How We Work Together, and Other Fair Questions
Physicians read the fine print. Here it is, up front.
Three Ways to Engage
Everything on this site is free. When you want the firm in the room, the engagement takes one of three forms. You have the terms in writing before anything begins.
- Flat fee. A 12-month engagement that retains our firm as your fiduciary financial consultants: a comprehensive financial plan, built out with guidance, education, and recommendations across every area in the planning menu. The fee is quoted in writing after the two free meetings, once the scope of the work is clear, and nothing is charged before then.
- Advisory. A fee on assets actively managed on our platform, on this schedule:
Advisory fee schedule Assets managed Annual fee $0 – 2 million 1.00% $2 – 5 million 0.75% $5 – 15 million 0.50% $15 – 20 million 0.45% $20 – 30 million 0.40% $30 – 50 million 0.35% $50 – 100 million 0.30% $100 million and above 0.25% - Insurance. When a policy is the right tool, we place it, with Northwestern Mutual or with another carrier when another carrier’s policy is the better fit. The firm is licensed to write insurance in all 50 states, and you see the cost, the reason, and the alternative before you buy.
The Fiduciary Standard, Plainly
When we provide financial planning and investment advice, we are obligated to act in your best interest, and CFP® professionals are held to CFP Board’s fiduciary duty whenever they give financial advice. Insurance recommendations are held to the best-interest standards that apply to that role.
Two commitments in either role: we tell you which one we are in, and we never recommend anything we could not explain to a room full of your colleagues.
How We’re Paid, and Where the Conflicts Are
Every way an advisor is paid pulls in some direction. Here is ours, in plain language, so you can weigh what we say with that in view.
- Flat-fee planning
- You pay us directly, and no product is required. If the plan later leads to insurance or managed assets, those are paid as described here and we say so at the time. The pull: toward doing work you would want to renew.
- Advisory
- A percentage of the assets managed through Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company, on the schedule above. The pull: toward recommending that assets be managed rather than left where they are. We say so when it comes up, and the flat-fee plan exists so you can get advice without moving anything.
- Insurance
- The carrier pays a commission when a policy is placed, whether with Northwestern Mutual or another carrier. The pull: toward recommending a policy, or a larger one. The mitigation is built into how we work: the cost, the reason, and the alternative in writing before you buy, and a coverage-need calculation you can check yourself.
- Brokerage
- As registered representatives of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, transactions in brokerage accounts can carry commissions. Form CRS explains them, and we tell you which capacity we are acting in.
- What we do not earn
- Nothing from this website: no advertising, sponsorships, affiliate links, or referral fees for anything mentioned here.
Part of Northwestern Mutual’s Private Client Group, and not limited to Northwestern Mutual products. Detail on fees and conflicts is in Form CRS and the disclosure brochures linked from our disclosures page.
Frequently Asked
Are you a fiduciary?
When we provide financial planning and investment advice, yes. We are obligated to put your interests first, and CFP® professionals are bound by CFP Board’s fiduciary duty whenever they give financial advice. When a recommendation involves an insurance policy, that part of the work is governed by the best-interest standards that apply to insurance, and we tell you when we are in that role.
In plain terms: you will always know which hat we are wearing and how the work in front of us is paid for.
Will I be pitched whole life insurance?
Insurance is sometimes the right tool. Own-occupation disability coverage almost always is for a physician in training, and term life usually is once someone depends on your income. Permanent life insurance fits a narrow set of situations, and for a resident carrying loans it is almost never the first, second, or third move.
When we recommend a policy, you get the cost, the reason, and the alternative in writing before you decide, and the policy can come from Northwestern Mutual or from another carrier when that is the better fit.
I’m a resident. Can I afford this?
Everything on this site is free, and it is designed to carry you through most of training. So are the first two meetings. When you want the firm in the room for a full year, the flat-fee engagement is quoted in writing after the two free meetings, before you commit to anything.
Do I have to be in a particular state?
No. We work with physicians in all 50 states, by video and phone. The firm is licensed to write insurance in every state, and we are licensed to provide investment services in every state as well. Training in one state and practicing in another changes nothing about how we work together.
What is a CFP® professional, and why does it matter?
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® certification requires a bachelor’s degree, a board-registered education program, a comprehensive exam, thousands of hours of documented experience, a background check, and continuing education. CFP® professionals commit to CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct, including a fiduciary duty when providing financial advice. Verify anyone’s certification at CFP.net.
How is this different from reading White Coat Investor?
It is not a substitute. The philosophy here is the same one you will find in the physician finance writing you have probably already read: protect your income, retire the debt, keep costs low, automate, and do not buy what you do not understand. The difference is a person who knows your contract, your loans, your state, and your family, and who is accountable to you for the plan.
Watch, do, teach, repeat. Success means you could run most of this yourself and choose to keep us for the hard parts.
What happens on the first call?
Thirty minutes, free. You describe where you are and what is on your mind; we ask about loans, coverage, contract timing, and family, and explain how the engagement works. If it makes sense to continue, the second meeting is a 90-minute Deep Dive Discovery, also free. You leave both with things to do whether or not we ever speak again. Nothing to sign, nothing to buy.
Can you speak to our residency program?
Yes. We give a 45-minute noon-conference talk on the money decisions of training, with no product pitch. Program coordinators and chief residents can request a date here.