James Skorheim

• Tax planning
• Charitable planning
• Estate planning
• Budgeting
• Debt management
• Social security and retirement income
• Indexing / passive investing
• Investment management
• Socially responsible investing
• Buying a home
• Career change
• College preparation
• Divorce
• Getting married
• Having a child
• Job loss
• Retirement planning
• Sudden wealth
• Concentrated / highly appreciated positions

• Legal professionals
• Small business owners
• Approaching retirement
• Mid-career professionals
• Retirees
• Young professionals
• Recent grads

An overall picture of the needs of an investor, a responsive asset allocation, and broad diversification are the backbone of any sound, long-term investment strategy.  Money is a very very personal subject.  We need to know as much about you financially, and somewhat personally, to make sound investment decisions for you.  But regardless of your future objectives and your position in life, my overall advice is the same.  Stay the course, contribute early and often, diversify, and try to forget about the noise.  We like to seriously understand a clients situation and goals, construct a portfolio that will give them the maximum return for the amount of risk they are willing to take, and to let the mathematics of compounding do their work.    

This is the easy part for me.  You see, I am a fee only advisor, which means that I only earn a portion of 1% of the assets I manage, starting at .009 (per year, charged quarterly for 1/4th), which is typically far less than the dividends received in a year.  And the fee % reduces as your account gets larger.  This does two things: 1) It aligns my interests with yours.  If I make a commission on each trade I make for you, then I get paid just for moving your money from stock A to B.  It might not be beneficial at all to move that holding, but I would get paid.  Whereas by being fee only, when you make more money through sound investing, then I will make more money, same fee%, but larger balance.  (2) It allows more of your money to work for you, letting compounding do most of the hard work.  And again, as you grow I grow. 

For many of our cients we perform tax preparation, business valuations and consulting services for small or family businesses, as well as estate planning services.  For these services we charge typical hourly rates.  For these services we would require a signed engagement letter, which states our hourly rates, so there are never any surprises.

The planning process is the real meat of the sandwhich here.  It is also the toughest part of my job.  While it is the toughest part of my job, it is the most enjoyable, because this is where we become pretty good friends.  To make good decisions for you, your business, your employees, or your family, I really need to understand who you are, what makes you you, and where you would ultimately like to be one day.  I need to know how much you earn, how much you could or hope to earn in the future,  and how much you need.  All of these things are so unnatural at times to discuss with someone you just met, so I say that this is where we become friends. Becuase lets face it, friends take the time to get to know each other, to care for each other and each others family, and to look out for one another.     

We would really need to understand the goals for this money.  Most people say retirement....what does that mean? Some people want to open a bed and breakfast, some want to travel the world, some want to stay close to home with the grandkids.  So retirement means something different to everyone.  

I also don't want to overexpose you to anything, so I need to understand your other investments.  If your largest investment is your house, which for many it is, then you probably want to stay away from real estate.  

I would need to understand a little about your family health history.  Some families live to 100+ years old, some start dropping like flies in their 30s....just kidding, but it is helpful to know since in all of our later years our medical bills might spike.  Again, something to plan for.

Sorry to drag on and on, but this truly is the most important step in the process, and like I said earlier, prepare to become friends...good friends.