Services - Curated for BigLaw Seasonality
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You: Hit “forward” when you receive your Employee Benefits enrollment email.
We: Analyze, coordinate (among household members), and recommend the elections you should make based on your situation.
We: Help you make your elections via screenshare to ensure accuracy.
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You: Send us your bonus information as soon as you have it (often at the very end of the year).
We: Analyze it for tax planning purposes so that you can be prepared when you file.
Many BigLaw attorneys suffer a surprise tax bill in April as a result of idiosyncrasies in how employers withhold taxes on bonuses.
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You: Use your secure financial planning portal as a hub to upload your annual tax forms as they come in.
We: Label and organize all your uploaded tax documents.
We: Gather and organize the tax documents for you that we can access from the accounts we manage directly.
We: Generate a “Tax Letter” that explains things for you and your tax preparer (we are not your tax preparer) as they relate to your investments and taxes.
For example, if we completed a “backdoor” Roth IRA contribution, we will document the related forms and transactions to reduce the risk of errors in reporting.We: Coordinate with your tax preparer (we are not your tax preparer) if you allow us to do so.
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You: Upload your completed tax return via a secure link that we provide.
We: Analyze the return to check for any errors or opportunities and start the preparation process for the next tax year.
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You: Send us your federal student loan file and/or private student loan documents.
We: Analyze the various loan types and terms and develop a strategy to incorporate your student loan repayments with your savings goals so that you are confident that you are attacking both objectives in a smart manner.
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You: Maintain a connection between your investment accounts and your secure financial planning portal, so that we have up-to-date information on account holdings and values.
If we manage your investments directly, we will maintain this connection for you.We: Help you adjust your 401k and any other workplace accounts to coordinate with your broader household investment portfolio.
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We: Develop a financial Resilience strategy during the Initial Plan development phase.
We: Support you as you go through any insurance quoting/application processes (we do not sell insurance; we hold your hand through the process).
We: Determine an appropriate liquidity amount based on your situation, help you optimize the placement of those funds, and support you as you apply for any credit lines that may be useful as part of this planning.
We: Provide a summary document for your review on an annual basis that reminds you of your current beneficiary designations and terms of your estate planning documents, and make adjustments as necessary.
You: Review the documents we provide to make sure they’re current and/or adequate.
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You: Complete a short investment Risk Assessment online.
We: Update our menu of investment options for all clients on an annual basis.
We: Meet or otherwise communicate with you to discuss your investment preferences and our strategy.
We: Update your specific investment portfolio holdings based on our discussion and current investment choices.
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You: Nothing.
We: Scan to check whether your portfolio needs to be rebalanced. The less rebalancing that is needed, the better.
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You: Nothing.
We: Scan your taxable brokerage account that we manage to check for any losses that we can “harvest” to offset capital gains and/or ordinary taxable income. These scans also happen on an ad-hoc basis, as needed.
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You: Nothing.
We: Set up a monthly recurring draw from your bank account into your brokerage account and invest the proceeds according to your plan.
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You: Nothing.
We: Scan the accounts that we manage for you to check for excess cash buildup. Our process involves using dividends and interest payments to “rebalance” portfolios through purchases, rather than potentially taxable sales.
For example, a dividend paid by “Investment A” can be used to purchase more of “Investment B” to keep your portfolio balanced. This generally reduces the need for selling winners to buy losers during the quarterly rebalancing scan.
These Cash Scans can happen on an ad-hoc basis, as needed.
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You: Have a busy, dynamic life.
We: Help you plan for things like buying a house, having children, changing jobs, and myriad other things that pop up in your life and impact your financial situation.
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You: May be on a Partner track, plan to go in-house, Of-Counsel, or change careers completely.
We: Help you prepare for any of these eventualities and evolve the plan with you as your own preferences evolve.
Pricing - Curated for BigLaw Budgets
Based on Household Size and Complexity
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FAQ’s
I’ve never worked with a financial advisor, is it really this valuable?
A: We know. We tried to save the world from “evil” financial advisors ripping off unsuspecting clients by keeping our own costs low and charging as little as $200 per month. It simply doesn’t work for our clientele’s needs and wants (expertise and reliability). When you do real financial planning for people, it is bespoke; much of it cannot be automated.
Our flat fees come out to less than 2% of your compensation (if more, we may not be the right fit for your situation). We believe we can do more together on 98% of your income than you can do alone with 100% of it, not because you are not smart (you are), but because there are pitfalls and we are expert guides to help you make informed decisions and save you time.
In the same way we wouldn’t call your 401k savings an “expense” because we expect it to grow over time, we are very confident that our expertise in guiding your financial life will result in a net financial benefit to you, which is why we consider our fees to be an investment that you are making in yourself.Do you charge % AUM fees?
A: No.Why should I pay somebody manage my investments?
A: If you are willing to buy index funds and chill, then you shouldn’t. The reason people have us manage their investments is because they don’t want to take the time to do it themselves, particularly in the upkeep (ensuring cash doesn’t build up, locating tax forms, etc.). They also like the flat-fee pricing we offer, such that we are less incentivized to simply gather assets.My situation is simple. Can I just work with you to get an initial plan in place and then go on my way?
A: We used to offer “one-time” plans. It turns out that a financial plan is not a product, but an evolving work. Anybody is free to cancel at any time, for any reason, and/or choose Hourly Services. That said, we have enough experience to tell you that if you are in the top 5% of income earners in the United States, your financial life is probably not as simple as you think. There’s a good chance you just don’t know what you don’t know.How do I get started?
A: It is important to us that every client feel like they are our only client. Therefore, we onboard a limited number of households per month. Use the request button at the top of the home page to reserve your spot, and/or set up an Introductory Call with us to discuss your situation.
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BigLaw Financial Life
Why Do BigLaw Attorneys Need Financial Planning?
What Do We Actually Do with Financial Planning?
Work with a firm that specializes in helping people like you
While every situation is different, we find some common needs among our BigLaw clients. We can help:
Organize your finances
Balance student loan repayment with short-term and long-term savings
Navigate your benefits at work to make the best choices for your situation
Determine how much you need for an emergency fund, and where to save it
Establish a “savings waterfall” to prioritize each dollar, so you know what’s left over for spending
Protect your finances from disaster through loss of employment or loss of life
Make sense of the dizzying array of investment accounts and investment options
Shield you from financial salespeople and products that may not have your best interest in mind
Give you some of your time back by serving as the go-to experts for your financial issues
Achieve confidence and security in your financial life
Serve you regardless of the amount of money you’re ready to invest
Typically, the priorities among the above list ebb and flow over time and with your life. Some of these things are handled early on and then become less pressing, while other items grow in importance. The key thing is that we develop a close relationship with you and carry a thorough understanding of your evolving situation, which makes the ongoing advice that much more powerful.
Why Concert Financial Planning?
““Financial Planning” is not a product, and a “Financial Plan” is not a static thing. Real life means that we must treat our plans as living things that evolve with our lives and laws.
Similarly, working with an advisor doesn’t have to be intimidating, confusing, or uptight. It should not be transactional, or formulaic. Each client deserves individual attention to address their most pressing matters.
I’d like to personally welcome you to relax and let us walk you through a transparent process designed to help you organize your finances and get on the right path to financial security. ”
Modern | No commissions | Fiduciary | Independent
Concert Financial Planning is a commission-free, fiduciary, and independent firm designed specifically for BigLaw Attorneys. We help you navigate important financial decisions in order to optimize your hard work and achieve financial peace of mind. Upon this bedrock, families can be grown, careers built, and passions pursued.
Modern We use the latest technology to create a warm, flexible, and secure environment for our clients to collaborate with us in a way that makes sense for them. In-person or virtually, we are here.
No Commissions We do not sell products and we are never paid in commissions. We are paid exclusively by our clients for advice, and not by any other means. This helps to reduce conflicts of interest that may arise when an “advisor” is paid by 3rd parties for selling their products to customers.
Fiduciary We legally must act in the best interest of our clients at all times. While you might think this is a requirement for all “financial advisors”, it is not, and you should ask for a fiduciary commitment from your advisor, at all times, in writing.
Independent Concert Financial Planning, LLC, is a private practice owned by the Founder, Matt Smith. We do not operate under a parent company with its own interests that may differ from clients’ interests, or that limits our ability to do what is right for the client.