There is a lot more to creating a financial plan than just picking the right investments. A financial advisor or wealth manager can not only help you plan for your goals, but he/she can also educate you and encourage you as you work toward them, providing explanation, education, and helping to manage investor expectations and behavior. They can help you steer clear of not-so-savvy market behaviors and avoid the “big mistake” and other financial pitfalls that you might not even be aware are there. A 2019 Vanguard study estimated that the value of a financial advisor can add as much as 3% in potential value to an investor, with a combination of strategies the financial advisor can provide.*
Research also shows that people who work with a financial advisor generally feel more confident about their finances and feel more prepared for retirement.
We offer a wide variety of services, each of them with different types of compensation. We are independent financial advisors and are not paid more to recommend one company over another. We have a fiduciary duty to make recommendations that are in our clients’ best interests. We have access to thousands of different investment and insurance companies and we make our recommendations based on each individual client situation. We are paid predominantly in three ways:
- If we work together in helping you manage your portfolio of investments, we will be paid for that service based on a fee of assets under management. This fee is discounted depending on the size of the portfolios being managed.
- If we help clients with insurance planning, we are paid a commission from whatever insurance company we utilize and those fees are already factored into the cost of the insurance product. In addition, certain investment products are only available on a commission-based platform, such as ABLE accounts and 529 Plan accounts.
- If we work together in helping you create your financial plan without implementing an asset management strategy through us, we will be paid a flat fee for being your financial planner, just like you would pay your attorney or CPA.
Yes. It is important that we understand the needs of our prospective clients before we engage in a relationship with them. We recognize that we are not a fit for everyone, nor is everyone who contacts us a good fit for us.
There is no charge for our Envision process where we explore your vision for your future, and we review your current financial situation and financial goals. Our analysis is part of our process and is critical to put us in a position to make recommendations that best suit your needs.
We have a wide range of clients from different ages, diverse backgrounds, and occupations. Some are sophisticated investors, others are novices. But, while they are very different from one another in some ways, certain traits define them consistently and are worth acknowledging. Here’s the profile of an ideal client for Kramer Wealth Managers:
- They care. They are people who care about others, care about themselves and care about the world.
- They save. Our clients are responsible with money and are seeking a team to help them grow and preserve what they’ve saved. They are not looking for quick fixes.
- They learn. Our client population is comprised of learners who love to grow in their financial intelligence and appreciate being with advisors who can take the time to share.
- They believe. A good fit client for Kramer Wealth Managers is a person who takes the time to hire an advisor they can believe in and trust. We aren’t a fit for clients that don’t.
While we primarily work with deaf and hard of hearing clients using ASL, we do also have a staff interpreter to seamlessly work with hearing clients that do not sign.
Yes. All of our Wealth Managers are fiduciaries which means they are required to act in your best interest.
We are independent advisors so we do not have any proprietary products, nor do we have any incentives to offer one type of product over another. There is no cookie-cutter approach for our clients. Each investment portfolio is tailored to each individual client needs. We may use stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, insurance products, separately managed accounts, or a combination of all the above, depending on the client’s needs.
Your initial meeting with us is an opportunity to discuss your financial goals and concerns. There is no fee or obligation associated with his consultation. The objective of the introductory call or meeting is for you to become comfortable with our Wealth Managers, for us to get to know you, and to see if we are a good fit to work together. We focus on how we can help answer your questions by getting to know you.
In order to be in a better position to make recommendations or give guidance that best suit your objectives, we will then ask for additional details about your current financial situation and resources. Everything is held in the strictest confidence.
Once we have had a chance to gather complete information on your current situation and goals, we can complete our analysis and will schedule a second meeting where we will go over everything and answer any questions you may have.
Typically, most clients meet with our Wealth Managers at least annually, like visiting a doctor for an annual check up. However, we are completely flexible to cater around you and your schedule. We encourage our clients to contact us any time there is a major life change such as a job change, death in the family, salary increase or decrease, or change in objectives. At the same time, if we determine a change is needed at any time within the year, we will reach out as well.
Osaic Wealth is our Broker/Dealer firm and/or Registered Investment Advisor, with whom we have chosen to affiliate with for our securities registrations. They are a member of FINRA/SIPC and registered with the SEC. They are a network with over 11,000 affiliated financial professionals. Osaic provides us with compliance supervision, technology platforms, and operational support for us to better serve our clients.
Pershing, LLC is owned by BNY Mellon and is our custodian and clearing firm for our clients’ brokerage accounts. Clearing firms work with various financial exchanges to handle confirmation, delivery, and settlement of your financial transactions. They also handle all tax reporting and produce the monthly statements and tax documents for our clients who have brokerage accounts.
