OUR APPROACH.
What does ‘fee only’ mean?
A fee-only advisor is a financial advisor who believes that commissions taint an advisor’s objectivity and, thus, cause his or her advice to be less efficient or more costly. A fee-only advisor refuses any and all commissions or remuneration from anyone other than the investor/client. The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors champions the fee-only approach as the best deal for the consumer. We agree.
What does ‘client fiduciary’ mean?
A fiduciary is a person who is legally obligated to act in the best interests of his clients, not his firm. Many financial advisors and brokers are not fiduciaries. Committing to this fiduciary standard means that at Hemington, our objectives are aligned with our clients’ best interests, at all times and under all circumstances. For us, nothing else is good enough.
How do we define ‘comprehensive’?
We define true wealth management in a specific way:
WM = RM + AP + IC
For us, true wealth management consists of relationship management plus advanced planning plus investment consulting.
RM: Relationship management involves three key tasks: first, fully understanding the clients’ critical needs and meeting those needs over time through a consultative process; second, assembling and managing a network of financial experts; and third, working with our clients’ other professional advisors such as their attorneys and accountants.
AP: Advanced planning addresses the wide range of financial needs beyond investment consulting. It consists of four areas: wealth enhancement, wealth protection, wealth transfer and charitable giving.
- Wealth enhancement means managing clients’ assets to get the best possible return, commensurate with their risk tolerance and applying strategies to do so while minimizing taxes as much as possible.
- Wealth protection services are designed to shield wealth from death or disability, litigants, creditors, children, in-laws and ex-spouses.
- Wealth transfer services include identifying and facilitating the most tax-efficient way to pass assets to heirs.
- Charitable giving services include helping determine appropriate giving levels in light of other goals as well as evaluating various giving strategies and vehicles.
IC: Investment consulting is the management of investment portfolios as well as consulting on all of our clients’ assets, wherever they are held.
