How I'm Paid
You deserve to know exactly how your advisor earns a living. Here's every dollar — no surprises, no fine print, no awkward conversations later.
Why I Built My Practice This Way
Most advisors bury their compensation on page 47 of a disclosure document written in legal language. You'd need a law degree to figure out what you're actually paying.
I think that's backwards.
You're approaching the most complex financial transition of your life. Not more complex than buying a house or saving for college — differently complex. Everything converges at once. Social Security timing. Pension elections. Roth conversion windows that open for a few years and close permanently. Medicare sequencing. Tax bracket management in the gap between retirement and RMDs. Survivor income for your spouse. Legacy decisions you've been putting off.
No other life stage demands this many different kinds of work at the same time — planning work, product work, and portfolio management work. And the two most common advisor models each have a blind spot right at this transition.
An advisor who only charges management fees has a structural incentive to keep every dollar on their platform — even when the plan says moving a portion into guaranteed income is the right call. An advisor who only charges flat fees can build you a plan, but can't place the products the plan calls for without sending you to someone else.
I didn't want my revenue model deciding which tool I reach for. So I built one where my compensation follows the plan — not the other way around.
Those three words aren't marketing language. They're the order of what actually happens when you work with me. First we create clarity — you see your whole picture for the first time. Then we build certainty — your essential income is secured so it no longer depends on markets. Then we deliver confidence — your remaining assets are managed for growth through retirement, with a partner who's still there every year.
Each stage has a fee attached. Each one exists because your retirement transition genuinely requires it. Here's the full picture.
Clarity · Certainty · Confidence
Three streams of compensation, mapped to the three stages of your retirement transition. Here's what each one is, what it costs, and why it exists.
Clarity
"Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." — Proverbs 15:22
Retirement is the only financial transition where everything is on the table at once — income sources, tax strategy, insurance gaps, estate decisions, and investment positioning. That's not portfolio management. That's deep analytical work, and it deserves its own fee.
The Retire Blessed Income Blueprint is a comprehensive retirement analysis built around the G.R.A.C.E. framework — five pillars that cover every dimension of your financial life. The planning fee pays for the work of understanding your situation, stress-testing your options, and building a strategy custom to your household.
What This Covers
- Full G.R.A.C.E. assessment across all five pillars
- Social Security optimization and claiming strategy
- Pension election analysis (lump sum vs. annuity, survivor options)
- Roth conversion and tax bracket modeling
- Insurance gap analysis (life, LTC, Medicare bridge)
- Estate and beneficiary review
- Written Retire Blessed Income Blueprint delivered in three meetings
What It Costs
The Retire Blessed Income Blueprint is $1,522 — a nod to Proverbs 15:22. The fee is split into two invoices of $761 each: the first before work begins, the second at delivery of your written blueprint. Complex households (multiple pensions, business interests, blended estate situations) may be quoted higher, always disclosed before any commitment.
The Fee Credit. If you engage Swan Capital Group for ongoing asset management within 60 days of your Blueprint delivery, $1,522 is applied as a discount against advisory fees billed in your first six months under the terms of your advisory agreement. For clients who move forward, the planning work is effectively included in the relationship — not billed twice.
Certainty
This is the part most advisors don't talk about. I'm going to.
Retirement is the one life stage where guaranteed income products aren't a sales pitch — they're sound planning. Converting a portion of your savings into a pension-like income stream so your essential expenses never depend on the market is one of the most important things a retirement plan can do. The same is true for long-term care coverage and legacy planning.
When the plan calls for a specific insurance or annuity product, I help you place it with a carrier. The carrier pays me a commission for that placement. You don't write me a separate check — the commission is built into the product by the carrier. But I want you to understand that it exists, what it covers, and why it's there.
Here's what matters: these products can only be placed through a commission structure. That's how the insurance industry works. An advisor who can't earn commissions either refers this work out — adding cost and friction — or avoids recommending these products altogether, even when the plan says you need them. My model means I can follow the plan wherever it leads without sending you somewhere else.
Here's the key: I will never recommend a product to earn a commission. Commissions are the output of good planning, not the reason for it. Your G.R.A.C.E. assessment identifies the need first. If the planning doesn't call for it, I don't recommend it. Period.
The Problems These Products Solve
- Guaranteed Income Annuities (SPIAs, DIAs, FIAs with income riders) — covering your Daily Bread so your essential expenses never depend on market performance
- Hybrid Long-Term Care Products — leveraged LTC riders that protect your assets and your family from catastrophic care costs without "use it or lose it" risk
- Estate & Legacy Products — life insurance or annuity riders that create efficient wealth transfer or survivor income for your spouse
What You Should Know
I'm an independent agent — not captive to any carrier or product family. I shop across the total market to find the most competitive rates and terms for your specific situation. When I recommend a product, I'll show you the alternatives I considered and explain why this solution fits your plan best.
Confidence
After your income floor is secure and your plan is in place, the assets that remain need professional management — but not the way they were managed during your working years.
Distribution-phase investing is fundamentally different from accumulation. You're sequencing withdrawals across account types to manage tax brackets. You're defending against sequence-of-returns risk during the most vulnerable years of retirement. You're coordinating RMDs, Roth conversions, and Social Security to keep your effective tax rate as low as possible. The ongoing management fee covers this work — and it aligns our incentives, because when your portfolio grows, my compensation grows with it.
Your investments are held at Altruist, a registered custodian. I never take custody of your money. You can see every holding, every transaction, every fee — any time you want, through your own login.
What This Covers
- Ongoing portfolio management and rebalancing
- Tax-loss harvesting and tax-efficient placement
- Retirement income distribution strategy
- Annual plan reviews and updates
- Unlimited access to me for questions and life changes
What It Costs
A flat 1.00% annual advisory fee on all assets under management up to $2 million. Above $2 million, pricing is custom-negotiated based on the complexity of the household. The fee is billed monthly based on average daily balance — no large lump-sum charges, and it adjusts naturally with your account value. The specific rate is always disclosed in your advisory agreement before we begin.
What This Looks Like in Real Dollars
Transparency of mechanism isn't the same as transparency of magnitude. Here's what working with me actually costs a real household — with every fee, every commission, and every credit on one page.
The Holloway Household
Mark & Linda Holloway · both age 58 · $620,000 investable assets · targeting retirement at 65 · representative household (not an actual client)
The Situation
Mark is a high-school principal with a strong Teacher Retirement System pension. Linda is a registered nurse planning to retire at 62. They have $620K across a 401(k), a 403(b), and a joint brokerage account. They've never worked with an advisor. Their biggest worry: "Will we have enough, and will one of us be okay if the other one isn't here?"
Stage 1 — Clarity
Swan Fit Call (Free · 15 min)
A short call to confirm we're a mutual fit. No commitment, no fee.
Retirement Readiness Assessment (Free)
A deeper conversation about their full picture — pension elections, Social Security ages, tax situation, legacy priorities. Delivered same day: a personalized PDF summary plus a short video walking through what the Blueprint would answer.
Retire Blessed Income Blueprint — $1,522
Paid in two $761 invoices: one before work begins, one at delivery. Three meetings in RightCapital. Mark's pension survivor options analyzed. Linda's bridge-to-Medicare strategy modeled. Roth conversion window quantified. Full written blueprint delivered.
Stage 2 — Certainty
Guaranteed Income Placement (Commission paid by carrier)
The blueprint identifies a $55K gap between Mark's pension + future Social Security and the Holloways' essential expenses at age 65. We shop the market and place a $180,000 deferred income annuity scheduled to begin payouts at 65. The carrier pays the commission — it's built into the product. Nothing out of pocket for the Holloways.
Stage 3 — Confidence
Ongoing Advisory Partnership — 1.00% AUM
After the DIA placement, $440,000 remains under management at Altruist for growth and distribution strategy. Annual advisory fee: $4,400, billed monthly. Includes ongoing management, tax-loss harvesting, RMD coordination, annual plan reviews, and unlimited access.
The Total Cost Picture
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2+ (annual) |
|---|---|---|
| Retire Blessed Income Blueprint | $1,522 | — |
| Ongoing advisory fee (1.00% of $440K) | $4,400 | $4,400 |
| Planning fee discount (applied first six months) | −$1,522 | — |
| Insurance / annuity commission (paid by carrier) | $0 out of pocket | $0 out of pocket |
| Total out of pocket | $4,400 | $4,400 |
Illustrative example using a representative household. Actual planning fees, advisory rates, and product recommendations depend on your specific situation and are always disclosed in writing before any commitment.
Why This Matters
The Holloways now have a written plan, a guaranteed income floor for life starting at 65, an independently-managed portfolio for the rest, and one advisor accountable for all of it. Their total out-of-pocket in Year 1 and every year after is the same — because the planning fee is applied as a discount against advisory fees in the first six months, and the insurance commissions are paid by the carrier, not by them. One relationship. One advisor. One view of the whole picture.
The Order Matters
I don't sell products and call it planning. I don't collect assets and skip the plan. The sequence is the same every time — because at the retirement transition, the order determines the outcome.
Plan First
We build your Retire Blessed Income Blueprint. The planning fee covers this work — the G.R.A.C.E. assessment, the stress testing, the strategy. No products. No investment decisions. Just clarity about where you stand and what you need.
Solve the Gaps
If the plan reveals a gap — income that isn't guaranteed, a long-term care exposure, an estate need — we address it with the right product. I'll show you what I'm recommending, the alternatives I considered, and why this solution fits your plan. Then you decide.
Invest What's Left
After your income floor is secure and your gaps are closed, we invest the remaining assets for growth and distribution. The advisory fee covers this ongoing work. Your portfolio is built on a foundation of certainty — not hope.
Monitor Together
Life changes. Tax laws change. Markets move. We review your plan annually, adjust as needed, and make sure every piece is still doing its job. The ongoing fee means I'm here for the long haul — not just the sale.
What I Promise
No product without a plan
I will never recommend an annuity, insurance policy, or investment until we've completed the planning work that identifies the need. The plan drives the recommendation — not the other way around.
Full disclosure before you sign
Before you commit to any product, I'll walk you through the alternatives I considered and why I'm recommending this specific solution for your plan. You'll understand what you're buying, why it fits, and what the trade-offs are.
Your money stays yours
I never take custody of your assets. Your investments are held at Altruist, a registered custodian. Your insurance contracts are between you and the carrier. I'm your advisor — not your gatekeeper.
Fiduciary on every recommendation
As a registered investment adviser, I'm held to a fiduciary standard on my advisory services. For insurance recommendations, I follow the same principle: your best interest, documented and transparent. Always.
You can always ask
If you ever have a question about how I'm compensated on a recommendation — ask. I'll give you a straight answer. Transparency isn't a page on a website — it's how I operate.
Common Questions
A fee-only advisor is compensated exclusively through fees paid by the client — no commissions of any kind. A fee-based advisor (that's me) charges fees for planning and investment management, but also earns commissions when placing insurance or annuity products.
I chose fee-based because retirement is the one life stage where the plan regularly calls for products that can only be placed through a commission structure — guaranteed income annuities, long-term care coverage, legacy insurance. A fee-only advisor either has to refer that work out, adding friction and a second opinion that doesn't know your full picture, or avoid recommending the product altogether. I didn't want my compensation model to limit my recommendations.
It's a nod to Proverbs 15:22 — "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." The price point also sets a deliberate filter: the Blueprint is a break-even product for me. It covers the cost of doing the deep work properly and filters for families who are serious about building a real plan, not just shopping for free advice.
If you engage Swan Capital Group for ongoing asset management within 60 days of Blueprint delivery, $1,522 is applied as a discount against advisory fees billed in your first six months under the terms of your advisory agreement. In practice, the planning work becomes the on-ramp into the long-term relationship — not a separate, duplicate cost. If you choose the plan-only path, there's no discount (and no ongoing fee either) — the Blueprint stands on its own. Full details are disclosed in our Form ADV Part 2A.
Because the planning comes first — always. Your G.R.A.C.E. assessment identifies whether you have a gap that a product can solve. If you don't have the gap, I don't recommend the product. And when I do recommend something, I walk you through the alternatives I considered and why this solution fits your plan.
My practice is built on referrals from people who talk to each other. One bad recommendation would cost me far more than any commission could earn me.
No. When you purchase an insurance or annuity product, the commission is paid by the insurance carrier — it's built into the product. You don't write me a separate check. That said, commissions can affect the product's internal costs, which is why I shop across dozens of carriers to find the best rates and terms for your specific situation, not the highest commission for me.
Then I don't recommend any. Some households have strong pensions and Social Security that already cover their essential expenses. Their plan might be entirely focused on investment management, tax strategy, and estate planning — with no annuity or insurance need at all. In that case, my compensation comes from the planning fee and the ongoing advisory fee. The plan dictates the recommendations, not my revenue model.
That's an option. Some people want the clarity of the Retire Blessed Income Blueprint but aren't ready for ongoing management — or already have an investment advisor they're happy with. In that case, the planning fee covers the full G.R.A.C.E. assessment and your written blueprint. You walk away with a clear strategy and the freedom to implement it however you choose. And if you decide later that you want ongoing partnership, the door is always open — and the fee credit still applies when you come back.
Yes. Your advisory agreement discloses the management fee rate clearly. For product recommendations, I'll walk you through the alternatives and the reasoning. And if you ever want to know more about how I'm compensated on a specific recommendation, just ask — I'll give you a straight answer. I'd rather you feel confident than wonder.
Yes — as a registered investment adviser, I'm held to a fiduciary standard on my advisory services, meaning I'm legally required to act in your best interest. For insurance product recommendations, the fiduciary standard doesn't technically apply in the same way, but I hold myself to the same principle: I will only recommend a product if I believe it is the best available option for your situation. My ADV Part 2A disclosure document is available on the SEC website and linked in the footer of this page.
Clarity Before Commitment
A 15-minute Swan Fit Call is free, no-pressure, and the first thing I'll tell you is exactly what working together costs. If it's not a fit, I'll tell you that too.