Our Process

How we’ll work together

Start with a conversation

Schedule a simple introductory call where we learn about your goals, your concerns, and what prompted you to explore planning.

Gain clarity on your situation

We walk through your current financial picture together, helping you better understand how everything fits and where opportunities may exist.

Decide how to move forward

If it feels like the right fit, we begin building your personalized plan and guide you step by step with ongoing support.

The Intentional Planning Process

Your financial plan should not begin with products, projections, or assumptions. It should begin with your vision. Through The Intentional Planning Process, Doug helps bring clarity to your full financial picture, then builds and adjusts a coordinated plan that supports the life, retirement, and legacy you want to create.

Let's Meet

We begin by understanding what matters most to you, where you are today, and what you want your wealth to make possible. Whether you are preparing for retirement, building toward future goals, or navigating a major transition, your vision becomes the foundation for every recommendation that follows.

This first conversation is also where Doug begins acting as your quarterback, building a complete picture of who serves you today and where coordination across your professional team can create more value.

A plan only works when it is implemented. We coordinate directly with your CPA, estate planning attorney, and other specialists so each part of the plan moves forward together. We prioritize the next steps, communicates across your team of professionals on your behalf, and keeps every action aligned with the broader strategy. This can include adjusting investments, opening or consolidating accounts, reviewing insurance options, refining withdrawal strategies, updating beneficiaries, or improving tax efficiency.

Financial planning is an ongoing relationship. Your life, goals, markets, tax laws, and family needs evolve over time. Doug continues to quarterback your financial picture through regular reviews, ongoing communication with your other professionals, and adjustments that keep every decision aligned with your vision. You stay focused on what matters most while your plan stays current with your life.

Questions?

We've got answers

What does it look like to get started?

Why do most of your clients hire you?

Most of our clients hire us because they want one trusted professional to help manage their entire financial life. Rather than carrying separate conversations with a CPA, an attorney, an investment advisor, or an HR benefits team, they want one person who understands the full picture, coordinates with each specialist, and makes sure every decision works together. Doug serves as that quarterback, bringing together a vetted network of CPAs, estate planning attorneys, insurance specialists, and other professionals on your behalf.

How are you compensated?

We are a fee-only firm all the time, which means our compensation comes directly from our clients. We offer two distinct services, each with its own clear fee structure. Investment management is billed using a progressive tiered model based on assets under management. Financial planning is offered on a flat-fee basis. All fees are outlined and agreed to in advance, and both services are delivered free of commissions and product incentives.

What is a financial advisor working under a fiduciary standard?

These are two distinct standards, and together they define how an advisor is legally and ethically required to serve you.

A financial advisor working under the fiduciary standard is legally obligated to act in your best interest at all times. This means recommendations must be based on what is right for your situation, your goals, and your long-term financial wellbeing. The fiduciary standard is the highest legal standard of care in financial advice.

Fee-only refers to how an advisor is compensated. A fee-only advisor is paid directly and exclusively by the client. No commissions, no payments from investment product companies, and no incentives from third parties of any kind. The advice you receive is not influenced by how a product is priced or what an outside company is willing to pay.

When these two standards operate together, you get a relationship where the advisor is required to put your interests first and has a compensation structure built to support that commitment consistently.

At Intentional Wealth Planning, we operate as a fee-only financial advisor under the fiduciary standard always. Our fiduciary obligation is clearly disclosed, our fees are outlined in advance, and our compensation comes entirely from the clients we serve.

Do I need to be close to retirement to work with you?

Will I still work with other professionals like CPAs or attorneys?

How do I reduce taxes in retirement?

Taxes are one of the most significant and most overlooked factors in how long your retirement assets last. Many people spend decades focused on building their portfolio, only to enter retirement without a clear strategy for how to draw from it efficiently. The decisions you make around income, withdrawals, and investments in retirement can have a meaningful impact on your lifetime tax burden.

A well-structured retirement income plan creates opportunities to reduce unnecessary taxes through strategies such as Roth conversions, tax-efficient withdrawal sequencing, capital gains management, Social Security tax planning, and proactive planning around Medicare IRMAA surcharges.

The goal reaches beyond any single tax year. The purpose of tax planning in retirement is to build a coordinated, long-term strategy that helps more of your wealth stay aligned with the life you have worked to build. Every household is different, which is why these decisions should be integrated with your investment strategy, retirement income plan, and estate planning objectives rather than treated as a separate exercise.

At Intentional Wealth Planning, we coordinate closely with your CPA and other tax professionals to help ensure every strategy is working together efficiently. Tax decisions touch investments, income, withdrawals, and legacy planning simultaneously, and a quarterback approach to those conversations helps reduce gaps and missed opportunities.

Proactive planning in this area gives you a clearer picture of what your retirement income actually looks like after taxes, and more confidence that your resources will support the life you have planned.

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