Free Financial Planning Consultation

Many of our clients do have the knowledge and a firm idea of what they would like to do – they don’t have the time. Others have limited financial knowledge. We understand that managing your finances is not an easy task, and we want to make the process as easy and stress-free as possible.

It all starts with a phone call.

Before we meet in person with clients, we first like to schedule a ‘get to know you’ phone consultation. In this call, we learn a little about you, your situation, and why you are looking for a financial planner. This allows us to see if there is a fit between what you are looking for and our services. If there is a match, we’ll talk briefly about our services, our process, and our fees. You can decide if you’d like to move forward and set up a meeting from this conversation.

Complimentary Initial Consultation – Project Clients

Because this is such an important decision in your life, we want you to feel completely comfortable with us. So, we invite our project clients to set up a free initial consultation to determine whether our firm is the right fit for you. In this initial consultation (about an hour), we discuss your financial situation, goals, issues, and concerns. In this meeting, we mutually determine the scope of your project. Once an agreement is signed, we’ll gather additional information via phone conversations, e-mail, and mail while working on the formation of your plan. We schedule additional in-person meetings as necessary.

* Clients wishing to engage our services on an hourly basis do not receive an initial complimentary consultation as the meeting’s focus is to provide specific investment and financial planning advice.

Completely Confidential

We also understand the sensitive issue of sharing one’s personal financial situation, and we hold your information in the highest confidentiality. We liken our role to that of a doctor or lawyer and do not ever share or discuss your financial situation with anyone. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

PLEASE NOTE:  EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATLEY THESE   SERVICES ARE TEMPORARILY  SUSPENDED

A Comprehensive Financial Plan usually includes the elements listed below. We can work with you on these services as stand-alone projects, depending on your specific needs. Some clients do not need assistance in every area, or they may choose to focus on a few specific areas of current concern.

PERSONAL FINANCIAL

• Budgeting and cash flow analysis
• Assets and liabilities management
• Scenario analysis (moving to a larger home, new job, staying home with a new baby)
• Financial goals planning (i.e., college funding, retirement saving, home down payment)

INVESTMENTS

• Asset allocation and portfolio construction
• Portfolio review and re-balancing
• Specific investment advice (purchases, sales)
• Account specific advice (i.e., rollovers, consolidation)
• Education planning and funding
• An objective review of third-party money managers

RISK MANAGEMENT

• Life insurance needs analysis; amount and type of insurance
• Disability and long term care insurance recommendations
• Current property and casualty insurance policy review (auto, homeowner’s, umbrella)

TAX PLANNING

• Tax projections
• Tax implications of various financial decisions (i.e., home buying, income changes, capital gains)

RETIREMENT PLANNING

• Income and cash flow needs analysis
• Retirement projections and scenario analysis
• How much to save; which accounts to fund
• How to take distributions from qualified retirement accounts strategically

ESTATE PLANNING

• Recommendations on estate planning documentation needed
• Referral to qualified estate planning attorneys

SPECIAL PROJECTS

• Rental real estate
• Stock option planning
• Other projects as requested

It all begins with a phone call. We set up a brief introductory call to ‘meet’ and discuss your specific situation and needs. If all sounds good, we move forward to an in-person meeting – either a paid hourly meeting or an initial consultation for financial project clients.

All clients will be asked to complete and send in an asset questionnaire before our meeting so we have time to review their situation.

We set up a one-time, 2-hour meeting for hourly clients to address their specific questions/issues. This is best suited for clients who ‘just need an answer’ or have a specific financial issue facing them that they would like addressed. They don’t need a full project; they need help with something specific, such as allocating their 401k or crunching numbers on a new home purchase. We don’t schedule a complimentary meeting for hourly clients as our meeting is focused on getting them specific advice (not gathering information to create a proposal).
We set up a complimentary one-hour meeting for project clients to discuss their financial situation and talk in-depth about their goals, concerns, and issues. The result of this meeting is a proposal for financial planning services based on your specific situation and needs.

If you move forward with a financial planning project, we will gather information/data from you to start building your plan. The planning process takes about 4-6 weeks, with the end result being a financial planning presentation meeting where we go through all the analysis, recommendations, and action items in detail. From that meeting, we work with you to put your plan into action.

After all action items are put into action, we continue to work with you over time to monitor, fine-tune, and maintain your plan. All future engagements will be billed hourly, as needed.

Is a Financial Planner Worth the Expense?

We charge for our services just as attorneys, doctors, or any other professionals do. It would be best if you thought 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 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 ongoing financial planning relationship, we’re paid on a fee basis rather than 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 your situation’s complexity 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 – Project Clients

Entering into a financial planning arrangement is a critical decision, and we want you to feel completely comfortable with us.  After an initial phone meeting, we encourage project 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 meeting’s focus is to provide specific investment and financial planning advice.

<!– Removed Oct 22 2021 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 $400 per hour.  Our time spent on hourly clients is billable as we are actively working on your project.–>

Project Financial Planning

Project financial planning fees will vary from client to client based on your situation’s specific needs and complexity. Comprehensive plans addressing all aspects of your financial situation typically involve 10-25 hours of work and meeting time. Our minimum project plan is 10 hours or $3,000, and most plans will fall somewhere between the $3,000 – $7,000 range depending on a client’s specific situation. Projects are billed at a discounted hourly rate of $300 due to the number of hours required to create your plan.

We identify your specific financial planning needs during your initial consultation, and we incorporate this information into a customized proposal for your planning project. 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 implementing our detailed instructions on their own and follow through with our recommendations. If help with implementation is desired, we can certainly assist. Please note that implementation assistance is not included in our fee estimates and will be charged separately at our hourly rates.

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

Asti Financial Management works with all investors providing quality financial and investment advice – from those just starting out to do-it-yourselfers to those investors with significant assets in their portfolios.

We realize that each individual’s financial situation is unique. While someone just starting out may need a detailed, long-term plan of action, another investor, who is already on the road to achieving their goals, may need a new strategy, professional insight, fine-tuning, or a second opinion of an existing plan. We custom tailor our services to meet each individual’s needs.

Individual financial goals can be short-, intermediate-, or long-term. Reducing current income tax liabilities, for example, is a short-term goal, while funding a child’s education an intermediate one and enjoying a secure financial retirement a long-term goal.

We approach financial planning with our clients as a long-term relationship. It begins with our getting to know each other to make sure there is a ‘fit’. In order for any financial planning to be successful, there has to be synergy and trust. We understand that a person’s finances are one of the most personal aspects of their lives and need to be treated as such.

The first step in our financial planning process is to get to know you and truly understand your personal financial style, goals, and dreams. We then develop a solid plan with action steps tailored to your unique financial situation. We believe that it is important to present all relevant financial alternatives to develop a plan to achieve your goals and be consistent with your personal financial philosophy. Our goal is to help you arrange your financial affairs most efficiently and effectively and, most importantly, provide you with peace of mind.