Frequently Asked Questions
At Passport Wealth Management we leave no questions unanswered. To help answer some of the most common financial planning questions, we have compiled the following Q&As for your reference. If your question is not answered below or you are interested in a consultation from a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ PROFESSIONAL – Contact Us or Schedule a Meeting.
Anybody can call themselves a financial planner or a financial advisor. To become a CFP® Professional takes a combination of experience, education and examinations. Then, as a CFP® Professional, I’m held to a very high ethical standard. There is no substitute. Click here for more.
I am a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ PROFESSIONAL and a Registered Investment Advisor. I am not a stockbroker nor insurance agent and do not sell any product.
I am Fee-Only which means 100% of our compensation comes to us from our clients.
Not at all. Fee-Only means just that, all our income comes from the fees paid to us directly by our clients. When an advisor calls themselves Fee-Based, they may be collecting fees directly from clients, but they may also be collecting commissions or some other revenue from somebody other than their direct client.
A fiduciary is ethically, morally and legally obligated to act in the best interest of their client, putting the client’s interest ahead of his or her own.
Yes, it sure does. NAPFA takes the CFP® certification to the next level, requiring me to submit a comprehensive financial plan to be reviewed by my peers, requiring that I be fee-only AND, requiring that I do double the amount of Continuing Education required of me by the CFP® board.
We utilize mutual funds in our portfolios and each of those funds has expenses paid to it from within the fund. These fees will never be displayed as a line-item expense on any transaction report. We strive to utilize low cost funds and our overall fund average cost is quite low.
There are also transaction costs ranging from $0-$24 but most of our funds trade at $10. We have several techniques to keep this cost as low as possible.
Of course. We can meet face-to-face virtually and I’m not afraid to get on an airplane from time to time if necessary either. Many ‘local’ clients prefer to meet via phone or web conference as well, it’s simply more convenient.
If you choose to work with us, most of your accounts will be held at TD Ameritrade and you can access your accounts via their webportal or app. Likewise, we have our own webportal and app and you can access your information there as well.
This business is intensely personal. I couldn’t imagine entrusting my most precious treasure and aspirations to somebody answering a 1-800 number. By choosing a small firm, you’re not choosing the firm so much as you’re choosing the advisor—the very person you want to work with. This is a long relationship you’re about to start and probably not one you want to undertake with someone trying to climb the corporate ladder.
Still, when you choose to work with small firm you shouldn’t have to give up the safety and security offered by a large corporation. We’ve partnered with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”), amongst others, to serve as the custodian of your assets. We don’t work for Schwab, we work with them in service to you. Your accounts are held at Schwab and you simply grant us the ability to interact with Schwab in certain ways on your behalf. Bernie Madoff didn’t have a relationship with Schwab or any other custodian, his clients’ accounts were held at his own company where he was free to put anything he wanted on a quarterly statement. When you get a statement from us, it should match your statements from Schwab.
We strive to passively own the market, with an eye toward the long-term. Click here to see more about our investment management philosophy.
Yes, but possibly with adjustments for age/time horizon and risk tolerance.
People who believe their best years are ahead of them and want to make sure their finances are working for them, rather than the other way around. Click here to see some case study examples of how we work with different types of clients.
Yes, we do. You can check regulatory filings at brokercheck.finra.org.
Ready to Find Out More?
Schedule a consultation to speak with a fee-only financial planner.
Our Affiliations:
