Financial planning for Baltimore families

A financial advisor helps you organize income, savings, taxes, insurance and care costs into one written plan, and then helps you carry it out. For Baltimore families that often means three things at once, retirement income, planning for a child with special needs, and care for an aging parent.

We cover each of these in detail. Retirement planning includes retirement income, Social Security timing and tax planning. Special needs planning includes ABLE accounts and special needs trusts. Eldercare planning includes long-term care costs and Medicaid planning. Every strategy has trade-offs, and we explain them alongside the benefits.

Costs differ from one advisor to the next, so ask each one for a total in dollars. Ours are published on our pricing page. The first call is complimentary. The planning engagement is $500, one time, and covers two meetings that produce a written financial plan, including a personalized tax analysis and a full breakdown of what hiring us on an ongoing basis would cost.

If you then hire us to manage your investments, the annual fee is 1.15% on the first $1 million, 0.85% from $1 million to $2.5 million, and 0.50% above $2.5 million. It is deducted directly from the managed accounts, and underlying fund expenses are separate.

If your plan calls for life insurance or an annuity and you buy it through us, we are paid a commission on that transaction. That gives us a financial interest in the purchase, so we disclose the exact commission, in percentages and in dollars, in your written plan before you are asked to decide anything. Our agreements are walk-away, so you can leave at any time with no back-end fees or charges. To compare advisors, read how much a retirement planner costs and how to choose one.

No. Many city families meet with us over video, so you can meet from home in Hamilton, Lauraville or anywhere else in the city. If you prefer to meet in person, our office is at 9621 Harford Road in Parkville, just over the city line, about 20 minutes from downtown and about 10 from Hamilton and Lauraville.

Start with the complimentary 15-minute call, by phone or video, and we will set up the first meeting whichever way suits you.

A city or state pension adds decisions that a standard retirement plan does not cover, such as the pension election, survivor options and the date you start. Each pension system has its own rules, so we begin with your system's own documents and estimates.

We then line those choices up with Social Security timing, your other savings and your retirement income needs, and put the result in writing. Some public employees are covered by Social Security on part of their pay or none of it, depending on the employer and the position, so we confirm that first.

Pension elections may be difficult to change once they are made. We encourage you to review them with the plan administrator and with your attorney or tax advisor before you commit. We do not provide legal or tax advice.

Families who want published prices and plain answers, and who have more than one thing going on. Examples include a city or state employee approaching retirement, parents planning for a child with special needs, and adult children helping a parent with care costs. We are a small practice serving about 100 families, so you are known by name.

If your situation is simple, the planning engagement may show us both that ongoing management does not fit, and we will say so. Two articles families often read first are ABLE account vs special needs trust and who qualifies for Maryland Medicaid nursing home coverage. Trusts are drafted by an attorney, and we coordinate with your family's attorney and tax advisor.