Services

Understanding Fees

Is a Financial Planner Worth the Expense?

We charge for our services just as attorneys, doctors or any other professionals do. You should think of financial planning as an investment rather than an expense. A good financial planner should save and earn you far more money than what you pay the planner in fees. This investment may be accomplished by improving cash flow through better budgeting, reducing your tax liabilities, boosting investment returns, or even preventing a costly financial catastrophe through the application of insurance or navigating tax pitfalls. There are also the intangible benefits such as peace of mind, time saved and a better focus on one’s financial life.

We are completely independent and objective when providing financial advice to clients. We do not earn investment commissions on the sale of investment products. Financial analysis and professional advice are what we ‘sell’ - our goal is to help you achieve your goals. *

We utilize a fee-based approach to financial planning and hourly advice. Whether it's a one-time financial planning project or an on-going financial planning relationship, we're paid on a fee basis, rather than on commissions. We work on an hourly or project-basis, depending on your needs.

Financial planning services are billed on a project basis and fees are determined based on the complexity of your situation and the work you are looking to have done.

Unlike many financial advisors, you do not need a particular net worth or minimum amount of investable assets to work with us.

Complimentary Initial Consultation

Entering into a financial planning arrangement is a very important decision and we want you to feel completely comfortable with us.  After an initial phone meeting, we encourage clients to schedule a free one hour initial consultation to determine whether our firm is really the right fit for you and your needs. *Clients wishing to engage our services on an hourly basis do not receive an initial complimentary consultation as the focus of the meeting is to provide specific investment and financial planning advice.

Hourly Fee

For hourly clients, our fees are based on the actual time involved in meeting with you in person or over the phone, researching and analyzing your current situation, and providing specific recommendations and implementation assistance (if appropriate) at a rate of $250 per hour.  For hourly clients, all of our time spent is billable time as we are actively working on your project.

Personal Financial Planning

Personal financial planning fees will vary from client to client based on the specific needs and complexity of your situation. Comprehensive plans addressing all aspects of your financial situation typically involve 10-25 hours of work and meeting time.

We provide a proposal for your planning project after our initial consultation, when your personal needs are fully identified. Fees will not exceed the proposal and do not change once agreed upon.  Once your financial plan is complete most clients prefer to reduce costs by following our detailed implementation instructions to follow through with our recommendations. If help with implementation is desired we can certainly assist. However, implementation assistance is not included in our fee estimates, but is charged separately at our hourly rates.

Personal financial plans for new clients are billed on a project basis. Average fees range from $2,500 to $10,000, depending upon the complexity of your situation.

*Julie Asti is a licensed Life and Health Insurance Agent with the State of California (license #OE67228). She may receive commissions from insurance-related products that she recommends to clients. Clients are under no obligation to purchase any insurance products and may choose to implement insurance product recommendations with another agent of their choice.