Most financial advisers charge you an ongoing flat fee to manage your investment portfolio based on the value of your assets. The reality is with the right direction most people are capable of managing on their own, saving a considerable amount of money.

Consider this, with a $500,000 portfolio, a fee-only financial advisor that manages your money for a typical fee of 1% of your assets will cost you $5,000 a year, each and every year. This can have a profound impact on growing your wealth and over a 20-year period can decrease your retirement income by 10%-20% a year.

As an hourly planner, I typically develop an investment plan as part of the Financial Health planning process, as well as include ongoing portfolio management support as part of the Financial Wellness service. I can also create standalone investment plans and recommendations on an hourly basis.

Whatever direction you choose, I will empower you to manage your portfolio to meet your specific needs based on the fundamental strategies of

• Asset Allocation - Based on a joint process of matching your risk tolerance with your financials goals to determine the right balance (and tradeoff) of investments and likely returns within your portfolio.

• Diversification - Diversifying among different asset classes allows you to spread your risk and limit your exposure during both upturns and downturns in the overall market. Passive, low cost investment strategies are favored over higher expense and fee based “actively managed” funds to retain more of your returns within your portfolio.

• Rebalancing - With changing market conditions, asset class returns and lifestyle needs it may be necessary to periodically re-align your portfolio to better serve your goals. Typically reviewed annually at a minimum, this may or may not result in a need to rebalance your portfolio.