Design, Build, Protect
Do You Have the Plan That’s Right for You?
For most of us, achieving financial comfort, taking care of family, planning for a secure retirement, mitigating taxes, making sure children (or grandchildren) get an education and building a legacy, are all extremely important.
But many of us feel unprepared and ill-equipped to deal with all of them in a coordinated, knowledgeable way.
Our comprehensive advisory process is designed to uncover what is most important to you, personally and financially, in order to put together the best possible long-term plan.
We do this through a thoughtful and consultative three-step approach:
Design
Understand and clarify your life and financial goals — then create a tailored financial plan designed to help make your goals possible
Build
Use academic research and financial science to build an investment portfolio that aims to give you the highest probability of achieving your goals with the least amount of risk
Protect
Provide discipline, perspective, and guidance to help you stay focused on the long term and on track toward achieving what is most important to you
Asset Class Investing
Investing Is About You
We Are Living Longer
No matter what your age, you can expect to live much longer than the generations before you. For example, the typical 65-year-old couple today has a 30-year joint life expectancy, meaning there is a high probability that at least one of them will live to age 95. Moreover, there are more people living to the age of 100 than ever before.
This Increased Longevity Has Important Financial Implications
Obviously, if you’re living longer, your money needs to last as long as you do! Therefore, the first goal of any financial plan should be to avoid outliving your money.
People aren’t just living longer, they are healthier and more active than previous generations. Many retirees participate in recreational activities, get involved in volunteering, or even enjoy a second or third career. All of this should be taken into account within your plan.
How you choose to invest your money for the long term could have major implications for your overall success. We believe there are two important decisions that can help you lay a strong foundation for your future.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an RIA?
A Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) is a person or firm who assists individuals, families, or businesses with their investments. They have a fiduciary duty to their clients, which means they have an obligation to always act in their clients’ best interest when it comes to the investment advice they provide.
The fiduciary duty is the highest standard of care under the U.S. legal system and is a more binding rule than the “suitability” standard to which stockbrokers are held.
What is fiduciary responsibility and why is it important?
A financial professional who has a fiduciary responsibility to you must put your needs and interests ahead of their own. While stockbrokers and insurance agents are regulated and licensed, they do not have a fiduciary responsibility to you. The recommendations that stockbrokers and insurance agents make must only meet a “suitability standard.” In other words, a suitable investments only has to be “good enough” to suit their needs and not necessarily the best possible investment an advisor could find.
Advisors with a fiduciary responsibility are less likely to recommend products that earn them a commission. In fact, most fiduciary financial advisors don’t offer commissioned-based products such as insurance or annuities. If needed they’ll recommend an insurance agent to help you with your insurance needs.
Some firms work as a fiduciary for their client only part of the time. They charge a fee part for some services and earn commissions for other services such as the sale of insurance. These advisors call themselves fee-based which is confusing because it seems so close to “fee-only”. Typically, in both of these situations, the individuals that represent these firms have an incentive to recommend high cost products, such as whole life insurance and variable annuities.
What should I expect in the financial planning process?
Our process begins with a “get acquainted” meeting. We want to know about your personal goals, your values and concerns, your dreams, and your past financial experiences.
The financial planning process will help discover where you are now, and where you want to go. We’ll work with you to establish and prioritize your objectives. We’ll look at the problems and opportunities facing you, examine alternatives, and make recommendations and create specific action steps.
After coming up with a plan that suits your needs, we’ll assist with implementing the recommendations.
Over the years, we will regularly meet with you to review and update your plan, assess your progress, and consider other actions that may be helpful as your needs evolve.
What is your investment philosophy?
Our philosophy is to manage your assets in a way that works best for you according to your goals and unique life situation. Each of our clients has unique needs and although we have underlying processes, we’ll tailor our process to meet your unique needs.
Whether your portfolio’s goal is aggressive growth or capital preservation, the investment principles that we adhere to are:
- Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation provide the foundation to managing the long-term risk and return of a portfolio.
- Low cost investing through the use of low-expense no-load mutual fund families, ETF’s, and index funds are preferred.
- Rebalancing portfolios on a consistent basis should reduce risk and increase returns over time.
- A mandate to uphold an unbiased, objective, and advocacy roll.
How do I get started working with Komons Financial?
As a prospective client, you are encouraged to come in for a complementary exploratory consultation. We discuss your financial situation as well as our firm’s ability to help you. Most client engagements begin with a financial plan that addresses the multiple aspects of a family’s personal finances. The planning process entails three to four meetings.
How often will we meet?
We will meet with you either in person or over the phone whenever you want to meet. We meet formally at least once per year when we provide you a comprehensive report that shows your portfolio’s performance and analysis.
What is a WMCP®?
The Wealth Management Certified Professional® uses contemporary investment science to bring a new level of value to the advisor-client relationship through goal-based wealth management. The WMCP® will develop your skills in identifying goals, evaluating risk, and creating a sophisticated investment plan tailored to the needs of your client. Through a deep knowledge of tax-efficient portfolio strategies that integrates the newest research on client behavior, the WMCP® provides a unique education in applied investment planning.
What should a client expect of us?
We help our clients get to, or remain, where they want to be and we help them consider options for all the “unexpected things” that life seems to present along the way.
My question is not in the list above. How can I get an answer?