Questions We Think You Should Be Asking Your Financial Advisor
The following questions are designed to help you see “behind the curtain” of our firm and any firm you might entrust your financial future.
You can click on any of the questions below to see our in-depth answer.
In a word, YES.
Imagine going to your dentist for your six-month checkup. However, before the dentist looks at your teeth or even asks if you’re having any problems, he recommends that you need a root canal. Not only this, he recommends that you need a root canal today because prices are going up tomorrow.
While this may sound completely absurd in the medical profession, you might be surprised how often this happens in the investment and life insurance industries. In other words, before a financial advisor even understands your entire financial picture, he just starts recommending some random product or investment regardless of whether you need it. Obviously, he’s just trying to sell you something.
At NextGen Wealth, we take our Fiduciary duty very seriously and always act in our client’s best interest.
Not only is it our legal obligation, it’s the right thing to do as a human being. Being sold to or pushed into buying something is uncomfortable and just plain gross. We would never be pushy or use scare tactics to sell you something just like we wouldn’t want our family to have a bad experience.
We recommend to our clients the same investment strategies used in our personal accounts and the accounts of our immediate family members. Our commitment to honest and ethical behavior has allowed us to build a very successful firm.
Click here to download our signed Statement of Fiduciary Commitment.
The short answer is, YES.
We can’t make the correct diagnosis if we don’t understand your entire situation. How else can we give you recommendations that are truly in your best interests?
We have a legal, moral, and ethical obligation to ensure everything we recommend is the absolute best fit for you. If we don’t understand your entire financial picture, we simply can’t do this.
Let’s face it, if your car was having mechanical issues, you’d want your mechanic to run full diagnostics to identify the problem. You wouldn’t pay for a best guess or, even worse, something that didn’t even fix the problem. If you’ve ever experienced this (probably many of us), you never went back to that mechanic again, did you?
Again, that’s exactly why we want you to go through our Getting Started Process™ and then our COLLAB Financial Planning Process™ so we can have a complete understanding of your entire financial picture.
To read my full bio, both fun and professional, click here to get the full rundown.
However, in becoming a Certified Financial PlannerⓇ, I had to spend nearly two years and over 500 hours studying and preparing to pass the exam to become licensed. Along with this, I regularly exceed the amount of continuing education hours that are required in order to maintain my CFPⓇ license.
I also take pride in understanding tax planning, estate planning, and insurance planning strategies that we regularly implement with our clients. I can assure you that the value we provide goes well beyond investments only.
As of 2024, we currently serve about 50 families. We have intentionally limited the size of our practice to ensure every client receives the service they require to achieve their financial goals.
We are very intentional about giving our existing clients and new clients the time and attention they deserve. Because of this, we limit the number of new clients we take on each year to 8 new clients per year.
There’s generally a lot of work on the front end, so we make sure we’re not rushed and aren’t taking time and attention away from existing clients. We also have a total capacity limit of 100 households for the same reason. All customers, existing and new, get our best – now and always.
Most of our clients fall into the retirement transition phase of life (within 5 years) and have done a very good job of saving for themselves. With that being the case, we also work with a number of recent retirees, helping them create strategies that will ensure their money will last for the rest of their lives.
Our clients’ investments range from $750,000 to $5,000,000. We primarily focus on the investment, tax, and legal issues related to families and retirement.
This may seem like an obvious question, but you should always ask how much your advisor charges and how they are compensated. If they aren’t upfront about fees, we suggest going elsewhere.
Our fees are clearly detailed in our client agreements and posted on our pricing page. In short, we charge a fee between 0.40% and 1.5% annually. These are deducted on a quarterly basis (0.10% - 0.375% each quarter).
These fees cover all of our costs for the many services we provide. There are also internal management fees for the mutual funds and ETFs we invest in. We do everything we can to minimize any additional fees. These fees typically range from .10%-.20%.
Bottom line, we aim to provide such exceptional service and value far exceeding the fees you pay. In some cases, a single recommendation or strategy implementation will pay our fees for years to come!
For your convenience and safety, NextGen Wealth utilizes Charles Schwab as the custodian for our client assets. As custodian, Charles Schwab holds your funds and provides reporting to you and the IRS. Your accounts can be viewed any time at www.schwaballiance.com.
Really, it depends on how often you want to hear from us. We offer May and October as our annual review months so you are welcome to schedule a review in one or both of those months. However, we do require at least one annual review per year.
Of course, if something comes up and you need to meet with us immediately, then we will certainly make it a point to get together. With that being said, you are welcome to call or email anytime.
Also, client education is very important to us. We publish a weekly newsletter and a blog twice a month.
Charles Schwab will send out monthly statements and we will send you a quarterly performance report that clearly displays what is going on in your accounts.
Another great question but one that hopefully doesn’t come to fruition while I’m still serving as your advisor. However, if something were to happen, since your accounts are already held at Charles Schwab, they would remain there but I would no longer be listed as the advisor on those accounts. They would still be fully invested just as though I were still your advisor.
I have also set up a succession planning agreement with Jeff Laughlin at Fidelis in St. Louis, MO. This ensures an easy transition if you'd like to go that way. We have extremely similar practices and share many of the same planning and investment management philosophies.
However, you would also have the option to work with another financial advisor if you believe there is a better fit. The choice is completely up to you, but your first point of contact would be with Jeff from Fidelis.
Yes. We have assisted clients in solving an assortment of financial issues such as 401(k) plans, IRS audits, family deaths, disability, tax issues, real estate, debt, Social Security, Medicare, health insurance, college, gifting, and almost any other financial issue imaginable. While we certainly don’t have all the answers, through our network of resources, we will not stop until a solution has been found.
