Service Models

Partnership Structures to Match Your Needs

Our clients' needs generally fall into one of three buckets, which align with our three service models:

One-time or sporadic support needs (see Advisory Consulting model below). For example:
- "It's Open Enrollment for benefits. I need help choosing benefits, withholdings, and retirement savings!"
- "We're ready to buy a house... or are we? How does the home buying process work, and how much house can we afford?"
On-going periodic support (see Partnership model below). For example:
- "I need the accountability - good or bad - of sitting down with someone a couple times a year to see if I'm on track for my long-term goals. Wait... what even are my long-term goals?
Comprehensive financial roadmapping (see Magnolia Mapping model below). For example:
- "My daughter is graduating into a very different economy and workforce than the one I worked in throughout my career. She doesn't know how to balance a budget in a world where an entry-level white-collar job barely covers the rent on an apartment. Frankly, I'm as lost on these topics as she is, but I want someone trustworthy who can point her down the right path."

These needs align with our three service models below.

Advisory Consulting

Advisory Consulting is generally for one or more event-driven needs. For a fixed rate, a personal financial advisor will sit down with you over coffee, beer, or via Zoom to guide you through your challenge.

Your advisor can clarify terminology and implications, identify unforeseen risks or opportunities, and ultimately offer advice for a path forward.

Advisory Consulting hourly rates are as follows:

Students: $39 per hour
Young Professionals (under 30) and Home Buyers: $59 per hour
Mid-Career, Family Starters, Retirement Savers: $79 per hour

Partnership

The Partnership model is intended to be an on-going structural relationship between you and a personal financial advisor with regular periodic check-ins to support your trajectory toward long-term goals.

We pride ourselves on democratizing financial empowerment, so our ultimate success is teaching you enough about money that you don't need us any longer! Think of this as the "education" Partnership model.

We're also happy to engage in a more hands-on partnership in which your advisor will recommend certain direct actions for you related to banking, saving, investing, etc, and directly perform these actions on your behalf. In this capacity, an advisor will work with you to paint the big-picture vision of your future, but can then also execute some or all of the button-clicking if you prefer.

In order to closely align your advisor to your own financial self-interests, the partnership model charges a fee based on your personal "assets under management". The better you do financially, the better your advisor does. Under this model, your year-end fee is a percentage of your net worth, as follows:

NW under $10,000: $499/year
NW from $10,000 to $100,000: 3%
NW from $100,000 to $1M: 1%
NW $1M+: 0.5%

Magnolia Mapping

For a flat fee, an advisor can layout a comprehensive roadmap of your potential financial future. This roadmap, referred to as a "Magnolia Map", can incorporate as many variables as you want to share with your advisor, including:

Your background (education, credit history)
Current financial situation (assets, liabilities, incomes)
Trajectory (career growth, family growth)
Milestones (dependents' education, home ownership)
Goals (dream home, retirement age and location, nest eggs)

Your advisor will author your Magnolia Map, deliver it for you to keep as a reference (both digitally and professionally bound), and review it with you page-by-page so that you are left confidently in the driver's seat of your own financial life.

The flat fee for comprehensive financial roadmapping, and delivery of your own Magnolia Map are as follows:

Standard financial circumstances: $399
Complex financial circumstances: starting at $599 (call to discuss details)