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Decoding The Headlines

Our blog decodes the stories you see on the news into simple and straightforward concepts that are easy to digest.

exterior shot of Hess Financial in Harrisonburg home of Hess's CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™

When Should You Hire A Professional CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™?

April 18, 2024

You don’t have to reach a certain age or have a certain dollar amount in the bank to hire a financial planner; it’d be easier to know when it’s time if you did! Ultimately, the decision is yours. This article reviews situations where seeking professional guidance instead of going solo makes sense.

Sara Kate Garman, CPA sitting at her desk reading about Roth IRAs.

The Roth IRA: Advantages For Every Stage Of Life

April 10, 2024

This article explores the tax-friendly features, investment potential, and flexibility of Roth IRAs. Sara Kate Garman, CPA explains why they’re a great financial tool for every stage of life.

Sara Kate Garman, CPA sitting at a table with Stephen Hess, a financial planner, discussing taxes and investment strategies.

Maximize Wealth, Minimize Taxes: Your Ultimate Guide to Tax-Efficient Investing

March 18, 2024

Sara Kate, CPA, offers tips on tax-efficient investing that may hold the key to growing your wealth while minimizing the impact of taxes.

taking notes during meeting with financial planner about taxes

It’s Time To File Your Taxes! Are You Taking Advantage of These Key Incentives?

March 11, 2024

In this article, we outline three incentives that all taxpayers should take advantage of no matter their stage in life.

Kevin Flint, CFP®, standing at his desk smiling for photo.

How To Harness The Benefits Of Donor-Advised Funds In Your Tax Planning

February 26, 2024

Kevin Flint, CFP®, explains how donor-advised funds can benefit your tax planning and charitable giving strategies.

two people sitting at a table discussing financial planning and divorce planning

Top 5 Financial Planning Strategies for 2024

February 20, 2024

Start 2024 strong with these five financial planning strategies that help build a resilient financial foundation for the years ahead.

What’s the difference between a financial advisor and a financial planner?

Everyone’s favorite answer: it depends! “Financial Advisor” and “Financial Planner” have become job titles and are used interchangeably by most. Traditionally speaking, a “financial advisor” is registered with FINRA to trade and provide advice on investments; a “financial planner” typically goes beyond trading/recommending investments and focuses on the impact of long-term planning related to topics like taxes, retirement, estate planning and insurance. We highly recommend reading this article on Investopedia that breaks down the answer and encourage you to always ask your professional partners about their licenses and designations.

What does the independent firm in your logo mean?

As an independent firm, we are free to make recommendations based solely on what’s right for you, without bias or pressure to promote a particular product, strategy, or hit any kind of quota. We have the flexibility to explore various providers and ultimately find the solutions that will meet your needs the best. This, in combination with the CFP® Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, means that we are only accountable to you when making recommendations.

How will I pay for your services?

Building and maintaining relationships is time consuming! We value flexibility to work with people in a wide array of different situations, so how you pay for our services will depend on how you want to engage with us. The fee for our typical relationship has two parts, an Annual Planning Fee and an Ongoing Asset Management Fee. This type of relationship gets you unlimited access to us throughout the year and allows us to be fully integrated into your financial life so we can provide support any time you need it.

Our Annual Planning Fee is based on the complexity of your situation, and our Asset Management fee is a blended schedule that decreases as your account balances grow. We go over both in detail throughout our planning process.

What is your approach to Investing?

We talk a lot about financial planning, but the goal of any plan we create is to figure out how we can establish an investment strategy that supports your goals. That being said, we are not market timers or day traders. We focus on long–term sustainability and we are big fans of the “Bucket Strategy”. Morningstar has a great article explaining this concept on their website.

Do you offer Socially Responsible Investing options?

Yes! In fact, this is one of the questions we ask during our first couple of meetings. Socially Responsible Investing, often referred to as “SRI” or “ESG” (Environment, Social, Governance) has been around for a while but is becoming increasingly popular. We like to educate investors on what this actually means and how it works. If you are interested in a Socially Responsible Investing strategy, we’ll specifically talk about your interests and go from there.

Is there a minimum amount of assets needed to work with you?

Some financial advisors prefer to work with clients whose assets fall within a particular range. Our approach is to work with clients who have enough complexity to find value in our hands-on, proactive approach to planning and asset management.

You mention “Complexity” a lot, what does that mean?

On the surface, most people don’t identify themselves as complex, but financial complexity can sneak up on you. Complexity can mean a lot of things, and it is more meaningful for us to talk about in the form of a conversation, but if we had to make a list:

The amount of assets you have (money or property)
Owning or being a partner in a business.
Owning or being interested in rental property (or alternative investments)
Having multiple retirement income streams (401k, pensions, annuities, rental property, trusts)
Having multiple options for retirement savings through your workplace.
Having certain lifestyle goals or a specific vision you are working towards.
Interest in retiring early.
Inheriting money, land, or a business.
Having goals to leave money to family and/or charities.

Can I do this myself?

Of course you can! Investment management isn’t rocket science, but it does require a lot of research and intentionality. While there are many benefits to working with a professional, we’d highlight three key advantages:

Recognizing Emotions and Behaviors. When the stock market takes a tumble or when you need to make a tough decision, having a relationship with someone that knows your life and can give you an objective opinion could save you from making bad decisions.
The freedom that comes with having a partner. There is an intangible benefit to having a financial partner that is always looking out for your financial well-being. It can provide a great sense of comfort to know that if something needs to be done, we will contact you and discuss it. This frees up time and head space for you to focus on other things.
Continuity of Care. If you or your partner pass away, we will know how to guide and help your family through that process and beyond so that financial matters don’t have to be top of mind while they are grieving.

Do you work with people who don’t live in Virginia?

Yes! If you don’t live in or around Harrisonburg, Virginia, don’t let that stop you from reaching out! We can meet virtually or over the phone, we don’t have to meet in person to get started. Each of our advisors is registered in a variety of states, the most updated list for each person can be found by following the links below:

Why are we so invested in the team approach?

One of our values is relationships, and not just with our clients, but with our employees. We value the team approach because it creates a supportive environment for everyone in our office to thrive and it creates a better outcome for clients. It also means that you have access to multiple people that can help answer your questions quickly, you won’t have to wait hours or days for someone to call you back.

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