Phillip James Financial

We Are An Independent Fee-Only Fiduciary RIA...What Does That Mean?

Independent

We work for our clients rather than representing a specific bank, insurance, or investment company. Because of this, we are not limited to one company's investment products. This allows us to provide access to many more investment options at a much lower cost.

Fee-Only

We will never be paid a commission. An advisor compensated through commissions inherently faces a conflict of interest between the interests of the client and that of the financial professional. These commissions provide an incentive to sell products with the highest payout to the advisor (e.g. loaded mutual funds, variable annuities, whole life insurance) regardless of whether or not this is the best option. We are paid based on a percentage of the assets that we manage. This aligns our goals with those of the client, which is to grow your wealth. This model minimizes conflicts of interest.

Fiduciary

A financial advisor held to a Fiduciary Standard occupies a position of special trust and confidence when working with a client. As a Fiduciary, the financial advisor is required to act with undivided loyalty to the client. This includes disclosure of how the financial advisor is compensated and any corresponding conflicts of interest. This requires Trust, Loyalty, and Disclosure.

RIA

"RIA" stands for Registered Investment Advisor. This means that we are registered and regulated by the State of Minnesota and are held to a standard of care as laid out in the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. This holds us to our Fiduciary responsibility and requires us to act and serve a client's best interests with the intent to eliminate all potential conflicts of interest.

The Process

It Starts With A Meeting.

Our Goal is to educate not sell. Even if you don't become a client we want you to have a better understanding of your investments and how to plan for retirement.

Upon scheduling the Discovery meeting you'll receive a Client Questionnaire which focuses on many different aspects of life; all of which have an impact on you financially. Some areas we touch on are work, your hobbies, family, spending habits, and investment objectives. During this meeting we begin identifying your current financial situation and goals. This is the beginning of your tailored financial plan.

After the Discovery meeting, we begin analyzing your current financial situation. We create a statement showing your current Net Worth, analysis regarding your current investments, and recommendations going forward. Once we have completed this personalized analysis we schedule one last meeting to go over the results. After the meeting, you will have a clear picture regarding your financial situation, where you need to be, and how a Phillip James Financial Advisor can help you achieve your goals through your own financial plan.

At this stage we are ready to implement your plan. We oversee the entire process to ensure everything is done correctly and you understand exactly what is going on. Once implemented, we monitor your portfolio and make necessary changes as needed - examples that would require changes to the portfolio could be; changes in your goals, target retirement date, income, spending, and risk profile. Our objective as financial advisors and fiduciaries is to ensure your portfolio and life goals are aligned.

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