Financial Advisor Palo Alto

What should you look for as you consider different wealth managers in Palo Alto? This page will give you good information about the most important decisions. And if you decide Pillar might be a good fit company, you can schedule a free consultation call access it at any time.

But first, understand that what you’re looking for is different from what you want. What you want is what we call ‘financial serenity.’ This is the feeling you experience in the absence of worry, concern, or fear about anything related to your future – even after you die – when it comes to your finances.

As a high net worth or ultra-high net worth investor in Palo Alto, this is the feeling you are after. It is the goal of performance. The reason for results. The motivation for what you’re looking for in a financial advisor. Keep reading to see how you can grasp hold of financial serenity.

Table of Contents

What to Look for in A Financial Advisor Customized Financial Planning Process What to Avoid – Financial Advisor Warning Signs What Does A Financial Advisor Do? Wealth Management – Financial Planning with Your Advisor How much does a financial advisor charge? When Should I Hire A Financial Advisor? Life Situations that Require Financial Planning Financial Advisor Palo Alto, CA – Finding the Best One for You

What to Look for in A Financial Advisor

Boiled down to its essence, you’re looking for two things from whichever Palo Alto financial advisor you work with, whether they are based in the 94304 zip code or somewhere nearby.

You’re looking for trust and results. That’s it. If you find an RIA Advisor – (Registered Investment Advisor), you have found someone who is also bound to the fiduciary oath to only act in the client’s best interests and never their own. There is no better indicator of trust than this.

The fiduciary promise is fundamental because there are so many ways for an advisor who is not acting as a fiduciary to make extra money off you without you knowing it. They can recommend investment options that give them higher commissions or fees. They can recommend annuities or other questionable investments that pay them more and lock your money away. Here’s one cautionary tale of what happened to an investor who didn’t use a fiduciary.

When choosing a financial advisor, it should be non-negotiated that they act as a fiduciary. There’s much more in the Ultimate Guide mentioned earlier about choosing the right advisor. Get your free Guide.

Customized Financial Planning Process

What does it take to get results? If you want the best possible results regarding performance and financial serenity, you need to find a wealth manager who has a customized planning process.

We’ll detail our own customized financial planning process a bit later. But powering that process for any financial planner must be asset allocation, which is the greatest factor in investment advice.

Yet, so many financial consultants, even those serving ultra-high net worth investors in Palo Alto, rely on market timing, past performance, the illusion that they are ‘good’ at picking the best investments, and other emotion-driven beliefs that ignore historical data that’s there for all to see.

Also, so many advisors focus solely on investment strategy and ignore all the other ways to increase your overall net worth. One of the greatest of these is looking for ways to save you money on taxes. Tax minimizing strategies look different for everyone because everyone’s situation is different. For instance, here are 10 ways to avoid the estate tax, if that’s a concern for you.

Tax planning is another way that customized planning is essential because you want a wealth manager who knows your situation and is always looking for ways to bend the curve to your advantage. Find out if Pillar can reach our goal of $100,000 in savings per $10 million invested for you. Schedule a quick call.

What to Avoid – Financial Advisor Warning Signs

Much more detail about this is found in the Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Financial Advisor. Still, most of all, you want to avoid working with financial advisors who don’t obsess over minimizing your costs. There are several hidden and avoidable costs – detailed in the Ultimate Guide – that needlessly waste hundreds of thousands of dollars, or millions if enough time goes by, for high net worth investors. Whichever financial advisor you choose, make sure they have a list of avoidable costs they use to save their clients big money and a process for methodically reviewing them periodically.

Pillar’s wealth advisors are always on the hunt for needless financial losses to help our clients avoid. This is one of the main ways we save new clients $100,000 for each $10 million invested. Meet our founders and learn our basic approach to performance and service.

Overstated Expertise

Another warning sign arises from presumed expertise that may, in fact, not exist in the places most people look for it. We have noted frequent examples in the news of high-dollar venture capitalist types who have made colossal and catastrophic blunders. Follow the financial news for a few months, and you’ll see them too. The biggest banks, the most eye-popping deals, the flashiest IPOs…and then they’re gone to the dustbin of history, like AOL-Time Warner. Remember them?

Template-Driven Financial Planning

You will also encounter many financial advisors, even independent wealth managers, who use a cookie-cutter approach to financial planning. They ask the same questions and offer the same basic choices to all their clients. They funnel them into a few plans, primarily distinguished by varying degrees of risk tolerance.

The truth is, risk tolerance is not the place you should be starting your conversations with wealth managers. So if that’s their first question to you, that’s a warning sign that you need to find someone else. It matters, but it’s not the only thing that does when deciding your asset allocation.

These are industry norms that you need to shift away from, and there are others. Here’s a quick guide with 5 shifts you need to make before working with a financial advisor.

What Does A Financial Advisor Do?

Wealth management is all about financial performance and protection. Many focus only on the performance aspect. But for high net worth investors, protection is just as important. If you have $30 million, what’s more important to you – doubling it to $60 million or avoiding the loss of $20 million in the next recession? Both have happened in real life to people we know.

And the truth is, both are equally important. You want to protect and solidify your gains and continue to build for the future. For an in-depth look at how Pillar protects your wealth, get a free complimentary copy of our book, The Art of Protecting Ultra-High Net Worth Portfolios and Estates: Strategies for Families Worth $25 Million to $500 Million.

There are at least seven ways to protect your wealth from loss and seven ways to grow it at a level that ensures you the financial serenity and the desired lifestyle outcomes you seek. See all 14 in this revealing article.

Customized Financial Planning Revisited

This brings us back to the need for customized financial planning and what that really means. It can’t be overstated how important it is to create each client’s plan around their specific needs, financial situation, and short and long-term goals.

Pillar’s process is so different from that of nearly every other wealth manager you will speak to. It relies on a combination of historical data, mathematical projection of how your portfolio will perform in 1000 simulations, quarterly rebalancing, and ongoing adjustments as your life situation changes. It’s really an amazing experience. Want to see what our process projects for your portfolio? Get a free wealth management analysis.

What Pillar wealth management understands and what any financial advisor you work with should know is that every plan will fail if left alone for too long. What matters to you now will be different in ten years, if not five. Children are born—couples divorce. People pass away unexpectedly. Businesses fail. Businesses merge and prosper. Inheritances happen. Unexpected medical complications arise.

Life happens. And when it does, it will affect your financial realities, and therefore also your financial plans. It would be best if you had an advisor who not only understands this but has baked this truth into their planning process.

Anything less will leave you short-served at the most critical moments. For an in-depth look at our innovative planning process and how it delivers optimized performance and financial serenity, read this short ebook, Improving Portfolio Performance: The Shifts Multi-Millionaires Must Make to Achieve Financial Security and Serenity.

Wealth Management – Financial Planning with Your Advisor

This is where a wealth management firm starts to differentiate itself from the run-of-the-mill financial advisors. A financial advisor crafts a plan, advises you on what to do, and then they might leave it alone to run on autopilot.

But a wealth manager manages your portfolio continually, perpetually, and actively. How might this look? Let’s look at a couple of quick examples.

Retirement Planning

In the years leading up to and after retirement, you will have to make an abundance of decisions. Many of them have a great impact on your short and long-term finances. And as stated earlier, those plans will change, sometimes quickly, depending on what life throws at you.

Still other decisions are time-sensitive. When you reach a certain age, you must decide when you want to start receiving social security benefits, for example. You’ll have to take the required minimum distributions. You may want to cash out stock options you’ve held onto for a while.

All of these decisions and many others have tax ramifications, particularly for high net worth investors if managed incorrectly. A customized plan will factor all of this into its timeline. A proactive wealth manager who pays attention to your specific portfolio’s progress will not miss any important deadlines. You won’t have to worry about it, because we are on it.

Inheritance Planning

At some point, there’s a good chance you’ll receive a large inheritance. Or, you might also get a windfall from a business sale or exit package. What should you do with this huge cash infusion? Again, the tax consequences alone will require a lot of work if you want to keep what was meant for you as much as possible.

Life will continue changing. Your financial plan should evolve with it, not stay stuck in a drawer and forgotten, only to hope that it turns out okay years later. It won’t. A neglected plant never grows.

How much does a financial advisor charge?

According to the Financial Planning Association (FPA), the cost of having a financial planner will vary from $2,500 to $3,500 to create a financial plan, and then around $3,000 to $3,500 yearly if you have an ongoing partnership with the FPA.

Financial advisors most frequently charge fixed fees. This entails charging a fixed fee for a specific service. Some advisors will charge an initial fixed fee to assess your needs and establish a strategy, followed by a continuing fixed fee for continuous advice from finance professionals.

When Should I Hire A Financial Advisor?

Do you really need a financial planner with all of the knowledge available in print media, books, and various websites devoted to financial planning?

Researching by yourself is a possibility, but to do it properly, you’ll need to devote a significant amount of time to stay current on all adjustments in investing and insurance laws, among other things. Changes in the tax laws or other regulations can affect your financial situation. Changes in your investment management mutual fund options may also significantly affect your finances.

Life Situations that Require Financial Planning

An individual may require financial advice as a result of a specific event. Inheritances, major losses, and major life events are common occurrences. If you find yourself in one of the following situations, you might want to consider financial advice:

• You’re getting close to retirement and want to make sure you’re on the right course.

• You just inherited money from a parent and would like some advice about managing it.

• You’ve just gotten married and need guidance handling your finances as a couple.

• You’ve recently been divorced and need financing to get back on your feet as a single person.

• Parents are growing older, and they (and we) need help in handling their overall financial situation.

• You do not like saving and financial planning and obtain professional assistance to ensure that the future is not compromised.

• You enjoy financial planning and saving, so you’d like a second opinion to see if there’s something you could do differently.

At some point, everyone needs to develop a long-term financial plan that includes considerations for retirement, paying off your house, funding your children’s college education (if you have them), estate planning, and a timeline for when you can actually retire. These are important factors to consider as you look for a financial advisor in Palo Alto.

Financial Advisor Palo Alto, CA – Finding the Best One for You

Your best choice for financial planners or wealth managers depends on many factors. The Ultimate Guide is the perfect tool for investors with $10 million or more. You are strongly encouraged to use it!

For additional help, here are 10 tips for finding the best financial advisor in Palo Alto near you. While working with a local advisor isn’t always necessary, if it matters to you, then it matters. Whether you’re in the 94301 zip code, our financial planning and wealth management services are right around the office corner. Although Brighton Jones wealth management is on the list, at 228 Hamilton Avenue, 3rd Floor, Palo Alto, it’s not the only option you have. Pillar Wealth Management exclusively serves clients who have $5 million to $500 million in liquid assets. This kind of planning is essential for optimal Palo Alto wealth preservation. You deserve the best service, which is why we provide innovative solutions to help you achieve your financial goals. We don’t just present you with one possibility; we work closely with you, comparing various situations and involving you in the decision-making process.

One thing you can be sure of – if you want the sort of help that only an independent wealth manager is capable of providing – is that you should avoid the big banks and large brokerage firms. They seem better because they have slick branding, TV commercials, and amazing websites. But those companies frankly were built to appeal to the masses. They serve millions of customers because most of their customers have less than $20,000 to invest. Their customers need it easy, automated, and self-serve.

You could benefit from having much more. If you think Pillar Wealth Management might be the right fit for you, don’t miss this chance while it’s on your mind. This is possibly the most important decision – and moment – for the rest of your life. See what we’re about if you want some basic questions answered. Then click the button below and schedule a free phone or Zoom call. Schedule a free call today

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