Tax-Free
Roth IRA, Roth 401(k), HSA
Growth you never want taxed
- Highest expected return holdings
- Small cap and emerging markets
- Anything with decades to compound
Services
Four things, working together.
Investments, cash flow, taxes, and giving aren't separate problems. The decision you make in one shows up in the other three. That is why we plan them as a single system rather than four.
01
Investment Philosophy
How your money is invested should be the least surprising part of your financial plan. We don't chase managers, time markets, or take risks you aren't paid for. We build low-cost, broadly diversified portfolios grounded in decades of academic research. Then we stay out of their way, so your attention can go to the decisions that actually move the needle.
Markets Reward Patience
Markets exist to move capital toward its most productive use, and investors who supply that capital have historically been compensated for it. Not evenly, and not on any schedule. Over long horizons, however, that compensation has persisted.
The Long View
Growth of a Dollar
1926-07 through 2026-07, compounded monthly
- US Small Cap$93,348
- US Total Market$19,173
- Treasury Bills$25
- Inflation$19
Sources: Kenneth R. French Data Library, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth (equity and Treasury bill returns); U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED, series CPIAUCNS (inflation).
Nobody Is Getting a Head Start
By the time news reaches you, it has already reached everyone else and moved the price. Current prices reflect what the entire market collectively knows and expects. We treat those prices as fair information rather than a puzzle to solve.
Don't Try to Outguess the Market
A prediction-based strategy means betting you've seen something that the entire market, including every analyst, fund manager, and algorithm with a full-time interest in being right, has collectively missed. Some people pull that off. Very few pull it off repeatedly, and almost nobody does it reliably enough to bet a retirement on. We'd rather build around evidence than around a hunch.
US-Domiciled Fund Performance, 20 Years Ending December 2025 EquityFixed IncomeUS-Domiciled Fund Performance, 20 Years Ending December 2025 Category Funds at start Survived Outperformed Equity 3,000 45% 12% Fixed Income 1,607 46% 17% Know What Actually Drives Returns
Decades of research, some of it Nobel-recognized, points to a handful of characteristics that have historically been associated with higher expected returns: how small a company is, how cheaply it's priced, and how profitable it is. We build portfolios that lean toward those characteristics deliberately, and weigh that tilt against cost and diversification rather than chasing it at any price.
Dimensions of Expected Returns
Equities
- Company SizeMarket capitalization
- Relative PricePrice / book equity
- ProfitabilityOperating profits / book equity
Fixed Income
- TermSensitivity to interest rates
- CreditCredit quality of issuer
- CurrencyCurrency of issuance
There Is No Return Without Risk
Higher expected returns require investors to accept greater uncertainty and a wider range of possible outcomes. That uncertainty is not a flaw to eliminate; it is part of how markets reward investors for taking risk. The right level of risk is one your plan, timeline, and behavior can absorb without forcing a change at the wrong time.
Risk and return by portfolio profile Profile Relative expected return Relative range of outcomes Conservative 30 of 100 7 of 100 Moderately Conservative 47 of 100 14 of 100 Moderate 60 of 100 23 of 100 Moderately Aggressive 69 of 100 33 of 100 Aggressive 75 of 100 45 of 100 Illustrative only. Not a forecast, and not a representation of any specific portfolio or investment. Own Everything, Not Something
There's no reliable way to know which country, sector, or company will lead over the next decade. Owning a broad slice of all of them means you don't have to. It also means no single bad outcome anywhere is large enough to derail what you're building toward.
Home Market Only
S&P 500 Index
- 1
- country
- 500
- companies
Global Market
MSCI ACWI Investable Market Index (IMI)
- 47
- countries
- 4,000+
- companies
Your home market, included
The global portfolio isn't an alternative to your home market. It holds your home market, plus everything else.
Where You Hold It Matters as Much as What You Hold
The same fund in a Roth, a brokerage account, and a traditional IRA produces three different after-tax outcomes. Assets that throw off taxable income generally belong in sheltered accounts; assets that grow quietly or that you may donate are often better held where they're exposed. It's an unglamorous decision that compounds for decades.
Where an investment lives changes what you keep
Each account type is taxed differently. Matching the right holdings to the right account doesn't change what you own; it changes what's left after taxes.
Tax-Deferred
Traditional IRA, 401(k)
Income you'd rather not pay tax on today
- Bonds and other interest-paying assets
- REITs
- Higher-turnover strategies
Taxable
Brokerage, joint, trust
Assets with flexibility built in
- Tax-efficient index holdings
- Appreciated shares you may donate
- Assets that may pass with a step-up
General principles only. The right placement depends on your income, time horizon, and goals.
Donating Appreciated Assets
Selling an appreciated investment triggers capital gains tax. Giving those same shares directly to a charity generally doesn't. You can also typically deduct their full market value. Same gift, same cost to you, two tax benefits instead of none.
Same gift. Same cost. Different tax outcome.
Option AGive CashWrite a check, keep the stock Option BDonate Stock & ReplenishGive the shares, rebuy with the cash Out of your pocket $15,000 $15,000used to buy replacement shares Charity receives $15,000 $15,000 Capital gains tax Still owed when you sell $1,000 avoided Your cost basis after $10,000unchanged $15,000reset to current market value Option A Give Cash
Write a check, keep the stock
- Out of your pocket
- $15,000
- Charity receives
- $15,000
- Capital gains tax
- Still owed when you sell
- Your cost basis after
- $10,000unchanged
Option B Donate Stock & Replenish
Give the shares, rebuy with the cash
- Out of your pocket
- $15,000used to buy replacement shares
- Charity receives
- $15,000
- Capital gains tax
- $1,000 avoided
- Your cost basis after
- $15,000reset to current market value
Hypothetical example for illustration only. Assumes long-term appreciated shares held more than one year. Actual results depend on your holding period, income, deduction limits, and applicable law. Not tax advice.
A Written Plan Beats a Good Instinct
Your objectives, target allocation, risk tolerance, and constraints go in writing before a dollar is invested. When markets get ugly, as they will, the question stops being "what should I do?" and becomes "what did we already decide?"
Without a plan
What should I do?
Asked at the worst possible moment.
With a plan
What did we already decide?
Answered months ago, calmly.
The Portfolio Serves the Plan
A portfolio isn't a scoreboard. It's a tool with a job: funding a retirement, a gift, a building, or a year off. The right allocation isn't the one with the best numbers. It's the one that gets your specific money to your specific goals on your specific timeline.
What is this money for?
It's the first question, and most investment conversations skip it. A dollar you'll need in three years and a dollar you'll give away in twenty aren't the same dollar, so they shouldn't be invested the same way.
Next 3 years
Money with a date
- Reserves
- This year's giving
- A down payment
- Tax bills
Held where it will still be there. Stability matters more than growth.
3 to 10 years
Money with a plan
- A property
- Tuition
- A sabbatical
- A business move
Balanced. Enough growth to matter, enough ballast to survive a bad stretch.
10 years and beyond
Money with time
- Retirement
- Legacy giving
- What you'll leave behind
Invested for growth. Time is the one advantage you can't buy back.
Control the Controllables
Markets will do what they do. Fees, turnover, taxes, diversification, and discipline are the parts of the outcome you actually get a vote on. They compound in the same direction, year after year, whether or not it's been a good year for stocks.
You control
- What you pay
- How broadly you diversify
- How often you trade
- How taxes are handled
- Whether you stay put
You don't
- Returns
- Interest rates
- The headlines
- Elections
- Next year
Spend your energy on the left.
02
Cashflow
“We don't rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems.”
Most people don't overspend because they lack discipline. They overspend because nothing in their setup tells them what's actually available. A cash flow system answers that question before you have to ask it. Money moves to reserves, taxes, giving, and investments automatically, and what's left is genuinely yours to spend.
- Lumpy IncomeWhen your income arrives in irregular chunks, the question isn't what you earned this year. It is what you can safely spend this month. A system smooths the peaks into something predictable.
- Parkinson's LawSpending expands to fill the income available. It's why a large payday often disappears without a clear sense of where it went, and why business owners with strong years can still feel behind.
- ReservesMost businesses that fail are profitable on paper right up until they run out of cash. Dedicated reserves are the difference between a slow quarter and a crisis.
Cashflow allocation system
Income
Long Term Investments
- Retirement funds
- Equity portfolio
- Compound growth
Reserves
- Emergency savings
- Liquidity cushion
- Keep up with inflation
Charitable
- Philanthropy
- Community support
- Tithing & fast offerings
Fixed Expenses
- Mortgage / rent
- Utilities
- Insurance premiums
Variable Expenses
- Food & dining
- Transportation
- Discretionary spending
Annual Expenses
- Property taxes
- Lump sum payments
- Planned annual costs
03
Tax Planning
Taxes are one of the largest expenses most households and business owners will ever pay, and one of the few you can plan around. That planning happens throughout the year, not in April. We look at how your income is structured, where your assets are held, and how your giving is timed, so the moves are already in place when they can still make a difference.
Charitable giving
Coordinate what you give, when you give, and which assets you use so generosity fits into the broader tax plan.
Itemizing
Review deductions and their timing to determine when itemizing may be more beneficial than taking the standard deduction.
Retirement planning and savings
Align contributions, account types, and future withdrawals with current needs and long-term tax goals.
Legal entity structure
Consider how an entity’s tax treatment affects owner compensation, benefits, and cash flow in coordination with your tax and legal professionals.
Capital gains vs. ordinary income
Account for how different kinds of income are taxed when evaluating sales, distributions, and investment decisions.
Structuring assets correctly
Organize assets across account types based on tax treatment, liquidity needs, and the role each asset serves in the plan.
Qualified business income
Review how business income, entity structure, and retirement contributions may interact with the qualified business income deduction.
Real estate-specific strategy
Coordinate depreciation, gains and losses, ownership decisions, and property cash flow as part of the overall plan.
04
Additional Financial Planning
Protection & insurance
Estate planning
Goals & vision