Retirement Planning

  • Diversifying your retirement income
  • Defending against market volatility
  • Estate planning advice

Financial Planning

  • Investment strategies
  • Portfolio allocations
  • Insurance reviews

Investment Management

  • Stock and mutual fund recommendations
  • Portfolio rebalancing
  • Tax efficient investing

Design, Build, Manage

While it is easy to get caught up in the state of the economy or the latest “hot” stock, we believe passionately that the way you invest should be aligned with where you are in your life…not with the short-term ups and downs of markets.

You should have a financial blueprint to help you manage your opportunities, needs, concerns and goals. We call this approach Asset Class Investing and believe it makes good sense as you plan for both today and tomorrow.

There are three things to remember about how Asset Class Investing can work for you and your family:

1. It focuses your investment portfolio on meeting your life goals.
It is an approach designed to help you manage towards your most important goals rather than to short-term market trends.

2. It is based on science and academic research.
It combines the latest discoveries in economics and investing with close to 90 years of market data and insights as well as in-depth studies of investor psychology and behavior.

3. It is a disciplined and structured approach.
It helps manage the common behavioral mistakes that can compromise your long-term financial goals. Asset class investing is an investment strategy that will not guarantee a profit or protect you from loss.

All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. There is no assurance that any investment strategy will be successful.

Find out what behavioral finance expert Meir Statman has to say about the role our emotions play in making decisions.

Wealth Advisory Process

One of the most important components of any successful advisory relationship is truly understanding who you are as a person. That is why we focus on what is most important to you, both financially and personally.

We look at all the major aspects of your financial life, including your specific values and goals as well as your time horizon, income and liquidity needs and ability and willingness to take risk. Together, we will define your personal definition of financial success and work with you to translate this into prioritized goals.

As the Wealth Solution Graphic shows below, we can help you address a wide variety of goals in a number of key areas.

Once we have discovered and understand what is most important to you, we work together to develop and implement a plan to help get you there.

Because life is never static, we closely monitor your plan and make sure that it always reflects your situation. In addition, as financial markets go up and down, we help manage the level of risk in your portfolio through periodic rebalancing.

Scroll over each step for details.

graphicProcess

Discovery

One of the most important components of any successful advisory relationships truly understands who you are as a person. With our discovery process, we focus on what is most important to you, both financially and personally. Together, we will define your definition of financial success and work with you to translate this into prioritized goals.

Analysis

In order for us to thoroughly understand you situation, we will take a comprehensive inventory of your current financial position, including strengths as well as any gaps or improvements. We also analyze the effectiveness, composition and expenses of your existing profile. By analyzing specific items for action, we can make sure that your goals and financial situation are aligned.

Development

Based on the analysis, we can develop a long-term wealth plan focused on getting you from where you are today and where you want to be in the future. Through this process, we will address any items that need clarification and make alterations based on any additional information.

Implementation

The next step is the implementation of your plan. In addition to creating your investment portfolio, we also work with a team of financial professionals to address all the non-investment action items we’ve identified. You will receive an Investment Policy Statement, which documents what we have agreed to and assigns responsibly and accountability.

Monitoring

Your plan is never static. That is why we will make the discovery process part of our ongoing meetings so that your plan is always reflects your life. We will monitor your plan closely and provide you with clear and concise reporting. In addition, as financial markets rise and fall, your portfolio’s exposure to stocks, bonds, cash and other investments will tend to fluctuate as well. Through periodic rebalancing, we will make sure your portfolio maintains its target allocation which helps control the level of risk in your portfolio and minimizes emotional decision making.

Cherish your yesterdays, dream your tomorrows, and live your todays.— Anonymous

Frequently Asked QuestionsQuick answers to common questions about our services.

What's the best way to get started with your firm?

Give us a call at 313-908-2700 and we'll set up a first meeting with you to discuss your needs. After the meeting we'll put together some information and ideas for strategies that best fit what you've told us about your goals. Next, we'll present these ideas and plans to you and you'll decide whether to make us your advisor.

What is financial planning?

Financial planning involves three basic steps – determining where you stand today, where you want to be in the future, and the best way to get there. With our firm, the process involves an initial in-depth review of your current financial situation and then recommendations on how to achieve future goals and objectives.

What is a financial planner or advisor?

Anyone can say that he or she is a financial planner or financial advisor. That’s why it’s essential to be sure of the qualifications and credentials of any "planner" or "advisor" before you pay them a fee or entrust them with your financial matters. CFP® Practitioners have completed a broad-based advanced education program in financial planning.

They have comprehensive planning experience and are trained to provide coordinated advice on issues surrounding a client’s entire financial picture. CFP's® adhere to a rigorous code of ethics and have extensive continuing education requirements. Find out more about the CFP® program at CFP.net.

How can a financial advisor help me?

Anyone looking for financial peace of mind can benefit from working with a fee-only financial planner. Each individual’s situation is unique. Someone just starting out may need a detailed, long-term plan of action, whereas someone already on the road to achieving their goals may simply need a new strategy, professional insight, or a second opinion for an existing plan. We customize our services to meet each individual’s needs.

The long-term goal for most clients is to enjoy a secure retirement. Most of our clients are pre-retirees or retirees, as Retirement Planning is an area in which we specialize. There are a myriad of complex planning issues and choices, including portfolio design, withdrawal strategies, Social Security claiming decisions, pensions, employer plan rollovers, and tax efficiency, just to name a few. Making the right choices, both initially and ongoing, is critical to retirement success. Hiring the right financial advisor to guide you generally pays for itself many times over.

What is your firm’s investment philosophy?

As financial advisors and investment consultants, we believe in the following fundamental principles when it comes to designing an investment portfolio and making specific recommendations:

  • The purpose of a client’s investment portfolio is to fund current and/or future financial objectives.
  • The design of the portfolio must take into account the client’s financial objectives, tolerance for risk, needs for current income or liquidity, and special considerations such as income and estate taxes.
  • The appropriate allocation of investment assets for your goals and risk tolerance is the most important component in developing an investment portfolio. Investments should be allocated among different asset classes to help increase returns and lessen risk.
  • We believe that a diversified, well-balanced portfolio, combined with long-term buy-and-hold strategies, affordability and patience, increases the likelihood that one will achieve his or her long-term financial objectives.

The important thing to remember is that no one can predict the future. Difference of opinion makes a market. Investment and economic “experts” provided with the same information often come to different conclusions. We do not suggest that we, or that any of the money or mutual fund managers that we may recommend, will make the correct decision every time. We do believe, however, that studying the historic trends and relationships of investment classes and the philosophies and approaches of successful investment managers can provide valuable insight.

A diversified portfolio does not assure a profit or protect against loss in a declining market.

Schedule a MeetingGet a second opinion about your financial plan.

Our second opinion service is more than just a discussion about money and financial strategies. We want you to decide if we're a good fit for your needs, and we want to see if we can truly add value to your life.

Schedule a meeting with us for a second opinion and here's what you'll get:

  • We'll spend most of the meeting discussing your needs and listening to your answers.
  • We'll answer all your questions regarding our fees and the services we provide.
  • We'll talk about your current investment strategy and make notes for our follow-up conversation.

Although we may discuss ideas during the meeting we want to spend most of the time listening, rather than immediately trying to provide solutions.

After the meeting we'll put together some information and ideas for strategies that best fit what you've told us about your goals and income. Next we'll schedule a follow-up conversation in which we'll present our second opinion about your current plan.

There's no obligation for our second opinion service and any information we provide during your meeting and afterwards is yours to keep.

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