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I'm looking for a Financial Planner. How do I begin?

We begin every relationship with an introductory meeting, to learn about each other and to identify if your situation matches our expertise. If so, we prepare a comprehensive financial plan as part of our QED Process. This three-step process will conclude with a comprehensive financial plan which will act as a road-map to help you achieve your financial objectives. We then work with you on an ongoing basis, making adjustments as needed based on changes in your family situation, tax code, etc.

You can check out the Our Process page for more details.

Through Tyler’s significant investment and commitment to education, he has a deeper technical knowledge of the tax and estate laws than most planners. Our QED process monitors your situation on an ongoing basis, and we take the lead in implementing the numerous items need to keep your plan on track.

As a firm that specializes in working with retirees and those close to it, we can offer higher levels of value and service by proactively focusing on the most pressing issues that concern our clients.

We are a Fee-Based Financial Advisory Firm. We charge an asset management fee comparable to most advisors and mutual funds but provide significantly more value to our clients. Our fees range between 0.80% and 1.2%. In addition to an asset management fee, we may also receive commissions from the sale of insurance products.

Also, we are committed to full transparency with our fees, something you may find lacking with other advisors or firms. If you don’t understand what you are paying, we didn’t do our job well enough.

In your research to find a financial planner you may come across the terms Fee-Based and Fee-Only, which leads to the question, what the heck is the difference? It is easy to get confused, but ultimately Fee-Only can only accept fees while Fee-Based can accept fees and commissions. It is QED’s position that all fees on investment related products should be avoided. However, insurance products are only available in a commissionable structure, and we strongly believe that insurance plays a critical role in developing a comprehensive financial plan.

So how can I find out if an advisor is selling commissionable investment products? Search for their name on brokercheck.finra.org. If underneath their name it says “Broker Regulated by FINRA” then they are licensed to sell commissionable investment products.

Again, the nuances can be confusing. We are strongly against taking commissions on investment products. However, we also see the value of insurance products in a full financial plan and think that advisors who cannot offer insurance products may not factor them in as much as they should. The most unbiased opinion (we think) comes in a firm that is Fee-Based, that is receiving only a fee for investment products, but still is able to provide insurance products which are only available by commission.

QED always operates as a Fiduciary, which means that we have a legal requirement to put your interests first. If you’ve never worked with a fiduciary adviser, now is the time to find out the difference.

Given our deep understanding of your financial situation relative to your goals, we will provide advice based on your needs. We will then work to ensure you get the right product at the right price. Having QED properly identify your needs, and then serve as your advocate in this process, ensures you get the best results.

For your safety and convenience, we use Altruist as a third-party custodian for our client investment and retirement accounts.

We chose Altruist because it is the third largest custodian (and largest and most trusted amongst independent RIAs). Also, the user experience is extremely streamlined and simple, which our clients value tremendously.

As a trusted custodian, Altruist safely holds your investment accounts and provides reporting to you and the IRS each year. Your accounts can be viewed at any time at through the Altruist online portal or user-friendly mobile app.

We also have Charles Schwab available as a custodian, however we have found our clients generally prefer their experience much more with Altruist.

As an independent insurance broker, we represent you and your interests rather than any specific company. While some firms recommend investment products manufactured by a parent organization, we have no such ties – we simply deliver objective recommendations.

The world is rapidly changing. If you are not proactively monitoring your financial plan and making adjustments, you will not achieve optimal results. Many of the changes our clients experience at various times in their lives include changes to tax laws, estate laws, employment, income, family situations, health, and more. You need an adviser who will not only make necessary adjustments to your plan as things change, but also recognize those upcoming changes ahead of time whenever possible.

While we would love to work with everyone on an ongoing basis, we recognize that it may not always be the right time or the right fit. If this is the case for our engagement, we will do our best to deliver you the most possible value in our interactions, wish you well on your journey, and hope to work with you again in the future.

Yes! Based on our sophisticated financial planning software that allows for easy collaboration, we are able to serve clients throughout the United States.

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