management services may be appropriate.

We offer asset management if you need ongoing monitoring of your investments, help in selecting investments, and want access to regular advice and updating. We use the same types of portfolios as we would recommend on an hourly basis; the difference is that we handle the details for you, and act as an ongoing resource for your questions and implementation of your investment plans. This service includes a full financial plan and regular updates. Fees are automatically billed quarterly to your account as a percentage of your assets that we are managing. There is no minimum asset requirement–we will manage any portfolio–but our minimum yearly fee for this service is $4,000.

 

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