Frequently Asked Questions
Why People Hire Us
Why should I consider hiring Define Financial?
You should consider hiring our firm if you want to:
- Turn your nest egg into a reliable retirement paycheck
- Reduce taxes so you can keep more of what you’ve earned
- Receive a portfolio with the goal of improving after-inflation returns while mitigating risk
- Free up more time to focus on the things you love in retirement
- Ensure your heirs have a trusted professional to lean on if something happens to you
How are you different than other financial advisors?
There are three key things that set us apart:
- Specialized Expertise. We focus exclusively on retirement and tax planning for people over age 50. Just like you wouldn’t want a cardiologist performing foot surgery, we believe in staying highly specialized.
- Limited New Clients. We intentionally limit the number of families we onboard each month. This enables us to ensure new clients have a positive experience joining our firm and existing clients continue to receive exceptional value and highly personalized service.
- Team-Based Approach. Our entire team of CFP® Pros works together to serve every family. By pooling our resources and intellectual capital, we provide comprehensive advice and make sure nothing slips through the cracks.
How We Charge
How are your fees structured?
How do you justify your fees?
Do you offer an hourly or one-time project fee option?
Do You Offer an Hourly or One-Time Project Fee Option?
We specialize in helping retirement savers who need (and want!) a long-term relationship, allowing them to spend time in retirement doing the things they love most. A proactive, ongoing service model allows us to continuously refine your retirement income, investment strategy, and tax plan as your life (and the markets) evolve.
If you need limited-term guidance, we’ve partnered with a team of CFP® professionals at Domain Money to create an experience for retirement savers who want comprehensive planning without ongoing investment management.
Custom plans start at $3,200. Learn more here.
How Are Your Fees Structured?
We charge a transparent annual fee for our comprehensive planning and investment management services which includes:
- Proactive tax planning
- Retirement income design
- Estate and insurance coordination
- Ongoing investment management designed specifically for retirement
Our minimum annual fee is $20,000, and the exact fee depends on the scope and complexity of your situation.
Fees are billed quarterly and typically deducted proportionally from the investment accounts we manage. We don’t earn commissions, sell financial products, or receive incentives from third parties.
How Do You Justify Your Fees?
Hiring an advisor should only make sense if the value you receive clearly exceeds the cost.
For our clients, that value comes from more than just investment management. It includes proactive tax planning, coordinated withdrawal strategies, and thoughtful decision-making across every part of your financial life. Done well, this can lead to meaningful tax savings, fewer costly mistakes, and better long-term outcomes.
But just as important are the intangible benefits: clarity, confidence, and time. You don’t have to second-guess decisions, keep up with changing rules, or manage everything on your own.
Ultimately, our role is to help you make smarter decisions with your money so you can focus on enjoying your life, not managing your retirement plan.
The best way to determine if it’s worth it is to experience it firsthand. That’s why we offer a Free Retirement Strategy Session to help you decide if we’re the right fit.
What It’s Like to Work With Us
Can you give me an overview of your process?
We start with a Free Retirement Strategy Session (45-min) to learn what matters most to you, answer your biggest questions, and show how we can improve your plan, optimize investments, and lower taxes.
If we both agree it’s a good fit, you’ll join the Define Family and begin our Total Retirement System™—a step-by-step process to gather key information, clarify your goals, and build a coordinated retirement plan.
From there, we provide ongoing guidance, meeting with you each spring and fall and staying proactive in between to keep your plan and investments aligned and optimized.
Do you work with families nationwide?
Yes! We are licensed in all 50 states and currently work with families across the country. Thanks to secure video conferencing, working with us is just as easy whether you’re five miles away or five time zones away. Every meeting is protected with a unique password, and we follow strict security standards to keep your information safe. Wherever you call home, you’ll receive highly personalized retirement and tax planning services from a dedicated team of experts.
Where do you hold my investment accounts?
For your safety and convenience, Define Financial uses Fidelity Investments as a third-party custodian for our client investment and retirement accounts. Fidelity administers more than $16.4 trillion in assets for more than 40 million retirement savers. As a trusted custodian, Fidelity safely holds your investment accounts and provides annual reporting to you and the IRS. Your accounts can be viewed at any time at www.fidelity.com or through the Define Financial Client Portal.
Schedule Your Free Strategy Session
Take the first step toward getting your Total Retirement System, an integrated plan designed to help you make the most of your resources in retirement.