Hourly fee Financial planning





UnBias Financial
Advice
When Needed

welcome

I’m Kurt Mueller, Certified Financial Planner
CFP®

I became a financial planner to be an advocate for my clients because I believe that everyone should have access to competent and objective advice.   My personal goal is to provide clarity that helps my clients discover a path to financial freedom.  Also, I founded my own independent practice to be absolutely free of conflict of interest. I am a Certified Financial Planner™ Practitioner and have spent over 35 years in investments, securities brokerage and financial services.  My undergraduate degree is in Economics and Business.  I have extensive experience in financial and investment management.  I was a registered broker for 25 years and I have held the following NASD licenses: 7, 8 and Series 63 and 65.   I have completed the certification program in Personal Financial Planning at Marquette University. 

I work with individuals and couples who have a broad range of planning needs.  We provide clients with a road map that produces goal clarity and a sense of direction and control over your financial future.  Our most common engagements are in three areas:

  • Retirement capital needs analysis to determine if resources will match longevity.
  • Investment analysis and recommendations to reduce risks and improve performance.
  • Plans for dealing with competing objectives such as college funding vs. retirement.

 

We specifically target clients who are looking for objective analysis and are willing to make a commitment to take control of their financial future. 

We have no minimum fees or asset requirements.  I offer a complimentary “Get Acquainted Meeting” to answer your questions and assess your situation and understand the complexity and scope of your situation to provide a written estimate of my fee.

Fees will depend upon the complexity of the analysis and the amount of 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 $225 per hour.

Financial planning fees are determined on a project basis; the total fee for a financial plan will vary from client to client based on the specific needs and complexity of your situation with projects typically ranging from 5 to 10 hours of work. An estimate is provided after the Get Acquainted Meeting, when your personal needs are fully identified.

Once your financial plan is complete, you determine how much ongoing assistance you want with implementation and investment monitoring.  As part of each engagement we are available to answer questions about the plan and to provide guidance about implementation.

expertise

My Specialties

Financial Planning

There are five key elements in the 
Planning Philosophy: 
(1) Begin with what’s most important to clients – their goals, 
(2) Prior to retirement, focus on savings and the goals to be funded from the investment portfolio, 
(3) During retirement, create many goals, separating necessary expenses from discretionary ones, 
(4) During retirement, show a cash flow of income and expenses 
(at the level reasonable for long-term planning), 
(5) Make valid, supportable assumptions (again, at the level reasonable for long-term planning).

A Plan is not effective if clients don’t understand or are overwhelmed by the presentation of their results. 
Clients are less likely to take the necessary actions to implement the recommendations in a Plan if the results are unclear or confusing. With a presentation of clients’ results; 
we also explain the results in straightforward, uncomplicated language. 

Results are never Pass/Fail. Many other programs spend the clients’ money until it runs out, and then say the Plan failed. 
Perhaps better, 
never says the clients’ Plan failed. 
Rather, is how an estimated funding percentage for each goal. To help clients get on track, adding the appropriate action items, in their own words, for each 
Client Presentation.

Pre-Retirement

When working on your clients’ pre-retirement goals, it’s important to focus on the effect an event will have on the clients’ portfolio. Additions and returns increase the clients’ portfolio while expenses (goals) decrease a portfolio. Pre-retirement, only expenses paid from assets in the clients’ portfolio should be included as goals. Expenses, such as new cars and vacations, funded from the clients’ current income, don’t need to be input. Other expenses, like college costs, are often funded, at least partially, from investments, so those would be entered as financial goals. Savings towards these long-term goals will be entered as additions to the portfolio. Potential additional savings can be included if the client thinks they will be able to save even more.

Prior to retirement we use marginal federal and state tax rates, to calculate taxes on investment earnings. As with all other assumptions, while we default to the marginal rates, you can adjust rates, if you desire.

Retirement

During retirement, we also begin with the clients’ goals. Once a client retires, all of their expenses will be funded from their Retirement Income and their investment portfolio. While you could create a single goal for Retirement expenses, we recommend you separate basic living expenses from “Lifestyle Goals,” which will account for discretionary expenses such as travel, gifts, and new cars. This will allow you to provide a more meaningful plan and more useful recommendations.
During retirement we implement a cash flow method for all income and expenses at the level meaningful in a long-term plan. Using  progressive federal and state taxes each year.  
We can provide four detailed retirement distribution reports, Retirement Distribution Cash Flow Chart, Retirement Distribution Cash Flow Graphs, Cash Used to Fund Goals, and Sources of Income and Earnings.

Portfolio Review

A portfolio evaluation that lets you define and manage your investment goals,
risk tolerance,
experience and time horizon, then shows whether your current investments match the profile you have generated.
This summary of the results of your Portfolio Checkup compares your current portfolio information with the proposed portfolio you selected...
(Based on a risk assessment). When deciding how to invest your money, you must determine the amount of risk you are willing to assume to pursue a desired return.
We have no minimum fees or asset requirements.  Fees will depend upon the complexity of the analysis and the amount of 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 currently of $225 per hour.

“NAPFA” 

National Association of Personal Financial Planners

 https://www.napfa.org

“Fee-Only” network 

“Garrett Planning Network”

https://garrettplanningnetwork.com

FIP ADV 2024 part 2

https://familyinvestmentplanning.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/FIP-ADV-updtd-2024-part-2-PDF.pdf