Financial planning
Cash flow, spending, housing, education and retirement, written down and updated every year.
Approach
How we work, start to finish.
No sales team, no hand-offs, no mystery. Here is what happens from the first call on, how we invest, and what it costs.
The process
Five steps, and you can stop after any of them.
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Week 1 · 30 min · Free
The intro call
You tell us about your company and what’s coming up. We tell you honestly whether we’re the right fit. No forms to fill in beforehand, no pitch deck, and no follow-up emails if you decide not to go further.
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Within 3 business days
A one-page proposal
If we’re a fit, we send one page: what we’d do, who would do it, and the flat fee in dollars. Nothing starts, and nothing is billed, until you sign.
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Weeks 2 – 4
Discovery
Two working sessions. We gather everything: the cap table, option grants, tax returns, trusts, and the deal terms if there are any. Your partner and associate do the reading so you never have to explain something twice.
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Week 6
Your written plan
A plain-English plan, usually fifteen to twenty-five pages, with every decision ranked by how urgent and how valuable it is. We walk through it together, then your partner signs it. It’s yours to keep.
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For as long as it’s useful
Ongoing
We meet every quarter, and weekly if a deal is live. Between meetings you call or text your partner directly. Once a year we rewrite the plan and review the fee with you.
What’s included
Everything around the money, in one place.
Liquidity-event planning
Modeling offers in after-tax dollars, QSBS, 10b5-1 plans, lockups, earnouts and rollover equity.
Tax coordination
Projections and planning with your CPA. We don’t prepare returns; we make sure the person who does has what they need.
Investment management
A plain, diversified portfolio in your name, rebalanced with taxes in mind. Included in the fee.
Estate & family
Working with your attorney on wills, trusts and gifting, and family meetings when you want them.
Giving
Donor-advised funds, charitable trusts and private foundations, timed to the year it helps most.
How we invest
Boring, on purpose.
The interesting part of your financial life was the company. Your portfolio doesn’t need to be.
We build portfolios mostly from low-cost, broadly diversified index funds and individual Treasury and municipal bonds. We don’t have funds of our own, we don’t pick stocks, and we don’t try to time the market. We rebalance when it’s worth the tax cost, and not before.
Your money is held in your name at a large, independent custodian. We can place trades and bill our fee, but we can’t withdraw money to anywhere but an account in your name. You see every holding and every transaction yourself.
After a sale, we usually keep two to three years of spending in cash and short-term Treasuries, so a bad year in the market never forces a bad decision.
Fees
What it costs, in dollars.
Flat fees, agreed before any work starts. We never charge a percentage of assets, commissions, or fees on the funds we use.
| Service | What it covers | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Intro call | Thirty minutes with a partner. An honest answer about fit. | Free |
| Pre-sale planning | Discovery, a written plan, a tax projection with your CPA, and a partner on call until the deal closes. | $15,000 once |
| Ongoing advice | Planning, investment management, tax and estate coordination, quarterly meetings, and a partner’s direct line. | $24,000–$60,000 / yr |
| Second opinion | A review of an offer, a tender, or an existing plan. Capped before we start. | $450 / hr |
What sets the ongoing fee
- How many entities, trusts and accounts we’re coordinating
- How complicated your equity is: options, RSUs, earnouts, rollover
- Whether you file taxes in more than one state
- How many family members are part of the plan
What doesn’t
- How much money you have with us
- Which funds we buy for you
- Whether the market went up this year
Fees are billed quarterly, after the work. End the relationship any time with 30 days’ notice. The full schedule is in our Form ADV Part 2A.
To be clear
What we don’t do.
- We don’t prepare tax returns or draft legal documents. We work with your CPA and attorney, or introduce you to ones we trust.
- We don’t sell insurance, annuities or private deals.
- We don’t pick stocks, and we don’t promise to beat the market.
- We don’t manage company money. We advise people and families.
- We don’t take on a client we can’t give real attention to.
Questions
Things people usually ask.
Are you a fiduciary?
Yes, always, for every piece of advice we give. We’re legally required to put your interests ahead of ours, and because we’re paid only by you, there’s very little pulling the other way.
Is there a minimum?
Most of our clients have, or expect to have after a sale, at least $3 million to invest. We make exceptions for founders earlier on, especially if a raise or a tender is coming.
Where is my money held?
In your name, at a large independent custodian. We can trade and bill our fee. We can’t move money anywhere except to another account in your name.
Do I have to live in San Diego?
No. About a third of our clients live elsewhere in California or out of state. We meet by video and fly out at least once a year.
What if I want to leave?
Give us 30 days’ notice. We’ll help move your accounts, hand your plan to whoever comes next, and bill only for the time that’s passed.
Who else might I work with?
One associate, who knows your file as well as your partner does. That’s it. You’ll meet both in the first month.
Start with step one.
A free, thirty-minute call with a partner. You’ll leave with an honest answer, whatever it is.