Question 1

What do you charge? What does a 0.50% fee mean?

Accepted Answer

Financial advisors charge fees proportional to the amount of assets that they are managing. This is called an Assets Under Management (AUM) fee.

The 0.50% AUM fee refers to an annual fee. However, we charge monthly in-arrears. Since investment accounts fluctuate in value each day, the monthly fee is based on the average daily account balance throughout the month and a monthly rate proportional to the number of days in the month (i.e. a month with 28 days would charge less than a month with 31 days).

You can see our fee schedule on our Pricing page to learn more about our pricing.

For example:
Say, your fee is 0.50% and you have an average account balance of $100,000 for the month of January. On February 1st, January's monthly fee of $42.47 will automatically be withdrawn from the account, based on this calculation:

Your daily rate would be:		0.50%		/ 	365 days =	0.00137%
Your monthly rate would be:	0.00137%	x 	31 days 	=	0.042%
Your monthly fee would be:	$100,000	x	0.042%	=	$42.47

Question 2

Do you have any hidden fees?

Accepted Answer

No.

Silverstone Financial does not have any hidden fees. However, some of our partners may charge supplemental fees.

For example:
 • Our broker-dealer custodian partners (Altruist, Charles Schwab, and Interactive brokers) may charge additional fees for uncommon services like wire transfers and paper check requests.
 • Our tax partners may charge additional hourly or complexity fees for unique tax situations.
 • LLiS Insurance (Silverstone Financial is not affiliated) may have additional underwriting or processing fees.
 • Trust & Will (Silverstone Financial is not affiliated) may charge additional attorney or complexity fees for unique estate situations.

Silverstone Financial has carefully chosen partners that do not charge superfluous fees and does not expect its average client will encounter many miscellaneous fees from its partners. Silverstone Financial will occasionally cover / reimburse some of the fees charged by its partners, but is not required to, unless specifically stated in Silverstone Financial's client agreement.

Question 3

Will I be charged hourly on top of my fees?

Accepted Answer

No, unless you have hired us under an hourly agreement.

Our ongoing subscription financial planning, ongoing investment management service, and ongoing wealth management service do not bill hourly on top of the quoted fee. Labor costs have already been factored into the price for those services. Clients have access to our support as needed without worrying about incurring additional charges.

Question 4

Can you invest my money for me?

Accepted Answer

Yes.

We provide an investment management service with no account minimums.

We will determine your risk tolerance and find investment solutions to meet your investment objectives. We will invest, monitor, and rebalance your investments for you.

Our portfolio manager is an Accredited Portfolio Management Advisor™ and has many years of investment management experience.

Question 5

Do you have account minimums?

Accepted Answer

No.

We have no required minimum account balance to open a managed investment account with our firm, however some of our service offerings do have account minimums.

We like to work with diligent savers and investors. It doesn't matter where you are on your investing journey. If you have $10 million or $100, we can help you. Everyone has to start somewhere! You can open an account with as little as $100, as long as you plan to contribute to and grow the account in the future.

We also offer financial planning services with no managed investment accounts required.

Question 6

Do you offer flat-fee financial planning?

Accepted Answer

Yes! We offer both hourly and subscription financial planning services.

Flat-fee financial planning is best for those who would benefit from working with a financial professional but wish to continue to manage their own investments.

Our flat monthly subscription fee for financial planning includes the initial financial plan construction and then two ongoing one-on-one annual meetings to keep you on track to meet your financial goals. Additional one-on-one meetings are available as needed at no additional cost.

We also offer hourly project-based financial planning service for those who do not want an ongoing professional relationship.

Please see our Pricing page on our website for more information.

Question 7

Is there a minimum contract period for monthly flat-fee planning?

Accepted Answer

No.

Clients who choose our flat-fee financial planning monthly subscription are charged a one-time onboarding fee and then an ongoing monthly subscription payment. You can cancel your subscription anytime with no fees or penalties.

Alternatively, we offer hourly project-based financial plans for those not interested in an ongoing relationship.

Question 8

Can you help me determine when I can retire?

Accepted Answer

Yes.

We provide comprehensive retirement planning and can help you retire with confidence.

Our financial planners are all Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™ and/or CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals have helped many families plan for retirement.

Question 9

Do you offer estate planning?

Accepted Answer

Yes.

We do estate planning for our financial planning clients; however, we are financial planners, not estate lawyers. We are knowledgeable about inheritance law and estate planning but are not licensed to practice law or give legal advice. In collaboration with your attorney, we can help you create a comprehensive tax-efficient estate plan based on your values and wishes that is right for you and your family.

Question 10

Can you draft my Will, Trust, and other estate documents for me?

Accepted Answer

No. We do not draft legal documents for our clients.

We offer discounted estate document preparation services for our clients in partnership with Trust & Will. For those interested, you will be able to independently draft your own estate documents on Trust & Will with our oversight. Additionally, you will be able to review your drafted documents one-on-one with a licensed estate attorney through Trust & Will, if you wish.

This service is available as an optional add-on to any other service we offer. Estate document drafting costs between $150 and $850.

Question 11

Do you offer tax planning?

Accepted Answer

Yes.

We are financial planners, not accountants. We are knowledgeable about the tax code and offer some tax planning, but we are not licensed to give tax advice.

All of our financial plans consider the tax implications of our recommendations. Our financial planning includes many tax-optimization strategies like investment tax loss harvesting, tax bracket optimization (Roth Conversion strategies), and minimizing estate taxes.

If you wish to go deeper on tax planning or preparation, we are partnered with a licensed tax professional to provide tax advice and full-service tax return preparation.

Question 12

Can you file my taxes for me?

Accepted Answer

Yes.

If you are interested in tax preparation and filing, we are partnered with a licensed tax professional to provide this service in-house in conjunction with your financial planning team. This service is included for free for clients with over $1,000,000 of investable assets at Silverstone Financial.

(Tax prep is an optional service; you can continue to file with your current CPA if you prefer.)

Question 13

Do you sell insurance and annuities?

Accepted Answer

No.

We are fee-only financial advisors and are not licensed to sell insurance or annuities.

However, proper insurance coverage is an important part of many financial plans. We recommend insurance and annuity products when appropriate. As fee-only fiduciary advisors, we cannot earn commissions for recommending specific investment or insurance strategies. All of our recommendations will always be in YOUR best interest.

We are partnered with LLiS Insurance to provide low-load insurance services to our clients. We do not receive any compensation for recommending insurance products and services sold by LLiS. LLiS is a vetted insurance provider that we trust to provide you with the best products and services at the best prices; however, all of our clients have the option to execute our insurance recommendations with any insurance provider of their choosing.