Markets are uncertain. Here is what we control.

Why we existThe choice behind our 0.35% fee

Running an advisory practice has become far cheaper than it used to be. Planning software does in minutes what once took days. Low-cost index ETFs give a diversified portfolio for a small fraction of what mutual funds used to charge. An independent custodian holds your accounts in your name and handles the trading and reporting.

Every firm that finds savings like these faces the same question.

We chose the second option, and it is a big part of why the firm exists. It also reflects how we think about investing: no one controls what markets do, but costs are known in advance, and so are many taxes and most risks. Those are where we focus.

The starting pointWhat no one controls: the market’s next year

Over the 28 years from 1998 through 2025, the S&P 500 returned an average of 10.8% a year.^[2] Yet the market almost never delivers an average year. Only 2 of those 28 years (2004 and 2016) landed within two points of the average. 6 years were losses, including a 37% drop in 2008, and the best year gained more than 32%.

Forecasts, headlines and interest rates are outside anyone’s control, including ours. A plan that depends on guessing next year correctly is fragile. A plan built on what can be controlled holds up in more of the years you cannot predict.

Lever 1Costs: the return you keep for certain

Every dollar paid in fees is a dollar that stops compounding for you. Costs are also the one part of a portfolio’s result known in advance. Morningstar’s research found that, in every asset class it studied, the cheapest funds were more likely to survive and to outperform than the most expensive ones.^[3]

Paying more for active stock picking has not reliably bought more. Over the 20 years through 2025, about 93% of actively managed large-company U.S. stock funds trailed the S&P 500.^[4]

Advisory fees compound the same way. On a $500,000 portfolio, the difference between a 0.35% fee and a 1.00% fee grows to about $461,000 over 30 years in this hypothetical example.

How we control it: one advisory fee of 0.35% a year; portfolios built mainly from low-cost ETFs, whose expenses are paid to the fund companies and are separate from our fee; and no commissions to us on the accounts we manage. See what you pay now with a complimentary fee check.

Lever 2Taxes: where the money comes from matters

Taxes are often the largest cost in retirement, and much of the bill depends on choices: which account you draw from, when you convert to a Roth, and which investments sit in which account. Two people with the same savings can owe very different amounts.

How we control it:

• Withdrawal order. We plan which accounts fund each year of retirement to keep you in lower brackets over the whole span, not just this year.
• Roth conversions. The years between retirement and required distributions are often a window to convert at lower rates.
• Asset location. Slower-growing, income-producing holdings often belong in IRAs; holdings expected to grow most often belong in Roth accounts.
• Medicare brackets. We watch the income lines that trigger higher Medicare premiums (IRMAA) two years later.
• Charitable giving. After age 70½, gifts straight from an IRA (QCDs) can count toward required distributions without adding to taxable income.

We coordinate with your CPA; we do not prepare tax returns.

Lever 3Risk: the mix you hold and the order of returns

You cannot choose your returns, but you can choose how much risk you take. A landmark study of large pension plans found that their mix of stocks, bonds and cash explained about 94% of the ups and downs in their quarterly returns, far more than which investments they picked or when they traded.^[6]

In retirement, risk has a second side: the order of returns. Once you are withdrawing, a loss early on does more damage than the same loss later, because you are selling while prices are down.

How we control it: an allocation matched to your plan and your tolerance for loss, not to a forecast; broad diversification, often across thousands of companies and bonds; rebalancing when markets move; and, where it fits your plan, a reserve for upcoming withdrawals so you are less likely to have to sell stocks in a downturn.

The one in the middleBehavior: staying with the plan

Investors often earn less than the funds they own, because money tends to come in after good years and leave after bad ones. Morningstar found that over the ten years through 2024, the average dollar in U.S. funds earned about 7.0% a year while the funds themselves returned 8.2%, a gap of about 1.2 points a year.^[7]

To be fair about that number: it covers all fund investors, with or without an advisor, and it measures the timing of purchases and sales, not advice. We cannot promise to close it. What we can do is give you a written plan, a reason for every holding, and a person to talk to before a big move.

What it means for youHow this shows up if you work with us