Frequently Asked Questions

1. What does Fee-Only mean?
2. Why is Fee-Only important?
3. What services does Financial Guidance Group, Inc. provide?
4. How do you select investments for a person?
5. How much do you charge?
6. How much will my financial plan cost?
7. Are your fees tax-deductible?

1. What does Fee-Only mean?
   Fee-only describes Financial Guidance Group, Inc.’s compensation method. We are only paid by our clients, rather than commissions and sales fees, so our advice is not colored by any third parties or outside influences. We work for you and you alone, not a mutual fund or insurance company.
   
   
2. Why is Fee-Only important?
   Fee-only is important because it removes any compensation-related conflicts of interests between you and your planner. The typical broker or planner is paid not by the quality of their advice, but by how much product they sell or how many transactions they perform. Their incentive is to sell, not provide better investment returns or individual advice. Also, since the products they sell are usually insurance, annuities and mutual funds, they have no incentive to help you with other important areas of your finances like budgeting, tax planning, or other pertinent questions like buy vs. lease or rent, should I refinance, etc.
   
   
3. What services does Financial Guidance Group, Inc. provide?
   We offer financial planning and investment management services. For financial planning, we work with clients in several ways. We charge an hourly rate for clients who have a specific financial dilemma or who just want a second opinion on their finances. We also perform a full financial plan or even a module of a plan. For clients who want to hire a professional to watch over their investments, we have investment management services. With this we monitor your account to ensure it is allocated properly and maximize all tax benefits.
   
   
4. How do you select investments for a person?
   The most important part about selecting investments is to first understand your goals, risk tolerance and time until you need the money. These factors will give us a good idea of how we should allocate your portfolio overall. From there we look at economic factors, the valuation of various assets, and past performance of various funds and indexes to get the specific investments for your portfolio. While each individual has unique needs, we ensure that we broadly diversify each of our client’s portfolios.
   
   
5. How much do you charge?
   We charge $150.00 per hour (four hour minimum) for targeted financial planning, and a percentage of assets under management for people who hire us to manage their investments. The percentage is based on a sliding scale so the more assets you place with Financial Guidance Group, Inc. the lower your fee percentage will be. To get our exact fee, please click here.
   
   
6. How much will my financial plan cost?
   That depends on what you want us to do exactly and the complexity of your situation. At our initial meeting, we will ascertain the issues you want resolved and the complexity of these issues to give you a fee quote. Once we give you this quote we will not increase the fee. However, if it does not take as long as we estimated, we will charge you less than our original estimate. Generally, we find that a comprehensive financial plan runs anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 (for very complex situations).
   
   
7. Are your fees tax-deductible?
   Yes. Section 212 of the Internal Revenue Code permits an itemized deduction for tax and/or investment advice in the miscellaneous section of Schedule A. It is subject to a 2% floor of the adjusted gross income on a personal tax return.

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