Fee-Based Financial Consulting

We don't need to manage your assets to provide advice.  

By engaging our fee-based planning services you are able to gain access to our resources, experience and knowledge without having us manage your investments.  You can ask your questions, get our analysis and hear our recommendations.  This is often a good fit for the following scenarios:

• You're a do-it-yourselfer who enjoys managing your own investments and planning, however you see the value in having a professional review your situation and offer guidance.  You also like the idea that when the day comes that you can no longer manage your own finances, you have a long standing relationship with a trusted advisor who can take over the management for you.
  
• You already work with a financial advisor, however you need information or advice that goes beyond your current advisor's area of expertise. 

And with the increase in popularity of virtual meetings, we have fee-based planning clients from all over the US.  We have a well-defined planning process and below is a general outline of topics that we cover in our planning meetings.   Your particular agenda may look a bit different depending on your questions.  

• Discuss retirement income needs
  • Outlining expenses
  • Discuss changes to expenses (i.e. a mortgage being paid off, costs for travel, health insurance, etc.)
  • Develop an income plan to meet your specific income needs
• Discuss retiree health insurance options and costs
  • COBRA and private insurance options and costs 
• Discuss pensions
  • different payout options
  • explain the survivorship options
    
  • retirement forms, deadlines and process
• Discuss social security
  • Explain how social security is calculated
  • Claiming options
    
  • Taxation of benefits
  • Spousal, divorcee and survivorship benefits
  • Post-retirement income offsets
  • Windfall Elimination Provision and Government Pension Offset
• Investments
  • Allocations, holdings and contribution amounts
  • Risk assessment
  • Economic outlook and our recommendations
    
  • Investment strategies for each account
  • Withdrawal options and tax considerations
  • Ownership options for non-retirement accounts
  • Developing a clear retirement income plan to complement your social security and pension income
  • Clearly illustrate which accounts to draw from first and why
• Aging in retirement
  • Explain the legal documents that come into play (power of attorney, living will, etc.)
  • Ways to plan for the cost of care
  • Ways to protect independence
  • Ways to protect assets
  • Long-term care insurance options
  • Medicaid spend down rules
  • Organizing your affairs
  • Gifting strategies
  • The use of a trust and different asset ownership options 
    
• Inherited assets
  
  • The impact inherited assets can have on your own planning
  • Withdrawal and tax rules for inherited assets and investments
  • Ownership options for inherited assets
  • Different rules for inheriting assets from a spouse versus a non-spouse
  • Planning considerations when a spouse passes away
• Life Insurance
  • Explanation of different types
  • Needs analysis
  • Review of policies
• Estate and Legacy Planning
  • Gifting rules and strategies
  • How different assets pass when you die
  • Strategies for efficient legacy planning
  • Probate process
  • The role wills and trusts play
  • Asset ownership options to efficiently pass along assets and take care of loved ones

We have a large network of Medicare brokers, CPA's, estate planning attorneys and other professional partners that we engage and collaborate with for topics that go beyond our areas of practice.  For a comprehensive review of your personal situation, always consult with a tax or legal advisor. Neither Cetera Advisor Networks LLC nor any of its representatives may give legal or tax advice.

After each fee-based consultant meeting, we send an e-mail recapping the key discussion topics, any analysis that we did and any recommendations we provided.  Clients can then come back to the firm for future fee-based meetings as they see fit. 

Are you a Connecticut public school teacher? 

As mentioned on our website, we focus on working with baby boomers and CT public school teachers.  The list of topics above applies to just about everyone.  However, Connecticut public school teachers have a unique pension, do not contribute to social security and have their own retiree health insurance and Medicare options.  We have an in depth knowledge of all of this and factor it into the planning process listed above.  Click on the link below to learn more about how we work with teachers.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PLANNING FOR TEACHERS

Ready to engage our services?

We would welcome the opportunity to help you!  The first step is to schedule a complimentary phone consultation.  You can view our availability and schedule a time to speak by clicking on the link below.