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Investment management is the management of a portfolio: selecting and monitoring investments to grow or preserve wealth. Wealth management grew out of investment management, expanding to include tax planning, estate planning, and other financial planning services, but investment management remains the core service.
Financial planning is the reverse. The plan comes first, and investments are one component of it, not the centerpiece. It starts with your values and goals. It then looks across all the factors that affect those goals.
At Dyff Advisory, investment management is an optional service, because the plan is what drives everything.
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A fee-only advisor is compensated exclusively by client fees. There are no commissions, no product sales, and no payments from third parties. The only financial relationship is with you.
A fee-based advisor charges client fees but can also earn commissions from financial products they recommend. That dual compensation structure creates a potential conflict of interest, since the advisor may benefit financially from certain recommendations.
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A fiduciary is legally required to act in your best interest at all times. This is higher standard than "suitability," which only requires that a recommendation be suitable for your situation, not necessarily the best option for you.
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Financial planning includes a review of your estate planning needs, including beneficiary designations, account titling, and identifying gaps in your current documents. For the drafting of wills, trusts, and other legal documents, I can connect you with providers to ensure it gets done.