This is a common misconception I come across since fees associated with working with a financial professional can be confusing.

The most common reason I find people believing their advisor doesn’t charge them anything is because they are paid on commission by the mutual fund or insurance company to sell their financial products.

For example, a C share mutual fund carries an extra 1% in its annual expense ratio and the advisor gets compensated by that extra 1% when the mutual fund company pays them. Insurance products you might’ve bought all likely have paid the salesperson a commission as well.

As a fee-only advisor, I do not get paid by any other mutual fund or insurance company and am paid directly by my clients. That is why I bill my clients 1% or less based on assets under management. This frees me up to have the widest selection of investment choices and to shop for the best investment products for my clients. This leads me to use the lowest cost funds available, with my average portfolio expense ratio being around 0.09% to 0.12% per year.

Shop around and you will likely find my fees are lower and services level much higher than large broker-dealers like Edward Jones, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS, etc for the same client size.

Co Planning Group charges 1% or less based on assets that I manage for my clients. For clients with over $450,000 managed Co Planning Group, all of the advisory fee will be bill directly out of their managed investment account held at Charles Schwab, meaning you will never have to write a check.

For younger clients that are still accumulating assets, they can still hire Co Planning Group to provide their financial planning and investment management meeds. We use AdvicePay and clients will be billed $375 monthly. This billing arrangement includes the investment management fee for the first $450,000, meaning no additional 1% management fee will be applied.

I don’t believe in trading stocks, 炒股票, or timing the market. I believe in owning low cost index funds and some low cost systematic active funds to invest in a balanced mix of global stocks and global bonds based on my client’s desire for return and stomach for short term (1-3 year) losses.

The way I invest my clients money are essentially the same way I manage my own and my extended family’s money.

You can learn more and see my selection of ETFs on “What you get and what you pay” page.

Yes! While many of our clients are in Missouri, we work with people all over the United States.

If your investment balance are not over $500,000, you may still work with Co Planning Group in an advice only capacity by paying the minimum quarterly fee of $1250 through AdvicePay. This covers the investment management services for the first $500,000 and once your investment balance is over $500,000, we can bill you out of your investment account via the 1% Asset Under Management fee.

If your investments are in an current employer’s 401(k)/403(b) or similar plan and is not available to be rolled over, Co Planning Group may still manage it for you. We partner with Pontera to help manage your investments.

To avoid breaching custody rules, the management fee will be billed directly to you, instead of out of investment balance if we manage your 401(k) via Pontera’s platform.

Absolutely.

As a Registered Investment Advisor, I have a legal duty imposed on me by the SEC to always act in my client’s best interest.

As a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professional, I must follow the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct and act in my client’s best interest at all times in order to maintain my certification. You can learn more about those responsibilities here.

A Registered Investment Advisor (RIA)

• manage the assets of individual and institutional investors

• must register with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or a state regulatory agency, depending on the value of assets under the RIA’s management

• Unlike broker-dealers, RIAs have a fiduciary duty to put the best interests of the client first

A RIA is liable to providing substandard advice while broker-dealers are permitted to provide advice that is only “suitable” for their clients’ investment portfolios. This doesn’t mean that there haven’t been RIAs that attempted to earn more money by providing substandard advice their clients, but it does mean those that do have a harder time staying registered and open for business if they do so.

You may read more about what makes RIAs unique here.

CFP® stands for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ and is maintained by the CFP Board and enforces a Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct on certificant.

To follow the CFP Board Code of Ethics, a CFP® professional must:

1. Act with honesty, integrity, competence, and diligence.

2. Act in the client’s best interests.

3. Exercise due care.

4. Avoid or disclose and manage conflicts of interest.

5. Maintain the confidentiality and protect the privacy of client information.

6. Act in a manner that reflects positively on the financial planning profession and CFP® certification.

In order to be certified, a certificant must fulfill the following requirements

1. They must complete coursework through a CFP Board Registered Program, which typically takes 12-18 months to complete.

2. Hold a bachelor's degree or higher (in any discipline) from an accredited college or university.

3. Pass the CFP® exam to demonstrate that they’ve attained the knowledge and competency necessary to provide comprehensive personal financial planning advice.

4. They need to complete either 6,000 hours (about 3 years) of professional experience related to the financial planning process, or 4,000 hours (about 2 years) of apprenticeship experience that meets additional requirements.

5. They must adhere to high ethical and professional standards for the practice of financial planning, and to act as a fiduciary when providing financial advice to their client, always putting their best interests first.

I began Co Planning Group as an independent advisory firm in order to help my personal group of clients. I love being a dad and until my child is grown, I don’t intend to have more than 50 clients at a time in order to provide the highest level of comprehensive financial planning.

To provide the highest level of service, I partner with Charles Schwab as my custodial platform.

Since Co Planning Group never takes custody of your assets and it will be held with Charles Schwab, you can feel secure knowing you own your investment account 100% of the time.

Charles Schwab® is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services. Founded in 1971, the firm is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing, and many other financial products and services to more than 33 million individuals and institutions, as well as through nearly 15,000 independent financial advisory firms. For more information about Charles Schwab, visit Schwab.com.

Charles Schwab provides clearing, custody, or other brokerage services to Co Planning Group LLC.

Working with Charles Schwab gives Co Planning Group access to a wide range of institutional products and services at a low cost so we can effectively serve the needs of our clients.

Through our relationship with Charles Schwab, you will receive a simplified, consolidated statement each month reflecting all your investment positions and transactions in your Schwab brokerage account.

Our firm values the unparalleled support they provide to make sure we are giving our clients the best possible experience when working with our firm.

Other than being one of the most recognizable names for retail investors to handle their own investments, Charles Schwab Institutional is one of the largest and most established custodian available to financial advisory firms.

Co Planning Group and other RIAs utilize Charles Schwab Institutional to hold our client’s assets to ensure the safety of it. Your money is held at Schwab and you may hire us to manage your investments held there.

I am not an employee of Schwab.