Frequently Asked Questions

What is your core financial planning philosophy?

It is our opinion that you have the right to spend the wealth that you have worked hard to accumulate.

Bad financial actors have an incentive to scare you out of spending that wealth, so that they can annuitize fees and profit while you live in fear of running out.

Via rigorous education and modeling, you can come to understand your retirement spending limits and make your own choices about how to spend your wealth - whether that is spending down to $0 or leaving an intentional legacy for your heirs.

We want to help you craft a truly intentional retirement strategy that will allow you to live the best life possible for your unique situation.

Why Should I Consider Hiring Peak Financial Planning?

We will help you solve the following problems:
1) How much portfolio income will you require in retirement?
2) When can you actually retire?
3) How much risk are you actually taking with your investment assets?
4) Are you saving appropriately to meet your goals?
5) Are you investing appropriately to meet your goals?
6) How do you monitor your financial health? How frequently?
7) Do you have a method of evaluating how future investment opportunities will fit with your financial goals?
8) Do you have “Financial passenger” insurance?
9) Are you paying more than you should in taxes?
10) Do you have your financial goals documented?

Answering these questions will create a stable foundation upon which you can make wise financial decisions.

You can learn more about our retirement expertise by checking out our YouTube guides, reviewing a sample financial plan, or reading our blog.

How Does PFP Make Money?

We are fiduciary, fee-only (commission-free) financial planning firm.

We lead with financial planning which we charge a flat first year fee of $5,000 for, regardless of income or wealth level. Year 2 onwards we charge $416.66/month ($5000/yr) for financial planning.

For households for whom we manage above $500,000 in investments, we waive the financial planning fee and charge a transparent percentage (%) of investments being managed (.75% - 1% per year).

All of our clients receive ongoing retirement, tax, and income planning as well as tax-efficient investment management.

Our goal is to ALWAYS provide you value far in excess of the fees you pay. By saving you time, helping you avoid costly mistakes, making tax smart decisions, and protecting your investable assets we enable you to retire without worry.

Can You Meet Virtually / Work With People Elsewhere In The USA?

Yes! We currently help approximately 50 households across 7 states navigate the retirement risk zone, pay less in taxes, and make smart money decisions.

Do You Work on an Hourly or Project Basis?

Unfortunately we are not equipped to work on project or hourly basis.

We do our best work helping retirement savers who are looking for a long term fiduciary partner.

If you are looking for a financial planner who offers project or hourly based services, you may want to consider using a directory such as Garrett Planning Network or NAPFA and searching based on that criteria.

Are you a Fiduciary 100% of the Time?

We are indeed fiduciaries 100% of the time. We are proudly commission free and operate under a “Best Interest” standard. You can learn more about Best Interest versus Suitability standards here.

How Are You Different From Other Financial Advisors?

When you go to the Doctor for the first time, they take your blood pressure, your heart rate, weigh you, measure your height, and perform other diagnostic tests before they diagnose or prescribe you solutions.  

Financial advice SHOULD operate the same - but in most cases it doesn’t.  

If an advisor wants you to start by rolling over money or prescribing investment solutions without going through a rigorous financial planning process, that’s an immediate sign to head for the hills.

At Peak Financial Planning, we lead with a financial planning process that includes interviews, document gathering, model building, and getting to know you as a PERSON.

Only once we understand how you think about money, how you feel about money, how you’ve made money decisions in the past, and what you’d like your money to do for you in the future, will we recommend investment options that are consistent with that.

Financial plans are living breathing documents. There is no such thing as a static point in time plan that will work for the rest of your life. Things in your life change - your employment, your income, your health, your family, your preferences.

Your financial plan adjusts and adapts with that, which in turn helps you make smarter investment decisions that are consistent with your financial plans.