FAQs

Got more questions? Send us an email

It’s a good time when:

  • You are interested in knowing how you’re tracking against your goals (or you don’t know exactly what your goals are!).
  • You think you should know about your own finances, but you realize that you still have somewhat basic questions.
  • You are worried about missing out on opportunities to optimize your financial situation. 
  • You’re ready to pay for financial advice and outsource the implementation of your financial strategy.

Outside of meetings, email is ideal. Believe it or not, we often don’t answer the phone—we spend a lot of our time doing deep thinking. We prefer listening to voicemails and preparing a thoughtful response before taking your time.

For meetings, we typically meet in person at our office or face-to-face in virtual meetings. Don’t want to bother with travel time? Not located near Vancouver, WA? Virtual meetings are right for you!

In general, we are very informal. We love to know when you just came from a tough day at work, that you’re heading to the gym after our meeting, or that you’re struggling to decide what color to paint your living room. Feel free to let your hair down, put your feet up, and get real with us. It helps us help you.

Sabbatical Planning

$3,500 upfront fee, then $1,000/quarterly ongoing.

 

Investment Advisory Service

Tiered fee structure based on assets under management.

Account Value Annual Advisory Fee
$0 – $100,000 1.5%
$100,001 – $500,000 1.25%
$500,001 – $1,000,000 1.00%
$1,000,001 – $3,000,000 0.85%
$3,000,001 and Above Negotiable

 

Sabbatical Planning with Investment Advisory Service

$2,500 upfront fee, then $600/quarterly ongoing. 

For investment accounts: 

Account Value Annual Advisory Fee
$0 – $100,000 1.5%
$100,001 – $250,000 1.25%

Our investment philosophy is based on the following principles:

  • Investments are just a part of the bigger picture. Your goals are the target to measure success against.
  • The market will do what it does. We take a long-term view on investments and help you focus on what you can control.
  • Diversification a risk-appropriate asset allocation and relatively low fees are how we build out investment strategies for our clients.
  • Rebalancing is done at the household level with tax efficiency as a key consideration.
  • Our client portfolios are primarily invested in publicly traded mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs).


Changing market conditions is not a recommended reason to change your target allocation. Good reasons to potentially update your investment strategy include life events, changes in financial condition, or if your goals become shorter term.


Investment accounts are reviewed at the household level on a quarterly basis. 

  • Routine reviews include rebalancing to maintain appropriate risk level and ensuring cash is available for planned cash needs. 
  • Reviews may or may not result in any trades.
  • Additional seasonal activities include:
    • Roth/IRA contributions & investments
    • Tax loss harvesting to offset capital gains
    • Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) processing
    • Employer retirement plan contributions & investments
    • Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) processing
    • Roth conversion strategy & processing

Our philosophy is based on the following principles:

  • Money isn’t everything. We balance personal finance with job satisfaction, goal achievement, and overall life enjoyment. We help plan sabbaticals, after all!
  • We recognize that you are the expert on your own life and your own values. That means we won’t question your budget or judge your priorities, we’ll just help you figure out how to make it all work.
  • Doing our job well means asking good questions at the right time.
  • Most things in personal finance are important, not urgent. Our goal is to help you focus your attention on the most important 1-2 next steps.
  • We are committed to educating you on general financial concepts and how they apply to you—save the Google searching for another question you have.

Your financial plan is intended to provide a long-term view of your financial trajectory, with your goals as the benchmark of success.

We go deeper on short-term to help you analyze pros, cons, and alternatives. And then we bring them back into the long-term plan to see how your decision impacts the bigger picture.

Yes! Check out our recent favorites:

Books

 

Podcasts

Let's talk about your Dream to take a Sabbatical!
Get in touch with us Today

Send us an email at clientservices@middletonand.co

Or schedule a 30 minute discovery call.