Do you sell insurance products?

While we don’t actually sell insurance, through the planning process we can help you determine what risks you have and what type and amount of coverage is appropriate.

It is not uncommon for us to recommend canceling or reducing the coverage if the associated risk is either no longer there or has decreased since the policy was purchased.

We make recommendations based on the client’s need not a desire to generate a commission.  Once a course of action is determined, we will work with your preferred insurance agent or assist you in finding a suitable policy through other reputable sources.

What is the difference between active and passive investing?

Active investment management is the use of analytic research, forecasting, experience and expertise to decide what securities to buy or sell and when.  This process aims to achieve a greater rate of return than the market by identifying mispriced assets.

In contrast, passive investing subscribes to the Efficient Market Hypothesis and promotes index investing based on the premise that it is not possible to beat the market.  These are the two main schools of thought in investment management and attract significant debate and contention within the industry and academia.

Which do you use?

We employ an active investment strategy as we feel greater returns can be achieved with this method.  While the majority of investors don’t beat the market, our results have shown that it is not impossible.

Our process can be referred to as “tactical asset allocation” in which we make changes to our recommended allocations to client’s core holdings of stocks, bonds, and cash based on our current Market Outlook.  With these adjustments we aim to add value for our clients by anticipating broad market and economic themes.

We also utilize active mutual fund managers, who we entrust to make the decisions of which specific companies are best poised to profit from these themes.  While many tout index funds because of lower expense ratios, our experience has shown that there are fund managers who are worth the higher cost and we spend a lot of our research time trying to identify those managers and make sure the costs are appropriate for the value provided.

Our Internship Program

Financial Symmetry instituted our internship program in 2000, working in collaboration with the career center and several finance professors at North Carolina State University.

Students are able to work at our office and gain invaluable experience in the industry as well as general knowledge of an office environment.  The internship program is designed to last for one semester or during the summer.  The intern positions are part-time and accommodate class schedules and school responsibilities.

Many of our interns have pursued careers in this field after graduation, and a few have gone on to attend graduate programs.  We have found the internship program to be a learning experience for us as well.  Different perspectives and frequent training of interns helps our staff design more efficient systems and operating procedures.

Our interns can expect to see many sides of the financial planning industry - from initial planning work and continuous investment review processes to marketing efforts and research.  We strive to provide our interns an environment where they can gain knowledge of different aspects of financial planning that will help them have a more successful and rewarding career.

If you would like more information about our internship program, please contact Heather Gudac at hgudac@financialsymmetry.com.

Our Current Interns

We are excited to have three interns on staff this summer: Grace Rooth, Chris Kott and Cameron Hendricks.

Grace is a rising senior at NCSU majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.  She is on track to graduate in the spring of 2011.  When she is not traveling and exploring new places with her friends and family, Grace stays active in the Student Wolfpack Club and University Scholars Program at NCSU.  Grace is also a member of the Bay Leaf Baptist Church College Ministry and participates in their Bible Study Fellowship. 

Chris is a senior at NCSU majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.  He is also pursuing a minor in accounting.  Having grown up in the Triangle area, Chris enjoys NC State athletics and is very excited about the upcoming football and basketball seasons.  When not attending NC State sporting events, you can find Chris enjoying outdoor activities - hiking, camping, fishing, playing golf or softball just to name a few.

Cameron is a rising senior at NCSU majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance.  He is also studying for a minor in accounting.  Cameron grew up in New Bern, NC and enjoys spending time at the beach with his family and friends.  Joining the rest of our Wolfpack intern staff, Cameron enjoys following NC State athletics and is an active member of the Student Wolfpack Club.
 

Why do I need an investment strategy?

Many investors use the “bucket” approach to saving for their life goals. 

For tax efficiency, it makes sense to use different accounts for retirement, college funding, travel, etc.  After all, you wouldn’t want to take an early withdrawal from your IRA to go to the Caribbean if you have the funds available in your savings account.  However, using a different investment strategy for each account may wind up negating any tax efficiencies and therefore, tax savings. 

Loss of a job, injury, and divorce are just a few examples of unplanned events that can override the tax reason why you chose a certain type of account.  Additional factors such as limited investment options in an employer-sponsored plan put even more emphasis on coordinating a single investment strategy across all of your accounts.  This approach provides the optimum flexibility when real life doesn’t match up with even the most carefully planned goals.  

Retirement Goals: a Couple Wades through all the Retirement Savings Options

Jack and Jill recently moved to the area and came to us to determine if they could achieve their goals of retiring in 10 years and building a second home at the beach as they have always dreamed.  Jill accepted a job as a professor at a nearby university and Jack is an engineer for a national software company.

In addition to their retirement goals, they are also seeking guidance on choosing investments in their various employer sponsored plans and reducing their tax liability.  Since Jill is a new hire at the university, she has several different retirement programs to choose from, including the state pension system, an optional retirement plan (457), and a 401k or 403b.

Questions to Answer

• Is their retirement goal feasible?
• How much should they defer to retirement plans?
• What retirement plan option should Jill choose?
• What tax-saving strategies are available to them?

Planning

Since they both have high incomes and live a fairly modest lifestyle they have accumulated significant net worth in their current and former 401k plans by maxing out their contributions every year.  While this has reduced their taxable income, they would like to defer more of their income from taxation if possible.  They have also built up significant cash reserves in CDs and a money market account.

As a faculty member at the university, Jill has the option to opt out of their defined benefit pension plan.  As an alternative she can participate in their optional retirement plan (ORP/457) which also offers an employer match.  With either plan she can also make unmatched contributions to a 401k.

Since Jill may not be with the university long term and is comfortable with investment risk, we decided that she would opt out of the pension plan and contribute to the ORP instead.  This will allow her to defer the maximum contribution limit and “double dip” by also contributing the maximum to the state’s 401k plan.

Jack will also max out contributions to his company’s 401k plan.  By choosing the ORP, Jack and Jill were able to reduce their taxable income considerably while saving aggressively for early retirement, keeping them on track for their target date and the beach house.

Ongoing

Since their long term picture looked promising, Jack and Jill felt confident that they could monitor their cash flows using the targets we set in the planning process.  They became investment management clients to benefit from continuous monitoring of their 401ks and retirement accounts.

We recommended rolling over most of the plans from previous employers into an IRA to consolidate those accounts and offer a greater investment selection.  There was one plan in particular that had very good low cost investment options, so we chose to leave that account in place for now.

For their current employer sponsored plans we analyzed which funds were best within each plan so that we could balance those accounts with our preferred mutual fund choices in the accounts with a wider selection.  We also set up a joint brokerage account to hold their cash reserves and incorporate those funds into their comprehensive investment strategy.

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Phone

919-851-8200

Fax

1-888-494-7878

Mailing Address

1511 Sunday Drive
Suite 120
Raleigh NC 27607

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Why do I need a financial planner?

A Financial Planner can help you stay on track towards meeting your goals, and help identify cost savings and strategies to improve your financial picture.

An investment manager can also improve your long term investment performance by applying a personalized strategy and avoiding short term market-driven decisions that can hinder results.

 

Do you have an investment minimum?

No, we do not have a strict minimum.  While our Investment Management service is most beneficial to clients with at least $100k in investable assets, we make our decisions for new investment management engagements on a case-by-case basis.

If I become a client, who will I work with?

Financial Symmetry uses a team approach in our client relationships to utilize areas of expertise and efficiencies throughout our firm.

Our Investment Management and Wealth Management clients have at least one primary and one assisting advisor. 

Our Financial Planning clients have at least one primary advisor, who consults with our other CFP® advisors depending on the areas of expertise needed. 

All of our clients benefit from our CPA, Will Holt, CFP®, who helps our clients realize tax and cost savings strategies.

What types of accounts do you manage?

We manage a wide range of investment accounts such as:

• Taxable Brokerage (Joint, Individual)
• IRAs (Traditional, Roth, Beneficiary, SIMPLE, SEP, Educational Savings)
• 403(b)s
• 457(a)s
• 401(k)s
• UTMAs, 529 College Savings Plans
• Trusts (Revocable, Irrevocable, Charitable, Family)

Please feel free to contact us to see if we can assist you in a account type that is not listed.

If I invest with you, where will my money be held?

Financial Symmetry does not hold or have custody over any of our clients' investments.

We use an independent, preferred brokerage clearing house to hold many of our clients investment accounts. 

Employer sponsered retirement accounts are held with your employer's preferred custodian.

Does FSI Have a Privacy Policy?  What is it?

Yes, Financial Symmetry Inc. follows a privacy policy. 

 

Our Promise to You

As a client of FSI, you share both personal and financial information with us. Your privacy is important to us, and we are dedicated to safeguarding your personal and financial information.

Information Provided by Clients

In the normal course of doing business, we typically obtain the following non-public personal information about our clients:

• Personal information regarding our clients’ identity such as name, address and social security number;
• Information regarding securities transactions effected by us; and
• Client financial information such as net-worth, assets, income, bank account information and account balances.

How We Manage and Protect Your Personal Information

We do not sell information about current or former clients to third parties, nor is it our practice to disclose such information to third parties unless requested to do so by a client or client representative or, if necessary, in order to process a transaction, service an account or as permitted by law. Additionally, we may share information with outside companies that perform administrative services for us. However, our contractual arrangements with these service providers require them to treat your information as confidential.

In order to protect your personal information, we maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information. Our Privacy Policy restricts the use of client information and requires that it be held in strict confidence.

Client Notifications

We are required by law to annually provide a notice describing our privacy policy. In addition, we will inform you promptly if there are changes to our policy.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions about this notice.

What licenses are available in this industry and which ones does FSI have?

There are many, many licenses required to trade in the security markets. Each license covers fairly specific types of trading. Financial Symmetry, Inc. is a Registered Investment Advisor Company. 

Bill Ramsay is a Certified Financial Planner® and has the Series 7, Series 65, Series 63, and Series 26 licenses. 

Chad Smith is a Certified Financial Planner® and has the Series 65 license.

Allison Berger is a Cerftified Fianancial Planner® and has the Series 65 license.

Will Holt is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Financial Planner®. He does not hold any licenses.

Heather Zaczek does not hold any licenses.

 

The following is a complete list of all the licenses regulated by the NASD:

License Number	Brief Description
Series 3	Commodities and options on futures
Series 4	principals involved in option trading
Series 6	buy & sale of mutual funds, variable annuity products, and variable life insurance products
Series 7	allows you to buy/sell everything but commodities
Series 9 & 10	for those in management/supervisory roles over series 6 people
Series 11	assistants who take orders and give quotes
Series 22	buy/sell flow through tax consequences
Series 24	for general securities principals
Series 26	an individual who will function as a principal for the solicitation, purchase and/or sale of mutual funds, variable annuities, variable life contracts and insurance premium funding programs, and other contracts issued by an insurance company
Series 27	rules and record keeping
Series 28	individuals responsible for the record-keeping requirements of introducing Broker/Dealers which do not carry customer accounts or hold customer funds
Series 31	involvement in the futures industry will be to market interests in commodity pools
Series 39	an individual who will function as a principal for the solicitation, purchase and/or sale of programs providing for flow-through tax consequences such as oil and gas programs, real estate programs and S corporation offerings
Series 42	qualifies a candidate to sell a broad range of options and must have Series 62 in addition
Series 52	individuals selling municipal bonds who do not have a Series 7 license
Series 53	a municipal securities broker or dealer and to the supervision of the activities of municipal securities representatives
Series 55	individuals acting in the capacity of an equity trader of NASDAQ and over-the-counter equity or convertible debt securities as a market maker, proprietary or agency trader
Series 62	qualifies an individual for the sale of corporate stocks, corporate bonds, rights, warrants, real estate investment trusts, collateralized mortgage obligations and securities of closed-end companies registered pursuant to the Investment Company Act of 1940
Series 63	Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination
Series 65	required by many states for investment advisers and financial planners
Series 66	encompasses 63 and 65 and allows you to buy and sale mutual funds, variable annuities, and variable life products

How is this Industry Regulated? Who Oversees Regulation?

There is not a single regulatory structure that covers financial planning and investment services. The structures that do exist for individuals providing such services are largely based upon methods of compensation.

Commission Sales:

Insurance:  State Insurance Departments regulate insurance agents. An agent who conducts insurance business in a particular state must be licensed by that state. Agents are considered to have two masters to serve: the insurance company(s) they represent and the customer.

Click here to go the NC Insurance Commissioners site

Investments: Brokers who sell registered securities are regulated primarily by the NASD, which stands for the National Association of Securities Dealers. These brokers must be registered as representatives of an NASD registered broker/dealer.

Click here to go to the NASD site

Fees-Based Planners:

Investment advisors are covered both by the SEC at the federal level and various state regulations. In general individuals providing investment advice must by registered as investment advisory representatives in their state.

Click here to go to the SEC site

Click here to go to the NC Securities Division site

Financial Planning

For planning services other than investment advice, there are no specific regulations at the state or federal level

The Certified Financial Planners Board of Standards

While not a regulatory body, individuals who have chosen to license the Certified Financial Planner designation must follow the high standards and guidelines established by the Board.

Click here to go the CFP Board site

Why should I choose Financial Symmetry Inc. over another company?

We understand that seeking out financial advice can be overwhelming.  Privacy, trust and expertise are all areas that you should consider when contacting a financial advisor. At Financial Symmetry Inc., we put our client's interests first and foremost by providing fee-only advice and investment management.

Recently, there seems to be a crisis of confidence among the general public toward the financial industry. We believe that confidence is built from four main sources: Structures, Systems, Culture, and Training. We have built our company around these sources, and continue to improve the way we conduct our business every day.

Read more about working with FSI.

How much money should I expect to spend on these services?

We believe that what clients really need is a financial advocate and feel this type of relationship can only happen with an independent fee planner. This removes any influence of a bank, brokerage house or insurance company whose interests may not be in line with the client interests. It also allows the planner to be open and unbiased about when it's appropriate to use or not use certain products — without regard for commissions. In our relationships, we have two different types of compensation depending on the type of relationship you desire.

• Managed assets — We charge percentages ranging from 0.25% to 1.50% per year of investments that we manage for you. It is non-discretionary; we work together.
• Hourly — Our hourly rates range from $40 to $120, depending on the task. This method is most appropriate if you like to do most things on your own or you would just like some occasional help or recommendations on specific issues.
• Wealth Management Services — This service is an add-on option to our Investment Management Service and is charged at an annual rate of 0.1% on top of your regular investment management fee. 

Our fee model allows us to be as objective as possible on your overall financial picture, while also allowing us to spend the appropriate amount of resources and energy on investment management.

How might a financial advisor help me?

• How do I know if I am saving enough for retirement?
• My wife and I are thinking about starting a family.  Can we afford her staying home with our new baby?
• Do I need a will?
• Am I saving money in the right accounts for my situation?
• When should I start saving for my children's college education?
• I just inherited a large sum of money. What do I do?
• One of my parents just passed away. How do I handle their investment assets?
• I am hearing rumors that my company is going to start offering early retirement packages in lieu of laying off employees. How do I know if early retirement is something that I can entertain?
• Am I utilizing tax strategies wisely?

These types of topical or situational questions can be the motivations for you to pursue financial planning services, and with good reason. A thorough financial planning analysis will explore issues like this, as well as some which you may not have considered. Each individual has their own set of circumstances to consider. Through working together to establish goals while collecting and analyzing data, you can be armed with the information to make sound decisions for your future.

In many ways a financial planner is like a personal trainer for your financial health.

Achieving financial fitness -just like physical fitness- requires a good plan and regular attention. To accomplish this task, we can help you develop a comprehensive financial plan tailored to the needs of your particular situation, including a detailed breakdown of how your financial picture may develop in the future.

Can you help me with my 401(k)?

Whether you are just starting a new job, changing jobs, facing retirement or inheriting a 401(k) from a spouse or family member, we can help.

We can take a look at your investment choices, the rate you can contribute, options for a possible rollover into an IRA, as well as helping you decide on naming beneficiaries.

We can help you with many different types of retirement plans other than the typical 401(k) as well, such as 457(b), 403(b), SIMPLE IRA, SEP and SAR/SEP IRA plans.

Feel free to contact us with more specific questions, as we look at each individual situation on a personalized basis.

How are you paid?

We are paid only by our clients.  We provide fee-only financial planning and investment management advice to individuals and their families.

Financial Planning

We start 94% of our client relationships with a personalized Financial Plan. Our financial planning service is charged on an hourly rate, with complete servicing normally ranging from $300 to $3,000, depending on the complexity of your situation.  We typically complete a Net Worth and Cash Flow Projection that helps to answer whether you can accomplish your goals.  This process also yields increased efficiencies which save you money by "tuning up" your financial strategy.  We also evaluate your future cash flows which helps to determine an appropriate risk capacity for your portfolio.  We are more than happy to provide you with a quote based on the information you provide us.

Investment Management

We charge percentages normally ranging from 0.25% to 1.50% per year of investments that we manage for you. The actual rate is determined by the type of investments as well as the level of flexibility we have in your particular accounts.  We can provide you with a quote specific to your situation.

Our Investment Management service enables your portfolio to benefit from our unique research process.  

Wealth Management Services

This service is an add-on option to our Investment Management Service and is charged at an annual rate of 0.1% on top of your regular investment management fee.  

Wealth Management enables you to have ongoing monitoring of your progress relative to the targets set forth in your financial plan.  You can see if you are staying on course and if you are not, we help you make adjustments to your targets or your goals.   

We will also review your income tax and estate picture.  This provides opportunities for tax savings, and piece of mind that your estate will be distributed the way you want.

Quicken Software Tips

What is Quicken and why should I use it?

Quicken is a brand of personal finance software that allows you to track your expenses and assists in the budgeting process. As many of you know, it can be hard to create a budget and even harder to stick to it.

The key to sticking to your planning is continuous monitoring. To do so, we generally recommend using software like Quicken that is designed specifically for expense tracking. Quicken allows you to easily download data from your bank account and other financial institutions that you use. Once downloaded, you can categorize each individual transaction so that you can create an accurate picture of where your money goes.

How many categories should I use and what are they?

Some common problems we see are trying to over-categorize and coding a large amount of regular expenses as one time occurrences. Simplification should be emphasized when creating your budget and categorizing each transaction. We recommend using the following categories:

• Clothing
• Communication (Phone, TV, Internet)
• Discretionary (Cash, Travel, Fun, Church/Charity Contributions)
• Food (Dining Out, Alcohol, Groceries)
• Debts (Mortgage, Equity Line, Car Payments, Credit Card or Student Loan Payments)
• Education (Books, Private School, College Tuition)
• Health & Hygiene (Gym Membership, Doctor Visits, Prescriptions)
• Household (Maintenance, Home Improvements)
• Investments (Roth/IRA Contributions)
• Risk Management & Financial Services (Bank Charges, Insurance)
• Taxes
• Transportation (Gas, Repairs, Car Insurance)

From these basic categories, you can create future sub-categories, but it is important to keep the bigger picture in mind when monitoring your expenses.

Should I be trying to hit the same number every month?

Comparing expenses on a monthly basis can be another source of frustration as there are many fluctuations that occur throughout the year (Holidays, Summer Vacation, etc.). Therefore, it is important to measure your progress against a rolling year period. For example: You’ve just finished January, so you will want to measure Feb 1st of last year to Jan 31st of this year against the calendar year amount of your budget. If the amount is more, then you know you are a little ahead of pace and you should scale back. Performing this exercise monthly can greatly improve your overall financial picture as it allows you to have greater control over your regular expenditures.

Worksheets

Understanding your Expenses is critical in developing a financial plan. Click here for our Expense Worksheet.

Use our Goal Development Worksheet to list your goals and set priorities. Click here for our Goal Development Worksheets.

Client Account Links

The Pershing Advisor Solutions link will take you to the log in page for viewing your Pershing accounts.

 

 

The Advisor Exchange link is for viewing your consolidated accounts.

 

Please let us know if you have questions about log ins, including requests to reset your password, or adding an account to your existing user ID.

Our Unique Research Process

Economic & Market Outlook

The purpose of our Outlook process is to attempt to find mispricings in the markets that can be exploited. We meet at least once per month to discuss our Outlook and decide what criteria to use when reviewing your investments. There are two categories that we use: Broad and Specific.

Broad — this determines where we would like to be at a given time within each of your asset allocation ranges. For example, the more optimistic we are on stocks, the closer to the top of your stock range that we would like to be.

Specific — we typically will have at least a couple of themes within each asset class that we seek to take advantage of. We may feel that long term US government bonds are more attractive than corporate bonds. Or we may feel that foreign stocks are more attractive than US stocks. We constantly review these themes in light of market conditions as we do not believe that we should be rigid in our thinking- no investment is a great investment at any price.

Securities Selection

Since our primary focus is our clients' personal situations, it is important to appropriately leverage our research resources. This makes mutual funds an attractive type of security, as we can leverage our Secular Outlook themes by choosing the appropriate styles of funds. The fund managers will then keep track of all the individual holdings within the fund, which is obviously very time intensive.

We have also identified characteristics common to above average fund managers, which can contribute additional value. Some of these characteristics are:

1. Independence — It is not surprising that mutual fund families of the large brokerage and bank companies have less than inspiring performance records.
2. Reasonable costs — We do believe that the best managers typically require better than average pay, though at the same time the highest cost funds typically are poor performing.
3. Focus on investing not marketing — Great performance and heavy marketing do not typically go hand in hand. We particularly loathe situations where heavy marketing follows a period of great performance as a deluge of new investors can actually hamper a manager's ability to continue doing well.

There are times when we use investments other than mutual funds, particularly for cash alternatives, and when someone holds a portfolio of stocks that would incur significant taxes if they were sold. There are also times when we will use index funds, typically when we do not feel there is enough inefficiency in a given area for an active manager to exploit.

Our Investment Review Process

Quarterly Investment Reviews

For our investment management clients, we conduct a review of your investments at least once per quarter. If there has been a significant shift in our outlook or your situation, we may conduct an additional review as necessary.

The primary issues we consider are:

• Does your investment portfolio match our Economic and Market Outlook?
• Are there any investments not on our preferred lists, which should be changed to a preferred choice?
• Are your cash flows in line with the targets that were used to determine your allocations?

Determining the specific investments you should hold at a given time, as well as your allocation strategy and other factors unique to your situation, we employ Economic and Market Outlook and Securities Selection processes. The heart of these processes is realizing that the investment markets are a competitive marketplace, so it is essential to appreciate where we are likely to have a competitive advantage. Time constraints must also be considered. Our primary focus is your personal situation, which means we must be very selective in how we allocate our research time.

Our Investment Philosophy

Successful investment management requires a disciplined strategy.

A strategy that is customized to your situation further increases the odds of success.  Gaining an appropriate gauge on your risk capacity and risk tolerance plays a vital role in your portfolio's composition.  When creating your investment strategy, our objective is to achieve the highest total return for your appropriate risk levels.

Due to ever-changing economic conditions and market prices, we feel that proper investment management requires continuous attention.  We also realize that no one can continuously monitor all necessary areas of the markets, so we delegate part of the investment management process to other managers, primarily through the use of mutual funds.

We understand that the investment markets are a competitive marketplace.

Our Unique Research Process helps us to understand where we believe we can gain a competitive advantage.  To do this, we generally spend 8-10% of our time on research alone, which allows us to spot broad mispricings in the markets that we feel can be exploited.

We invest with a 3-5 year focus that helps us avoid emotional decisions based on current conditions.  Reacting to those emotions can sometimes cause most investors to underperform.

We keep you informed and explain your investments.

Each quarter, we conduct a review of your investments:

• We conduct a full examination of your current investment picture, given the accounts we manage.
• We provide you with performance reports so you know how your investments are doing compared to benchmarks.
• We evaluate investment flows in and out of your accounts.
• We provide our current market outlook and how it relates to your individual portfolio.
• Your advisor will make recommendations for purchases, sales, asset allocation adjustments and cash flow needs.

NAPFA Membership

Two of our primary advisors are members of the National Association of Professional Financial Advisors. Those advisors are:

• Chad Smith
• Allison Berger

Membership in NAPFA is granted only to Fee-Only financial advisors who are paid directly by their clients. NAPFA members receive no commissions or other rewards for selling financial products.  Those forms of compensation create potential conflicts of interest that may serve to undermine an advisor's objectivity and fiduciary responsibility. 

NAPFA members also sign a Fiduciary Oath to "place the clients' interests first."

In addition to tough standards on client-friendly compensation, NAPFA has some of the industry's most rigorous education and training requirements for membership. All candidates for membership are required to submit a complete comprehensive financial plan for a full-scale peer review. Furthermore, NAPFA's continuing education requirements exceed those of any other association of financial advisors.

FPA Membership

All of our primary advisors are members of the FPA®.  Those advisors include:

• Bill Ramsay
• Chad Smith
• Allison Berger
• Will Holt

The Financial Planning Association® (FPA®) is a leadership and advocacy organization for those who provide, support and benefit from financial planning.

From its earliest designs, the Financial Planning Association (FPA®) included a mandate that members adhere to a Code of Ethics that reflects their commitment to help clients achieve their life goals. 

All FPA® members are asked to commit to this Code, CFP® certificants and non-CFP certificants alike.

FPA®'s Ethics Committee is charged by the Board of Directors with reviewing alleged violations to the Code of Ethics and advising staff on ways to enhance awareness by FPA® members of their obligations under the Code.

• Integrity
• Objectivity
• Competence
• Fairness
• Confidentiality
• Professionalism
• Diligence

The CPA Designation

About the CPA designation 

Having the accounting expertise of a CPA on our staff provides additional value to our clients.

Will Holt, CPA, CFP and partner in the firm has worked in the field of accounting for almost two decades and has been a CPA since 1998.

• A CPA, the common acronym for Certified Public Accountant, is an accountant licensed by a state board to engage in public accounting. 
• The requirements to become a CPA vary by state, but each CPA candidate must pass the Uniform CPA Examination and fulfill certain experience requirements. 

After gaining certification, a CPA is required to take continuing professional education courses to keep current on developments in the field. Both a CPA and a non-CPA can offer services in a wide range of accounting areas -- such as tax preparation, forensic accounting, and estate planning -- and often perform similar duties.

Only a CPA, however, can express an opinion on whether the financial statements of a public company present fairly its financial position. Thus public companies commonly hire a CPA firm to prepare the annual 10-K required by the Securities and Exchange Commission This form provides a comprehensive overview of the company's business and financial condition and includes audited financial statements.

The CFP® Designation

All of our primary advisors have earned the CFP® Certification. Those advisors include:

• Bill Ramsay
• Chad Smith
• Allison Berger
• Will Holt

CFP® is the highest standard in the industry for financial planning credentials. CFP® certification requires meeting rigorous professional standards including:

• completion of a CFP® Board Certified education program
• passing a comprehensive examination
• fulfilling three years of full-time industry relevant work experience
• complying with the CFP® Board Code of Ethics
• ongoing, yearly continuing education.

What is a Registered Investment Advisor?

Financial Symmetry, Inc., is a Registered Investment Advisor.

Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) is an informal designation describing a person or firm in the United States who has registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission or state regulatory agency (where the primary business is situated or multiple States in some cases) in connection with the management of the investments of others. The proper designation for a person so registered would be "An Investment Advisor registered with the SEC" (or a specific state if so registered).

By definition an investment advisor is considered to be acting in a fiduciary capacity on behalf of clients with a higher standard of disclosure and due care, a commitment to disclose, minimize and resolve conflicts of interest than would be found in a traditional securities brokerage environment. 

In addition, most RIAs are compensated on a fee-only basis (usually as a percentage of assets under management) rather than a commission basis.

In general, RIAs managing assets totaling less than $25 million must register with each state in which they have more than 5 clients. Firms managing more assets can register nationally with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Registration can be a complex process, taking longer than a month and costing several hundred dollars in filing fees, depending on the state or SEC. Registration requires that all employees of the IA (except those limited to clerical duties) pass the FINRA Series 65 exam or have completed an approved professional designation.

Our Professional Designations

At Financial Symmetry, we believe it is important to maintain high standards of expertise and business practices. 

That belief made it easy to choose to operate in accordance with SEC Registered Investment Advisor regulations which require a fiduciary standard in service to clients rather than the much lower commission product sales standards of FINRA regulated brokers or state regulated insurance agents. 

If you are interested in learning more about the difference between commissioned agents and fee only advisors, we recommend reading this Wall Street Journal article, titled The Fight Over Who Will Guard Your Nest Egg.  

Find out more about our professional designations:

• What is a Registered Investment Advisor?
  
• The CFP Designation
  
• The CPA Designation
  
• NAPFA Membership
  
• FPA Membership
  

Will Holt, CPA, CFP®

North Carolina #25694

Will has been a trusted advisor in the Triangle area for fifteen years. He has earned his reputation by working with small business owners and the other advisors that entrepreneurs rely on to build successful businesses.

By joining Financial Symmetry from the field of public accounting, Will believes he is uniquely positioned to assist clients with complexities in the area of taxation.  Our Wealth Management service is the perfect opportunity for Will to add his experience to our teamwork approach. He has held a North Carolina CPA certificate since 1998.

Will is a native North Carolinian and has lived in Raleigh for over twenty years. Raleigh has been good to Will as this is where he met and married his wife, Melanie.  They have lived in the same home since 1996 and have added two children – Olivia and Charlie – to the mix.

Will is active in his church and enjoys serving in various roles including assisting with financial stewardship. He is a graduate of NC State University and is an enthusiastic supporter of the Wolfpack. Other interests include trips to music festivals such as Wilkesboro's Merle Fest and Grassroots in Chatham County. Also, an avid fisherman, he looks forward each year to a fishing trip at the Crystal Coast.

wholt@financialsymmetry.com
919-851-8200 ext. 203

General FAQs

Investment Management FAQs

Financial Planning FAQs

Wealth Management FAQs

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Determining Your Risk Capacity

In building an investment strategy, your capacity for risk is the first consideration. Your capacity for risk is determined by comparing your future investment cash flows (how much you expect to add to or withdraw from your investments) to the total value of your investments. 

The more money you will be adding to your investments, the higher your capacity for risk. Withdrawing money from your investments indicates a lower risk capacity. A comprehensive cash flow projection is the best way to estimate your future cash flow. This does not in itself determine how much risk to take but rather how much risk you can afford to take. Your risk tolerance must also be considered. 

The chart below demonstrates the interplay between Capacity and Tolerance in determining your strategy's risk level.

Once your risk capacity and tolerance are determined, the next step is to set your asset allocation guidelines.  The three broad asset classes we use are:

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Cash

In most cases, we will help you define a range rather than a single allocation for each class.

Training

The training for the Financial Symmetry advisors includes meeting Certified Financial Planning requirements that include: education, examination, experience, and ethics. We value expertise over the focus on sales that is prominent today.

Obviously adequate training is important. The Certified Financial Planner® designation is the premier mark for training in financial planning. At too many large financial services companies, training is focused on sales rather than expertise in providing financial advice.

We are looking to better serve you through learning from the current events and trends that are visible in the financial service industry.

Culture

At Financial Symmetry, we strive to exhibit a culture of stewardship and ethics. We consider it our resonsibility to treat your money with the same care that we would treat our own. We have no allegiance to any company, product or service, beyond our belief in its ability to reach your goals. We invest our own money in the same funds that we recommend for our clients. Our ownership structure is designed to always be employee owners to prevent conflicts of interest with passive owners.

The scandals involving Bernard Madoff, Sir Allen Stanford, Enron, Arthur Anderson and Worldcom demonstrate what can happen when there is a culture of greed and lack of ethics. There are many cultural issues at financial service companies as well.  Some of this issues may cause conflicts of interest, such as with compensation plans focused on product sales or short term performance.

Chad Smith, CFP®

By using his decade of experience and the education he earned with his CFP license, Chad works with clients as a Primary Advisor.

This role allows Chad to identify his clients' needs and help them to reach their financial goals. He is an active member of NAPFA, the Financial Planning Association and FPA's NexGen. He has been quoted and appeared on WSJ.com, Bloomberg.com, Businessweek.com, Msn.com, Financial Planning Magazine, Triangle Business Journal, and Investment News.

Recently, Chad has taken a particular interest in educating seniors on the perils of financial fraud.

Partnering with the Cary Senior Center and a representative from the NC Attorney General's office, Chad's goal has been to spread awareness of ways to fight complicated financial scams aimed at Triangle senior citizens.

Chad grew up in the small western NC town of Hudson. After attending and falling in love with NC State he made his permanent home in Raleigh, NC.

Chad and his wife, Andriena, enjoy living close to downtown Raleigh with their dog, Match. He is a member of Hope Community Church, where he serves in several facets including the financial ministry team.

After getting engaged in the NC Mountains and getting married on a NC beach, Chad and his wife have spent more time traveling to new locations. Normally, this traveling includes several trips a year to visit his wife’s family in Arizona. When he is not attending NC State sporting events, Chad spends time perfecting his softball and golf swings.

csmith@financialsymmetry.com
919-851-8200 ext. 202

Heather Gudac

Heather is our Office Manager and Operations Specialist.  She began her career by joining us as an intern at the beginning of her junior year of college at NC State. Heather specializes in operations management, portfolio administration, and growth management.  She also oversees our internship program and assists with our marketing efforts.

Originally from New Jersey, Heather grew up east of the Triangle in the small town of Pine Level, North Carolina.  She graduated from NC State University with a Business Management degree, with a concentration in Finance. 

Heather and Alex, her husband, were recently married in November, 2009 and currently reside in Durham. They enjoy traveling to the many unique areas of North Carolina, with the Blue Ridge Mountains being their favorite spot.  When not traveling, Heather enjoys attending Carolina Hurricanes games and spending time with her family and friends.

hgudac@financialsymmetry.com
919-851-8200 ext. 205

Avoiding Elderly Fraud

Contact numbers to report fraudulent activity:
NC Attorney General's Consumer Protection Office: 1-877-5-NO-SCAM
Fraud Fighter Line: 1-800-646-2283
NC Task Force Chair: 919-716-6000

Website of to see recent scams:
The NC Division of Aging and Adult Services Senior Consumer Fraud Task Force

Real example of elderly fraud and tips for avoidance:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124520056162621509.html

Link to article for new elderly fraud legislation:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/09/16/2009-09-16_us_sen_kirsten_gillibrand.html

The legislation would accomplish the following objectives...

1. Charge an additional $50,000 civil fine for each violation that is targeted or is committed against a senior. 
2. Create a national grant program for states to protect seniors from misleading financial advisors claiming to specialize in seniors
3. Direct the FTC to establish a one-stop-shop for consumer education on mail, telemarketing and Internet fraud against seniors.
4. Establish a grant program to give states and local organizations the resources they need to initiate local mail, telemarketing and Internet fraud prevention and education programs for seniors;
5. Declare a “National Senior Fraud Awareness Week” in May - coordinated with Elder Abuse Awareness Month - to increase public awareness of the enormous impact that mail, telemarketing and Internet fraud have on senior citizens in the U.S.
6. Initial workshops to educate seniors on how to recognize risk factors and learn about who can help them if they are exploited.

Our Planning Process

Whether you're changing jobs, starting a second career or approaching retirement, we understand that you have lots of questions and concerns, like:

• Can I maintain my current lifestyle after I retire?
• How can I make sure my family is secure?
• Are my investments too risky? Or too conservative?

That is why we developed a simple and straigh-forward two-step process to help you find answers to your financial questions.

Step 1: We start 94% of our client relationships with a Financial Plan.

We typically start our client relationships with a personalized Financial Plan. The depth of our analysis can range from simple to complex. The cost of your Financial Plan is based on the time required to complete the analysis. Understanding your risk capacity, risk tolerance, cash flow and goals is essential before engaging in our wealth or investment management services.

Our analysis focuses on three main areas:

• Goals feasibility
• Cost savings.
• Investment risk capacity.

Depending on your situation, we may also review two additional areas:

• Risk coverage.
• Estate planning.

Step 2: Choosing a continuous plan.

After we've completed your Financial Plan, there are two continuous service plans where we can assist:

• Wealth Management
• Investment Management

Or, you can choose to Do It Yourself.

Tools

Please explore the menu on your left for useful tools and articles like

• expense worksheets
• goal development worksheets
• Quicken software tips
• and more...

Systems

We have developed systems to track investment accounts held at a wide variety of vendors and custodians. This allows us to create a coordinated investment strategy accross all of your holdings, where ever they may be. We are able to assist you with all of your accounts rather than only focusing on bits and pieces of your investment portfolio.  We have also developed a system that helps us assess your cash flow without requiring accounting for every dime.

While it would seem apparent that systems should be designed to assist clients with all their financial needs, that is not the way most have been built. Most have been built for product lines offered by the particular company. If you visit your bank, their systems are designed to assist you with their product lines. They do not have systems to assist you with integrating their products with for example, the benefits at your employer.

Structures

Our services are provided on a fee only structure rather than a commission structure to promote fairness and objectivity.

Even a highly ethical professional can have difficulty putting their clients first if they must work within an inferior structure. One example is in the area of compensation. We believe that if you want your advisor to be as objective as possible, paying fees directly is superior to paying them through commissions. One of the primary reasons is the immense complexity of financial products, along with the inherent uncertainty of their results. It is somewhat easy to go into an electronics store and choose a TV with a picture that you like. It is far different to sort through thousands of investments or insurance products.

Why Choose Us

We understand that seeking out financial advice can be overwhelming.  Privacy, trust and expertise are all areas that you should consider when contacting a financial advisor. At Financial Symmetry Inc., we put our client's interests first and foremost by providing fee-only advice and investment management.

Recently, there seems to be a crisis of confidence among the general public toward the financial industry. We believe that confidence is built from four main sources: Structures, Systems, Culture, and Training. We have built our company around these sources, and continue to improve the way we conduct our business every day.

Learn more about what sets Financial Symmetry Inc. apart:

• Structures that are efficient
• Systems that work for you
• Culture of stewardship and ethics
• Training that is focused on service, not sales

What Is Fee-Only Financial Planning?

"Fee-only financial planning" means we neither sell products nor receive commissions. Working as "fee only financial advisors" allows us to offer our clients the impartial advice necessary to make effective financial decisions. 

Taking care to identify individual needs and values, we offer confidential, trustworthy and attentive service to clients to help them accomplish their personal and financial goals.

Our investment advisory philosophy is built on maintaining long term relationships - not only between us and our clients, but also between our clients and the financial markets.

To most effectively represent your interests, we believe in being paid by you rather than through commissions on sales.

What is an ADV?

The ADV is the registration form for Investment Advisors. Form ADV contains information about an investment advisor and its business operations. Form ADV also contains disclosure about certain disciplinary events involving the advisor and its key personnel.

Investment Advisors are required to register either with the State(s) in which they conduct business, or with the SEC. Those registered with the SEC are also generally required to file with their State as well, though the SEC retains primary regulatory authority for their registered advisors. The difference in who is registered with the SEC or State is dependent not only on their size, but also their primary business emphasis. The SEC is primarily responsible for large money management only firms, while the States are primarily responsible for smaller money managers and firms that are primarily comprehensive advisors. There is some overlap, and there will likely be more changes that clarify jurisdiction over the next several years.

For an excellent article about choosing an advisor, see Investment Advisers: What You Need to Know Before Choosing One on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission web site.

Click here to view our ADV.

To view our ADV online, go to the Investment Advisor Public Disclosure web site and type in Financial Symmetry.

What is a CFP?

All of our primary advisors have earned the CFP® Certification. Those advisors include:

• Bill Ramsay, CFP®
• Chad Smith, CFP®
• Allison Berger, CFP®
• Will Holt, CPA, CFP®

CFP® is the highest standard in the industry for financial planning credentials. CFP® certification requires meeting rigorous professional standards including:

• completion of a CFP® Board Certified education program
• passing a comprehensive examination
• fulfilling three years of full-time industry relevant work experience
• complying with the CFP® Board Code of Ethics
• ongoing, yearly continuing education.

Allison Berger, CFP®

Allison fills a primary advisor role in the Financial Symmetry team.

After completing her degree at NCSU, she worked in an assisting advisory position while studying through the CFP coursework.  She enjoys building personalized strategies to meet the unique needs of each client and providing guidance through the changes that life brings.

In addition to working with clients, Allison is also passionate about financial education, volunteering with NAPFA’s “Your Money Bus” campaign and speaking to local college students about the benefits of investing early and often. Allison is an active member of NAPFA, the Financial Planning Association and FPA's Nexgen, and she has been quoted in Investment News.

Allison grew up in Charlotte, NC before attending NC State University.  She now enjoys the benefits of living close to her alma mater. She and her husband Jason are active members of NC State’s Wolfpack club and enjoy attending football games and staying connected to the University.  Her other interests include health and fitness, traveling, and soccer. A lifelong soccer player, Allison continues to play in Triangle adult leagues and participate in tournaments a few times a year. Recently she has also taken up golf.

aberger@financialsymmetry.com
919-851-8200 ext. 201

Working with FSI

Now more than ever people are looking for level-headed financial guidance. Whether you're changing jobs, starting a second career or approaching retirement, we understand that you have lots of questions and concerns, like:

• Can I maintain my current lifestyle after I retire?
• How can I make sure my family is secure?
• Are my investments too risky? Or too conservative?

We have developed a simple and straight-forward process to help you find answers to your financial questions.

Step 1: We start 94% of our client relationships with a Financial Plan.

The depth of our analysis can range from simple to complex.  The cost of your Financial Plan is based on the time required to complete the analysis.  Understanding your risk capacity, risk tolerance, cash flow and goals is essential before engaging in our wealth or investment management services.

Step 2: Choosing a continuous plan.

After we've completed your Financial Plan, there are two continuous service plans where we can assist:

• Wealth Management
• Investment Management

Or, you can choose to Do it Yourself.

Bill Ramsay, CFP®

Bill Ramsay has been providing financial services since 1985 and earned his CFP® certification in 1998. Continuous improvement and commitment to quality are among his core beliefs. These values are reflected in the growth of Financial Symmetry and the loyalty of clients and staff.

Bill is often interviewed for industry publications such as Financial Planning, Inside Information, Journal of Financial Planning and Investment Advisor.

He is a frequent guest for The Triangle Business Journal's annual financial roundtable discussions.  Bill has also been interviewed for national financial publications like The Wall Street Journal and Barron's as well as general news publications such as Newsweek and the Raleigh News and Observer. 

Bill grew up in Statesville and Charlotte, NC, but has been living in the Triangle area since the mid 1980s.

Bill and his wife, Janet, enjoy traveling, camping and fishing. 

Bill's wife  recently set a goal for the couple to visit all the U.S. National Parks. So far, they've been to five, so they have a ways to go!

Each year, Bill takes time to relax by going on an annual surf fishing trip to the North Carolina coast with a group of long-time friends.  He also enjoys trout fishing, golf and watching college basketball.

 

 

bramsay@financialsymmetry.com
919-851-8200 ext. 204

Our Team

Financial Symmetry, Inc provides fee-only financial planning, portfolio management and wealth management services for individuals and their families.

"Fee-only" means we neither sell products nor receive commissions, which allows us to offer our clients the impartial advice necessary to make effective financial decisions. Taking care to identify individual needs and values, we offer confidential, trustworthy and attentive service to clients to help them accomplish their personal and financial goals.

Our investment advisory philosophy is built on maintaining long term relationships - not only between us and our clients, but also between our clients and the financial markets.

All of our primary advisors have earned the CFP® Certification.

The certification requires meeting rigorous professional standards including completion of a CFP® Board Certified education program, passing a comprehensive examination, fulfilling three years of full-time industry relevant work experience, complying with the CFP® Board Code of Ethics, and ongoing continuing education.

Read more about the definitions and requirements of our professional designations.

Upcoming Retirement: Planning for Travel While Maintaining a Budget

Martin and Louise are making plans for their upcoming retirement lifestyle.  Martin has been an employee of a large engineering firm for over thirty years.  They own their home outright and have no debt.  Much of their savings has been accumulated in Martin’s employer sponsored retirement plan.  Both Martin and Louise are currently eligible to begin receiving Social Security but haven’t reached the required age for maximum benefits.  One of their main goals is to travel the country extensively visiting family and friends. 

Questions to be addressed:

• Are they invested properly?
• When should they begin receiving Social Security?
• How much will they need to draw from investments annually to meet their goals?
• Is their lifestyle sustainable over the long term?

 Planning:

Because Martin was planning to work a few more years it made sense to hold off on taking Social Security in order to avoid punitive taxation. 

Since Martin and Louise never kept a strict budget or tracked expenses, we helped them get a sense of how much they were spending with our expense worksheet.  This gave us their base level of consumption spending to which we added extraordinary items such as travel, car purchases, and home maintenance.  This process determined how much they would need to draw from their investments each year to meet their goals.  After setting suitable targets for each category, we decided to set up monthly transfers to their checking account so they had easy access to spending money.  This also helped them stick to their expense targets by not having excess cash on hand. 

It was determined that the options in the employer plan were not a good match for their risk tolerance.  The choices available were all variable annuities with high costs and substandard returns. We recommended that Martin roll those assets into a traditional IRA account where the allocations can be structured appropriately using our preferred mutual fund managers.  This approach also offered more flexibility with their cash flow withdrawal needs. 

Ongoing:

Martin and Louise are now Investment Management clients and have become comfortable with their new lifestyle.  They began taking Social Security after Martin stopped working and reduced their monthly withdrawal from investments.  When they prepare for any trips one of the items on their “to-do-list” is to contact our office and let us know how much they will need to pay for it.

Wealth Management

As the size of your portfolio increases, so do the complexities involved in making financial decisions.  Whether you have been building wealth throughout your career or received assets through an inheritance, an abundance of resources can raise questions such as:

• What are my financial goals?
• How can I manage my money tax efficiently?
• Should I be concerned about estate taxes?
• How can I ensure my family is provided for after I am gone?
• Is my money going to last?

How Our Service Can Help

At Financial Symmetry we create and implement strategies to help you make the most of your wealth.  Our wealth management service is personalized to each client we serve as every individual's goals and preferences are unique.  

Our wealth management service includes:

• Ongoing Investment Management, including retirement accounts (401(k), 403(b), 457, SIMPLE IRA, SEP IRA, SAR/SEP IRA)
  
• Cash Flow Management
• Net Worth Analysis
• Tax Planning
• Estate Planning

Preparing for Their First Child, a Young Couple Faces Financial Changes

Stan and Alexis are a young couple that needs guidance on financial decisions relevant to the upcoming birth of their first child.  Both are working in the medical profession as physicians so they have high earned incomes.  They have different options for benefits provided by their employers including retirement plans.  Alexis would like to stay home for the first year after the child is born and they are considering moving to a larger house. 

Some of the questions that the have are:

• How will losing Alexis' income impact their financial stability
• Is buying the larger home feasible at this time?
• How much should they be deferring into the employer benefit plans?
• What are their options for saving for their child’s education?

Planning:

Once Stan and Alexis sat down with an advisor during the planning process they realized that they both wanted Alexis to have the option of staying home longer than one year.  Alexis also talked to her employer about her options for returning to work and was told that a part-time situation could be negotiated.

With the new goal of Alexis staying at home longer than originally anticipated, the decision was made to stay in their current home.  A target was set to purchase a new home five years from the planning date.  This allowed them to put a manageable savings strategy in place for the down payment. 

Because they were aggressively saving for the down payment it was determined that they should minimize their retirement deferrals while making certain that they received the full employer matching contribution. 

The decision was made to wait until they had enough saved for their home and Alexis went back to work full-time before they began saving for their child’s education.  Once they were able to maximize their retirement deferrals they would be in a better position to begin funding a 529 plan. 

Ongoing:

The couple decided to have our team develop a comprehensive financial plan.  After following the steps in the financial plan and monitoring their targets for savings and goals, Stan and Alexis became Investment Management clients due to their increased need of tax savings strategies and portfolio management. As their financial situation become mores complicated as their incomes grows, our Wealth Management service can provide the right balance of ongoing planning advice, investment management and cost savings across their complete financial picture.  Along the way, Financial Symmetry is here to help them put the focus on where it needs to be, which is being a family. 

Health Issues and Remarriage: A Retired Couple’s Wealth Management

The Situation

Frank and Sally are entering into their second marriage.  Both of them have children from prior marriages.  Each of them has a net worth over $1 million.  However, most of Sally’s net worth is tied up in real estate: her primary residence and a second home that was inherited from her mother.  Frank has a residence as well, but his 401k account is the bulk of his net worth.  Also, Frank has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is undergoing treatment.  Frank’s health problems prompted them to seek advice on how to structure their affairs before they get married. 

 Questions to answer:

• Should Sally sell one or both of her homes? Should Frank sell his home?
• Who should be the beneficiary on Frank’s 401k?
• Do they need to redo their wills?
• What tax implications will they have by getting married?

Planning:

During the planning discussion Sally indicated her preference was to keep the home she inherited from her mother.  Frank agreed as well because the home is in a very desirable location and can serve as a gathering place for their extended families.  The decision was made to sell Sally’s residence and combine households into Frank’s current home.  The sale of Sally’s home will offer her some liquidity that can be used for her support if something were to happen to Frank.

The 401k beneficiary designation had been setup for his children and it was determined that it was best to leave it that way.  In the event that something were to happen to Frank, his will was redone to make a provision for Sally to remain in Frank’s home for the rest of her life, then it would pass to his children upon her death. 

From a tax planning standpoint, getting married did not affect Sally’s exclusion for selling her residence.  When her husband died she received a 50% step-up in basis which along with the exclusion, helped wipe out most of her gain.  Also, since Frank was under the age where required distributions from his 401k begin, he had some flexibility with voluntary distributions toward managing their new combined tax bracket.

Ongoing:

Frank and Sally became Wealth Management clients primarily because they wanted guidance on how financial decisions made jointly would impact their respective estates.  Also, since we are managing their investments, it is essential that we understand their cash flow situation so that their investment allocations can be adjusted accordingly.  Frank and Sally are now happily married and enjoy seeing all of their children and grandchildren often.   

FAQs

Whether you're new to investing, or just new to Financial Symmetry, we've provided a list of "frequently asked questions" about our industry and our firm.

We hope you find them helpful and informative. 

Investment Management

How many different things are you saving money for? Retirement? A home? Your children's education?

No matter what type of goals you have, you'll need to prioritize. We can guide you through the process and evaluate if you're on the right track. 

We'll tackle questions like:

• How do your current investments support your financial goals?
• How much do you need to save, and how soon do you need it?
• What has your approach been to market fluctuations in the past?

How Our Service Can Help

The Investment Management stage of our services helps you move from the beginning phases of saving to a more sophisticated and coordinated strategy. Some of the things you should expect to gain in the Investment Management stage are:

• Ongoing Investment Management, including retirement accounts (401(k), 403(b), 457, SIMPLE IRA, SEP IRA, SAR/SEP IRA)
• Determining the best accounts in which to be saving
  
• Establishing targets and monitoring progress to help you reach your goals
  

With ongoing investment management, we'll be there with you, guiding you through all types of market conditions and financially challenging phases of life.  Our investment philosophy will help to create the most appropriate plan for your situation.

Financial Planning

We start 94% of our client relationships with a personalized Financial Plan.

Our analysis focuses on three main areas:

• Goals feasibility
• Cost savings
• Investment risk capacity

Depending on your situation, we may also review two additional areas:

• Risk coverage
• Estate planning

Why is a financial plan so important?

Did you know that for every seven years you delay starting a savings plan, you may cut your ultimate net worth in retirement in half?!  Even if you start small, the time to start planning for tomorrow is today.

Some of the things you should expect to gain in from your Financial Plan are:

• Strategies on implementing a workable budget
• Determining the best accounts in which to be saving
• Establishing targets to help you most effectively reach your goals
• Determine most effective priority for debt payments

We understand that your needs and goals will evolve over time. Through our ongoing annual relationship, we'll revisit your plan with you and make adjustments to your strategies and tactics, helping you to stay on track. 

As your investments grow, the more important they will become to your future.  With this increased importance we can help with more frequent investment reviews.  

Get started now with our Goal Development Worksheets.

 

The Six Steps of Financial Planning
 

1. Establish and Define Our Client-Planner Relationship
2. Gather Your Financial Data
3. Analyze and Evaluate Your Financial Status
4. Develop and Present Recommendations
5. Implement Recommendations
6. Monitor Your Progress

Client Stories

Our Client Stories section provides a real look into how our services have helped different clients dealing with different situations.  From job changes, marriage, first child, retirement and beyond, we work directly with our clients' unique situations to provide services tailored to their needs.  Click on the links below to learn more about what Financial Symmetry has to offer.

Company News & Blog

All of the staff members here at Financial Symmetry regularly contribute to our blog site at www.FinSymNews.com.

This site features our independent analysis and commentary on the global economy.

We view all market developments through the same filter, "How will this affect our clients?"

Our Services

Financial Symmetry, Inc., in Raleigh, North Carolina, is an independent, employee-owned financial planning firm that provides the following services for individuals and their families on a fee-only basis:

• hourly financial planning 
• investment management 
• wealth management services
  

Financial Planning

We start 94% of our client relationships with a personalized Financial Plan.  Our Financial Planning service is charged on an hourly rate, with complete servicing normally ranging from $300 to $3,000, depending on the complexity of your situation.  We typically complete a Net Worth and Cash Flow Projection that helps to answer whether you can accomplish your goals.  This process also yields increased efficiencies which save you money by "tuning up" your financial strategy. We also evaluate your future cash flows which helps to determine an appropriate risk capacity for your portfolio.  We are more than happy to provide you with a quote based on the information you provide us.

Investment Management

We charge percentages normally ranging from 0.25% to 1.50% per year of investments that we manage for you. The actual rate is determined by the type of investments as well as the level of flexibility we have in your particular accounts.  We can provide you with a quote specific to your situation.

Our Investment Management service enables your portfolio to benefit from our unique research process.  

Wealth Management Services

This service is an add-on option to our Investment Management Service and is charged at an annual rate of 0.1% on top of your regular investment management fee.  

Wealth Management enables you to have ongoing monitoring of your progress relative to the targets set forth in your financial plan.  You can see if you are staying on course and if you are not, we help you make adjustments to your targets or your goals.   

We will also review your income tax and estate picture.  This provides opportunities for tax savings, and piece of mind that your estate will be distributed the way you want.

View our Form ADV Part II with Privacy Policy