Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Our offices are open Monday – Friday 9 AM to 5:30 PM.
We are closed Saturday & Sunday.
Over the years, we have found that our firm works most effectively with people who share some or all of the following characteristics:
- A desire to live a more meaningful life.
- A willingness to creatively brainstorm with us – to engage in a continuing dialogue about the goals that drive their life values.
- A willingness to delegate unwanted work to a professional financial advocate on an ongoing basis.
- An understanding that there are many ways to live and openness to exploring their choices.
- A willingness to make a shift in behavior if it furthers their long-term goals.
- Consider our firm to be the chief financial officer of their personal and/or business life.
- Realistic investment objectives and a willingness to communicate those expectations to our firm clearly.
- A commitment to honor the engagement by delivering financial information and completing necessary tasks on time.
- Confidence in our advice and a commitment to ignoring financial propaganda (i.e., cable news, financial magazines, well-intended friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers).
- A willingness to accept the investment returns offered by the market, recognizing that there is no foolproof way to “beat the market” or achieve above-average performance.
- Recognition that we don’t have all the answers, but knows that we’ll work our hardest to get them and that financial planning – like life – is not an exact science.
- A desire to be a conscious and prudent consumer.
- Recognition that big goals can be achieved by making small changes consistently over time.
- A desire to have a financial plan that organizes their financial lives, and which uses their human and financial capital to create a result which helps them achieve their goals.
In consideration of the trust you place in us, we will commit to:
- Act as your fiduciary. Stripped of all the legalese that means treating your money with the same care and prudence that we would treat our own. We will always make recommendations that we believe are best for you. Period!
- Have no allegiance or obligation to any unrelated company, product, or service provider. If we recommend anything or anyone, it is because we think this is in your best interest.
- Get to know you as a person. Who you are sets the framework for understanding your financial goals and any possible fears and challenges you have concerning money. We will tailor our recommendations to fit you.
- Always treat your financial and personal information with the strictest confidentiality. We have a strict Privacy Policy and will reconfirm it with you annually.
- To treat you with respect, professionalism, honesty, and to maintain a nonjudgmental attitude toward the goals and information you present to us.
- Be readily available to you by email, phone, or in-person during business hours.
- Provide advice even if you may not want to hear it or also if this causes you some discomfort. The people we work with prefer us to be honest whenever we encounter what seem to be unrealistic expectations, a pattern of living beyond one’s means or even an occasional disconnect between stated goals and financial decisions. We will tell you the bad news along with the good-and there will sometimes be both!
- Our mission is to offer you an open structure in which we can customize a plan for you. Your unique plan will be created using only the tools in our toolbox that add value for your situation. Together, we will function as the architect and builder of your plan of action.
- Additionally, we will freely make available the wisdom we have acquired through years of experience as the opportunity arises.
- Our mission is to offer you an open structure in which we can customize a plan for you. Your unique plan will be created using only the tools in our toolbox that add value for your situation. Together, we will function as the architect and builder of your plan of action.
Your Advisory Team or Client Service Advisor should contact you within two business days.
Wade Financial Advisory maintains an “Open Retainer” with all our clients. An Open Retainer means that you are not in contract and are free to terminate the relationship at any point if deemed necessary. However, when terminating, we require that you provide written notification at least 30 days prior to the next quarter’s engagement to ensure a seamless process.
Our planning services include mathematical analysis and forecasting, providing professional evaluation and advice, making specific recommendations, providing ongoing support, building a rationale for making decisions and acceptance of our fiduciary role as your financial advisor. We seek to enable people to make effective financial decisions and to find ways to become more effective in their personal and business lives.
Comprehensive financial planning integrates vital areas of your financial life:
- Goals and values identification (Providing a context for your financial plan as a whole).
- Tax planning (Keeping more of what you earn/Improve your wealth-building efficiency).
- Asset management (Your total investment picture).
- Disability and risk management (Protecting you from catastrophe).
- Debt management (Reducing unnecessary expenses).
- Estate planning (Transferring lifetime assets to heirs and/or to worthy causes according to your wishes).
- Charitable/social capital planning (Enabling you to give back to the community).
Each of these areas is important in helping you achieve personal financial success. Each of them also interacts with, and impacts upon, the others. If one of these areas is not considered before decisions are made, then there is a danger of taking actions that may, in fact, conflict with your actual needs. Often people work with us to put issues into perspective, and to make crucial decisions that require professional analysis.
We offer solutions using a comprehensive, consultative approach, intending to simplify your financial life. We cannot accommodate clients utilizing only one of our services. We find that using a holistic approach and coordinating a client’s financial planning, investment management, as well as tax planning, is the best path to achieving this goal.
While we do not have a minimum account size, our minimum Wealth Management fee is $2000 per quarter.
At Wade Financial Advisory our compensation is completely transparent. We charge a quarterly base fee plus a competitive % based asset under management (AUM) fee that is computed on the value of the assets we directly manage.
A financial planner who has a financial stake in the course of action that he or she recommends to a client faces an inherent conflict of interest and cannot be considered objective and unbiased. This is true even if the planner truly believes that he or she has only the best interests of the client at heart. Unfortunately, the vast majority of financial advisors in the United States are sellers of financial products. Some or all of their income may be dependent upon their ability to steer their clients to a limited slice of the thousands of financial products available today.
Putting aside the conflict-of-interest factor, limiting choices in and of itself often is enough to impact the quality of the investment advice. Non-fee-only advisors can include stockbrokers, analysts, insurance agents, accountants, and attorneys, as well as financial planners. Many of their clients are not aware of their advisors’ dependence on selling products, or they do not recognize its significance.
As a registered investment advisory firm, Wade Financial Advisory acts in a fiduciary capacity, meaning that we always put the interests of our clients ahead of our interests. Under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, any firm that is engaged in the business of providing financial advice for a fee is considered to be an “investment advisor.” These firms are required to be registered with the appropriate federal or state agency. As such, Wade Financial Advisory, Inc. is registered with the State of California.
The Financial Planning Association (FPA®) is the largest membership organization for personal financial planning experts in the U.S. and includes professionals from all backgrounds and business models. They help connect thousands of consumers to competent and ethical planners who uphold the FPA Standard of Care. FPA members are those who commit to the highest standards of professional competence, ethical conduct, and clear, complete disclosure to those they serve. They deliver advice using an objective, client-centered, ethical process.
An enrolled agent (EA) is a federally-authorized tax practitioner who has technical expertise in the field of taxation and who is empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service for audits, collections, and appeals.
Only enrolled agents, attorneys, and CPAs may represent taxpayers before the IRS. An enrolled agent can advise, represent, and prepare tax returns for individuals, partnerships, corporations, estates, trusts, and any entities with tax-reporting requirements, and their expertise in the continually changing field of taxation enables them to represent taxpayers effectively at all administrative levels within the IRS.
Licensed by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, a CFP® must pass an advanced college-level course of study addressing financial planning subject areas, including insurance planning and risk management, employee benefits planning, investment planning, income tax planning, retirement planning, and estate planning. Also, they must pass the comprehensive CFP® certification examination and obtain at least three years of full-time financial planning-related experience. To maintain the designation, a CFP® must complete 30 hours of continuing education every two years.
It's never too late to take the first step or get a second opinion.
Contact us today to speak to one of our trusted advisors and learn how our team can partner, educate, and guide you on your path to financial confidence.