How We Work, Together

First, we determine if there’s a good fit on both sides.

  • Discovery Call

    Maybe you have a specific question; maybe you have many questions; maybe you don’t know where to start. This is where you start. You tell us a little about you and we tell you a little about us in a half-hour video chat or phone call.

  • Proposal & Your Wealth Map

    How can we help you, exactly? We sync your account data with our financial planning software and review each account to discuss where we may want to focus our time together, and we get crisp on your personal financial goals. After this meeting, we send you a custom proposal for how we’d approach our first year together.

  • Discussion & Decision

    At this point, maybe you’re ready to go — or maybe you have some small questions, or maybe some big questions. Let’s exchange some emails or schedule phone call or Zoom, so that you feel confident in your decision either way.

Schedule a discovery call

Complimentary

We don’t charge for proposals, You’ll never be billed anything by surprise or without knowing.

Calm

We’ll never push you to make a decision when you’re not confident.

Our member site provides easy reference for helpful links, meeting agendas, educational content and more.

Financial Planning

Structured Planning

Over time, we’ve refined a set of meetings that combine great software, detailed checklists, interactive discussion and personalized education.

While we concentrate our work together in the first two months of our engagement, we commonly space out subsequent discussions over our full first twelve months together to give your plan time to breathe.

    • Money in, and money out: we look at your paycheck tax withholding and review three months’ of representative spending. Together, we identify savings opportunities and determine your current monthly spending and savings averages

    • We walk through a complete map of your student loan situations, and recommend payment, forgiveness and refinancing strategies, as appropriate

    • We walk through a dynamic illustration of the factors affecting your eventual retirement, so you understand how your current savings, your future spending and other factors influence the date at which you become work-optional

    • We review your current insurance coverage across life, property, disability and more, and discuss your needs and potential changes

    • We educate you as to the documents and structures you may care to implement to protect your loved ones

Ad Hoc Planning

Sometimes (often?), real life doesn’t neatly fall into a checklist of best practices. We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty and support what you need to make decisions and get things done.

    • When life gives you questions, we’re here. Whether by text message, a phone call or an hour-long Zoom, we’re in your corner with the numbers

    • Sometimes, there’s a one-off, and we need a spreadsheet. We stand at the ready with =SUMIFS, helper columns and pivot tables.

    • We’re always available to schedule short Zoom meetings to share screens and “do the clicks” together. Your to-do list gets shorter, more quickly and – we hope – more pleasantly.

Monthly Planning

Every month, we reach out with insights and to-dos to help keep your financial progress fresh and improving. Reach out to your advisor any time to discuss how a topic may apply to your life. Here’s some examples of Monthly Planning Topics:

  • Keeping Account Beneficiary Designations Up-to-Date

    Your account beneficiary designations can override your will. What do you need to know about establishing these and keeping them up to date?

  • Talking with Parents about Hard Topics

    As you enter peak earning years, your parents’ finances are also changing: they retire, plans to leave funds to you or your children become concrete, or they may need resources from you. What should be on your mind in these conversations?

  • Building Wealth with Debt

    Many RightWise clients are changing gears: from “achieving safety” to “building wealth.” Safety is often about minimizing debt, but wealth building frequently includes strategic, intentional use of debt. How should you think about using debt — and how can you keep debt from using you?

Investment Management

We do not require that clients provide us with assets to manage. However, we believe that we provide our best service to clients who work with us for their portfolios.

Here’s some examples of how we could help with your investments, as appropriate for you:

  • Opening the correct types of accounts for your goals

  • Selecting the appropriate portfolio for your investments, including asset allocation

  • Managing transitions from your old accounts into new accounts, especially where porting over your securities without selling them (this is called an “ACAT”) helps you choose when you’ll pay taxes on specific positions. As advisors, we had precise tools for these actions

  • Ensuring that Betterment’s automated tax capabilities, including tax loss harvesting and tax-coordinated portfolios) are applied correctly

  • Automating transfers and withdrawals

  • Consolidating your accounts into a single provider so you don’t risk losing logins or forgetting about accounts

  • Monitoring your investment performance relative to your goals and making adjustments over time

  • Directly coaching you on investment behaviors associated with stronger long-term results, such as remaining invested during market volatility

An Ongoing Relationship

After a few meetings, we know you well. So when that new job does come through, or you close on the home we initially discussed when a down payment seemed a ways away, or you find out you’re expecting a new member of the family, we hope we earn the right to be one of your first emails to share the news so that we can update your plan and help you take your next steps confidently.

 How much do you charge?

The short answer:

First Year

Section Styles border

Household

Single-Person

Coupled

Commitment

One Year

One Year

Annual Total

$4,000

$5,000

Section Styles border

After the First Year

Household

Single-Person

Coupled

Commitment

Monthly

Monthly

Annual Total

$3,600

$4,500

0.50% annually for any assets we directly manage for you

*This table is an abbreviated summary of common pricing levels applicable for new clients to our firm, intended only as convenient, preliminary reference and not as a final quote for services. You may be quoted different pricing based on the complexity of your circumstances. Please reference our Form ADV Part Two Brochure for complete information regarding our pricing.

When we designed our pricing, we spent a lot of time thinking about:

  • Transparency

    You should understand what you pay

  • Accessibility

    Our advice is available to those beginning their wealth journey

  • Long-term relationship

    We can provide great value as your money with us grows

Schedule a discovery call

Annual Fee by Portfolio Size

Here’s an illustration of how these fee structures compare.

How does your pricing compare to the industry?

There are many different ways to charge for financial advice

Many financial advisors charge for their financial planning and investment management by taking a percentage of assets they manage: 1% or a little higher is the most common fee. This structure has some great advantages:

  • It makes billing very simple since the advisor has direct access to your funds

  • Your advisor will earn less if your account loses value, and earn more if your account gains in value. For investment-focused advisors, this can align incentives between advisor and client.

However, this traditional model isn’t consistent with our goals of transparency, accessibility and long-term value:

  • Not transparent
    You may not realize how much you’re paying if you’re just quoted a percentage, not a number. And if these fees silently slide out of your investment account, you may not realize how those dollars add up over time.

  • Excludes those with less to invest…
    Suppose an advisor knows they need to make at least $5,000 per year on a client to cover costs. If that advisor charges 1%, then they can only serve clients who have at least $500,000 ready to invest outside of 401(k).

  • …and accelerates fees on larger accounts
    Suppose your advisor managed $500,000 on your behalf, and you received an inheritance and gave your advisor another $500,000 to manage. If they charged 1% on all assets, their fee would double, from $5,000 to $10,000 per year. Yes, their work for your account would have increased – but would their work have doubled?

We’re happy to answer any questions you may have

Learn more with a calm, complimentary discovery call with one of our advisors