Frequently Asked Questions

Anyone who has a financial or investment question, or who wishes to prudently plan for his or her financial future, stands to benefit from our services.  Furthermore, persons who desire an integrated, personal, and more sophisticated level of financial planning services may find our program appealing.

Currently our clients are made up of individuals, trusts and non-profit organizations.  Our “typical” wealth management client is an individual or couple in, or preparing for, retirement with an average investment portfolio of approximately $1,000,000.   Most client portfolios range from $200,000 to $4,000,000.

Most commonly, our recommendations involve no-load mutual funds.  We do, however, provide advice on other investments, such as individual stocks, corporate bonds, U.S. government and municipal securities, and fixed and variable annuities.  We do not make investment recommendations on diamonds, art, other collectibles, options, or futures contracts.

There is no minimum or maximum dollar requirement.  Our firm can help individuals or couples achieve their financial goals even if they are starting out with little in the way of assets.  For ongoing portfolio management services with quarterly reports and meetings, we typically require a portfolio of at least $500,000.

We are a fee-only financial planning practice, so our compensation is based upon an hourly charge, a flat fee for certain projects, or, for wealth management relationships, a percentage of the assets under management.  We do not sell any type of financial product, and we do not receive commissions for any investments that may be recommended for a client’s portfolio.  Further, we do not take possession of client funds, nor do we have discretionary authority to conduct trades on client accounts. By providing a fee-only service, we can assure you that all recommendations we make to you are objective and based entirely on your best interests.  In fact, as Registered Investment Advisers, we are held to a “fiduciary standard,” which requires that all recommendations we make must be in your best interest.  See Question #6 for a more detailed explanation of our fees.

We offer 2 levels of service to our wealth management clients. To be eligible for our Tier 1 service, clients must have a portfolio value of $500,000 or more. Included in the Tier 1 service are portfolio recommendations, assistance in implementing those recommendations, quarterly face-to-face client meetings to review portfolio performance, retirement income projections, and a 12-month retainer. Annual wealth management portfolio recommendation fees for our Tier 1 service are, as follows:

Portfolio Value		Annual Fee
Over	But Not Over	Amount	Plus	Of the Amount Over
$500,000	$1 Million	$0	0.85%	$0
$1 Million	$3 Million	$8,500	0.60%	$1 Million
$3 Million		$20,500	0.25%	$3 Million

Examples of Tier 1 wealth management portfolio recommendation fees for selected portfolio values are:

Portfolio Size	Annual Fee
$500,000	$4,250
$1,000,000	$8,500
$2,000,000	$14,500
$3,000,000	$20,500
$5,000,000	$25,500

We also offer a Tier 2 service to clients who do not meet the $500,000 minimum for the Tier 1 service and to clients who do meet the minimum, but are satisfied with a lower level of service. Portfolio recommendations and assistance in implementing the recommendations are also provided to clients in the Tier 2 category, but under the Tier 2 service, no quarterly meetings would be held, retirement income projections would not be furnished, and we would not be under retainer to respond to financial questions that may arise during the course of the contract. Tier 2 clients would be entitled to abbreviated 6 and 12-month performance reports and a face-to-face meeting at the end of the contract. The fee for the Tier 2 service is $3,000 plus 0.25% of the portfolio value.

Examples of Tier 2 wealth management fees for selected portfolio values are:

Portfolio Value	Annual Fee
$100,000	$3,250
$200,000	$3,500
$300,000	$3,750
$400,000	$4,000
$500,000	$4,250
$750,000	$4,875
$1,000,000	$5,500

Current fees are $150 per hour for financial planning consulting, but in most cases, we will quote a flat fee for a proposed project. The typical cost for a full financial plan ranges from $5,000 – $15,000, depending on the complexity of the financial situation.

The annual retainer for wealth management clients includes the following:

• Portfolio analysis
• Retirement income projections
• Monte Carlo simulation analysis of future portfolio values
• Quarterly reports/meetings
• Support for other financial matters-banking, estate planning, taxes, etc.

Some of the other services we provide are:

• Retirement income projections
• Home refinancing/payoff analysis
• Education savings planning

No, we provide financial planning and investment advisory services only.  However, since our practice does involve tax and estate planning, we coordinate our efforts with our clients’ attorneys and accountants.  We will gladly refer clients to an accountant or attorney, if those services are needed.

Fees for stand-alone projects are billed in full immediately upon completion.  We often include a 12-month retainer for these projects, and if the retainer is included as part of the contract, we will specify that in the contract.  Fees for wealth management contracts are typically billed in two installments.  The first portion is due immediately upon completion of the contracted project and is 90% of the full amount for the year.  The remaining 10% is billed six months later.  As we have no discretionary authority over client funds, our fees cannot be directly withheld from client assets. 

An Investment Adviser is a fiduciary who has a duty of undivided loyalty to his or her investment advisory clients and must deal fairly and honestly with them.  Any person or entity that holds itself out as a financial planner in Montana is required to maintain a current investment advisory registration with the Montana Commissioner of Securities & Insurance.  This registration must be renewed on an annual basis.

The CFP® certification is a voluntary certification, which is recognized in the United States and a number of other countries for its (1) high standard of professional education; (2) stringent code of conduct and standards of practice; and (3) ethical requirements that govern professional engagements with clients.  The CFP® certification is conferred on individuals who satisfy the criteria specified by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.  The requirements include completion of education, examination, and professional experience requirements of the CFP Board, and agreement to adhere to the Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility and other renewal requirements, such as the completion of continuing education units.

Give us a call at the above phone number, send us an email (see the “Contact Us” page), or stop by our office to set up an initial consultation.  We’ll have you fill out a short questionnaire to get an idea of your needs before our first meeting.  There is no charge for the initial meeting.  At the end of the initial meeting, we will give you a quote for the services you have requested.  We will contact you one week later to make sure that you want us to begin the work.  We do not collect any fees in advance of completion of the services we perform.