Frequently Asked Questions
Before we get started, I have a blog post I want to recommend...
In episode 58 of our podcast, “Let’s ask Chat GPT when you should hire a financial advisor,” I created a prompt for ChatGPT:
“I’m doing my next podcast for folks in the 50 to 60 range that have saved diligently for retirement. I want to explain when and why they should really consider hiring a financial planner. Also, I want to tell them HOW to find a financial advisor that specializes in working with them.”
The response was pretty amazing! Make sure to check out that episode!
To compliment this, I also wrote a blog post where I talk about where I would go to find a retirement focused financial advisor. If you are not a good fit for my firm, this could be a great resource to help you find the right one for you. I also go in to details about what I would look for in a retirement focused financial advisor. You can read the blog post here:
Are you a fiduciary?
Yes! We act as a fiduciary at all times and are obligated to put your interests ahead of our own. One of the drivers in breaking away from the “big firm” environment was to eliminate fee conflicts throughout the financial planning process.
What is fee only?
There are fee-based firms and fee-only firms. In the fee-based model, firms can charge an advisory fee (typically a percentage of your assets), and collect commissions from products they sell you or transaction fees. Fee-only advisors (like ours) can never receive compensation from any third party, period. This means we don’t sell insurance, or any other commission based investment products, period.
We believe this allows us to focus on financial planning and advice, rather than what the commission is on a life insurance policy or annuity.
You can check out our page about fees here.
I'm not located in Chattanooga, TN, can you still work with me?
Absolutely! Frankly, we prefer running all of our meetings virtually anyhow, even if you live/work in the Chattanooga area! Who wants to sit in traffic just to see their financial advisor?!
Do you have an asset minimum?
The short answer is “No.” We don’t charge based on assets under management, but visit our fee structure page to learn more. With that being said, we do encourage a minimum of $1mm of investible assets for our ongoing fee structure to make sense. If you aren’t a good fit for the ongoing relationship, we also do ‘one-time’ engagements in which there is no asset minimum nor investment management relationship.
Are you just going to sell me insurance or annuities?
As a fee-only advisor, we don’t sell insurance, annuities or any commission based products. As a fiduciary, we absolutely will help you understand what you have and how it works. In fact, I started my career with an insurance and annuity background, so I have an in depth knowledge on how these products work. We can evaluate your current life insurance, disability insurance, long-term care insurance and annuity products to see if they still fit within your financial plan. If they don’t, we can help you replace them or just simply get rid of them. Furthermore, if there is a need to purchase a new product, we have partners that can assist in that process, and we will be with you every step of the way!
I like that you are independent, but where are my actual funds being held?
We selected Charles Schwab to serve as our custodian. You can access your accounts online or via their mobile app, and you will receive monthly statements from Schwab. We are not employees nor are compensated in any way by Charles Schwab, but they provide extensive resources to our firm to optimally manage your accounts.
How exactly do you help with Estate Planning?
We are not a law firm. However, we believe Estate Planning is much more than just the documents you have in place. It’s much more about your family, your heirs, your tax situation, your beneficiary’s tax situation, and other complexities that allow us to understand your unique situation. Clients often joke with us that we know more about their family than their best friends! The reason we dig so deep in this topic is so we can understand potential complexities and challenges. This allows us to partner with your attorney and CPAs to create the optimal estate plan for your family. Furthermore, it allows to to advise on what assets should be left to the next generation, and what assets you may want to spend down during your retirement years!
In short, we will continue to partner with you and your attorneys, to ensure your plan is aligned with your goals, the ever-so-changing legal landscape, and as your family dynamics evolve!
Of course, if you need a referral to an attorney, our firm and our networks have one in every state that we can refer you to!
What does your firm name mean?
You might think it’s a play on words, so you can picture what financial security means to you! Well, that was secondary.
The name was inspired by a movie called “I Can Only Imagine.” It came out around the time my first son, Tristan, was born. I won’t spoil the movie (although it is over 4 years old), but it had a deep impact on me to chase my dreams. I thought to myself, how could I tell my son to chase his dreams if I don’t chase mine? The night I first saw the movie, my wife and I talked and agreed that I would quit my firm and start my own to serve clients the RIGHT way. Little did we know, three days later she found out she was pregnant, and a month after that we found out the pregnancy was with twins! We didn’t waiver and trusted our faith that this was the right path, and I’m so happy we did!
10 Questions to Ask Your Financial Planner
The CFP board came up with 10 questions to ask your financial planner, and you can check that out here.
Do you have other questions?
Hopefully this has helped answer many of your questions. Feel free to schedule a 30 minute Zoom call with us if you have specific questions about your situation or want to discuss the first step in hiring our firm.