FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Advisory Firm
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. If you have any other questions, just contact us!
1. Does FSI have a Privacy Policy? What is it?
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.
2. 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 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which stands for the National Association of Securities Dealers. These brokers must be registered as representatives of an Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)registered broker/dealer. Click here to go to the BrokerCheck 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.
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
3. 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 fiduciary fee-only advice. 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 how we take a different approach to serving our clients.
4. What is a 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.
Our financial planners include Certified Financial Planners and NAPFA advisors. Those advisors include:
1. What’s the difference between fee-only and fee-based financial planning?
Fee-only financial planners are paid solely and only by our clients, without receiving any commissions as well as not selling products. Fee-based financial planners may receive commissions on some products they sell, but are also paid directly by their clients.
“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.
At Financial Symmetry, we only charge asset-based or financial planning fees for our services, never a commission on the sale of a product.
2. Do you sell insurance products?
No, we do not. 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.
3. 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.
4. Can you help me roll over my old 401(k)?
Many of our newer clients have come to us with old 401(k), 403(b), 457 and Simple IRA accounts from previous employers. Some even have multiple IRA accounts, often from past rollover situations. It’s important to have qualified professionals to help you decide on what to do with your inactive qualified plan and multiple IRA accounts. Whether you are changing jobs, entering retirement or simply wanting to consolidate your accounts, we can help you with each step of the rollover process. There are a few options for dealing with an inactive qualified plan including:
- Rollover the account into a self-directed IRA account, such as a traditional IRA.
- Rollover the account into a new employer-sponsored plan, if allowed under your current plan’s rules.
- Rollover the account into a self-directed IRA account, then convert all or a portion of the funds to a Roth IRA account (after careful tax analysis).
- Leave the account at the current custodian and bring your investment options in line with a comprehensive portfolio strategy.
Despite popular belief, it is not always best to rollover an old employer plan. Certain custodians offer favorable investment options or have special tax provisions (the North Carolina employees’ Bailey provision, for example), meaning it could benefit you to leave your account at the current institution rather than combining the funds into another account. We have experience in dealing with many different custodians when it comes to the rollover process. For our investment management clients, part of our service is to request and complete paperwork while monitoring the rollover process. If you are interested in combining inactive qualified accounts, please feel free to contact us. Your advisor will research the best approach for your individual situation and determine if a rollover is the best choice for you. If it is, we’ll get the process started as soon as possible. Not yet a client and unsure if a rollover is right for you? Contact us to schedule an appointment to review your financial picture and develop a plan that will help provide the answer.
5. 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.
6. Can you help me with my 401(k)?
7. What is Fee-Only Financial Planning?
“Fee-only financial planning” means we neither sell products nor receive commissions. Working as “fee only financial advisors” means we are a fiduciary and 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.
1. Should I be using my Roth 401k?
2. 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 use a combination of the two as common characteristics we look for in mutual funds include: independence, experience, reasonable cost and ethical company culture. Our investment 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 broadly diversified mutual funds that are grounded in economic theory and empirical research which offer higher expected returns by sharing certain characteristics. These characteristics must be sensible, persistent over time, pervasive across markets and cost-effective to capture. For equity mutual funds we primarily use Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) and American Funds.
3. 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 optimum flexibility when real life doesn’t match up with even the most carefully planned goals. Read more about our investment process here.
4. Why do I need a financial planner?
5. Do you have an investment minimum?
No, we do not have a strict minimum for portfolio size. But we do have a minimum fee for our Wealth Management of $3,600 per year.
6. How safe is my money?
At Financial Symmetry, we understand that our clients are entrusting us with their hard-earned money and we take this responsibility seriously.
Your accounts are insured against lost or stolen cash or securities by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which is a government-chartered corporation. The securities in your account are protected up to $500,000 for lost or stolen securities, as regulated by SIPC.
Please note that this does not protect your account from market loss.
1. 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 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.
2. How much money should I expect to spend on these services?
We are paid only by our clients and provide the following two services.
Financial Planning
Our Financial Planning is completed on a one-time engagement basis. Every situation is unique, but the total project cost will depend on the financial advisor’s hourly rate and your personal circumstances. Click here for a view of our fees for different complexity levels. 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.
Wealth Management
Wealth Management is charged as a percent of your portfolio assets with a minimum annual fee of $3,600. You can see the current breakdown of our fees here. This service 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 peace of mind that your estate will be distributed the way you want.
3. How are you paid?
We believe that what clients really need is a financial advocate and feel this type of relationship can only happen with an independent fiduciary financial 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.
- Financial Planning — You can see a full description of our financial planning fees here. 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 — We charge a percent of your portfolio assets with a minimum annual fee of $3,600. You can see a full description of our fees here. You can view our Form ADV for more info as well. We do this on a non-discretionary basis; meaning we work together.
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.
4. Who holds my money?
Our custodian is Pershing LLC. Pershing is located in Jersey City, New Jersey, and was established in 1936. A division of The Bank of New York Mellon Financial (NYSE BNY), it is the largest independent clearing/custody firm. The Bank of New York is the oldest bank in the nation, started in 1784 by Alexander Hamilton.
Read more about Pershing’s Financial Strength here.
Please note that employer-sponsored retirement accounts are held by your employer’s preferred custodian.
5. 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 and click here to view our CRS form. To view our ADV online, go to the Investment Advisor Public Disclosure web site and type in Financial Symmetry.”
