"Your Vision, Our Guidance".

[1] Helping a client discover and understand their personal spending habits is a critical element of providing accurate advice.  Most Americans do not know that they are spending.....it is our job to make it painless, easy, and even fun to discover.  How can an advisor help you understand your "retirement number" if they don't know what you spend?  If they don't know your personal retirement number how can they help you select the right investments?  It call comes down to "lifestyle costs", and its our job to help you find it, because inaccurate spending estimates produce inaccurate plans and advice....a financial planning house of cards.

[2] A Wealth Advisor should partner with the best money managers in the world, not attempt to compete with them. No firm here in Ohio or anywhere "has a corner on the stock market".  Also, it has been said that "the best financial planners are not money managers, and the best money managers are not financial planners."  Investment advice has become increasingly commoditized throughout the internet age; investment-only advice is not a complete financial plan or a value-added relationship. 

[3]  Your various financial professionals should collaborate.  Insurance, tax planning, estate planning, banking, real estate, professionals sharing information leads to the most integrated and accurate outcomes and results in every instance.  Coordinated advice is simply better advice.  

[4] Risk Management is essential to long-term investment success, but most of the time is largely ignored by many investment professionals.  If a client works to save diligently to build a respectable retirement nest-egg, only to see their life savings exhausted because of the cost of long-term care....who is to blame? Or what about a client who faithfully meets with the tax professionals and investment advisors through the years, and then one-day finds themselves losing a large lawsuit and depleting their life savings because their car insurance liability limits didn't match their net-worth, who's to blame?  We feel that a real "Wealth Management Firm" assumes responsibility to review and discuss all areas of wealth management for each client.

[5] Tax planning and advice is essential to be integrated into each and every investment and portfolio decision.  There is a very commonly used phrase in the investment management world:  "please consult your tax advisor for specific recommendations on how this trade will effect your tax liability....."   Our view is that your investment professional is saying this you are sitting in the wrong office. 
A critical part of managing your investment portfolio is being mindful of how tax decisions throughout the year prior to 12/31 in order to maximize tax brackets and minimize long-term tax liabilities.