Frequently Asked Questions
The questions worth asking before you pick up the phone.
Honest answers — about our approach, our fees, and what happens when you book a call.
01
The approach
We build retirement plans the way a good architect builds a house — from the foundation up, sized to the life it has to hold, designed to stand for decades. Our focus is narrow on purpose: protect the portfolio against the risks that can break a retirement, increase the probability of investment success, and turn what you've saved into income that lasts as long as you do.
Every plan is built for one household. There is no template. There is no model portfolio you get dropped into. There is the work you've done, the life you want, and the strategy that connects the two.
We specialize in Phase 2 retirement planning — individuals and couples age 55 and up who are within ten years of retirement or already in it. The accumulation phase is largely behind them. What's in front of them is harder: making thirty years of savings last across an unknown horizon, through markets they can't predict, against inflation they can't outrun.
That's the work we do. It requires a different toolkit than the one that got them this far.
Anyone who:
- Wants an unbiased second opinion on a portfolio they're not sure is built for what comes next.
- Holds an IRA, 401(k), 403(b), brokerage account, or pension and wants to fully understand what they own and how it actually works.
- Is tired of vague reassurance and wants a written plan that answers the only question that matters: will this last?
02
Fees, fiduciary duty & how we work
Yes — we have a fiduciary duty to act in our clients' best interests. We're fee-based, which means clients pay us directly (typically as a percentage of assets under management or, in some cases, a flat planning fee). We can also be compensated by commission when an insurance product — an annuity, life policy, or long-term care solution — is genuinely the right tool for the job.
The standard critique of this hybrid structure is that it creates conflicts of interest. We disagree, and here's why.
Building a retirement income strategy is the work of integrating tools with different strengths to manage risks that no single tool can cover alone — longevity, market volatility, inflation, sequence-of-returns, spending shocks. The financial services industry tends to split into two camps: investment-only on one side, insurance-only on the other. Each accuses the other of bias, and each has its own. The advisor charging on assets under management has a built-in incentive to keep portfolios large. The hourly planner has an incentive to make advice complex enough to require ongoing engagement. The insurance-only agent has an incentive to recommend the products that pays them.
Our position is agnostic. We start from what the math and the research actually show, then we use the tool that fits — investments, insurance, or both — without ideology. An advisor who refuses to consider half the available tools isn't avoiding conflict. They're just defending a camp. That, to us, isn't what a true fiduciary looks like.
Yes — and intentionally a limited number at a time. Plans built the way we build them require attention that doesn't scale infinitely. We'd rather do the work right for fewer households than do it adequately for many.
Our strategies are designed for households with at least $500,000 in investable assets. That's not a velvet rope — it's a fit question. The kind of integrated income, tax, and risk-management work we do is most meaningful at that level and above. Below it, the planning architecture we use is generally heavier than what the situation requires.
Yes. We're based in Orlando, FL and meet in person with clients in Central Florida, but we work with households across the country. Most meetings — including the 20-Minute Consultation, planning sessions, and ongoing reviews — can be conducted virtually with the same depth as in person.
03
The 20-Minute Consultation & getting started
Most people who sit down with us already have an advisor. They come for a second opinion — because the philosophy and process behind a plan matter, and you should be sure yours is built for the retirement you're actually planning to live.
The 20-Minute Consultation has one objective: listen. Understand your goals and concerns. Determine, honestly, whether what we do is the right fit for what you need. If it isn't, we'll tell you. If it is, we'll tell you that too.
The 20-Minute Consultation is complimentary. Twenty minutes. No pressure, no obligation, no follow-up sales sequence.
It's a conversation — we ask about what you've built, what you're worried about, and what a successful retirement looks like to you. You decide what happens next.
Nothing formal. You don't need to pull statements or assemble a binder. It helps to have a rough sense of:
- The accounts you hold and roughly what's in each.
- When you'd like to retire — or when you did.
- The one or two questions keeping you up at night.
That's enough for a productive first conversation.
If we both agree it makes sense to continue, the next step is a deeper discovery and analysis of your current situation, followed by a written plan: your Built to Last Retirement Plan™. You can see the full sequence on our process page.
Schedule your consultation directly on the calendar — pick a time, answer a few short questions, done. Or call us at 888-589-1021. Either way, the first step takes less than two minutes.
Still have a question?
The best answers come from a conversation.
Twenty minutes. No pressure, no obligation.
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