I have been with Creative Planning for almost 7 years now. They have helped me build my 5 year, 10 year, and lifetime plans for retirement. They manage two of my IRA's. They have exceeded my expectations for a financial advisor and I am excited to continue doing business with them for my financial future. All of these other 1 and 2 star reviews do not reflect my experience with Creative Planning. read more

Misrepresentations. Innumerable commitments not kept. Our representative (partner) was unavailable, unprepared, comical in his lack of communication, professionalism, service. Completely -- Unapologetic for deficiencies. CP has a formula to make a lot of promises. Then when you transfer authority to them, they'll reinvest your portfolio. Without listening to the client. Then they'll begin assessing significant fees -- for doing nothing. Saying that their representatives and Creative Planning are fiduciaries -- I'd like to see teams of lawyers argue their lack of performance, service and misuse of that word. Very disappointed. Waste of time, money, involvement. We could not continue with CP. Relationship became painful. Find a better way. read more

This company has done a good job for us over the last 3 years. I've compared our returns with some other firms and we've done very, very well. Very professional and knowledgeable staff, and timely replies to any questions we've come up with. There's a good reason this is one of the largest financial planning companies in America and is recommended by many brokerage firms. read more

I was with Creative Planning for 10 years, which was 10 years too long. They kept putting my wife and I in hedge funds and illiquid investments; despite their alleged "high ROI" computations, we lost money on two of them and the one we are stuck with now is both illiquid and invested in high-risk loans. (Yes, I signed a waiver based on my investment manager's advice, but was under the impression they could sell it - as they did the other two - at any time.) Furthermore, despite our telling them we wanted a "moderate risk" position, they put us 85 percent in equities. They sent us the suggested allocation and we were too busy dealing with personal matters to notice the allocation so we just approved it. We switched advisers and the new one said that allocation was extremely risky. When I raised the issue, the Creative Planning adviser said "Well, you approved it". I liken it to going to a cardiologist and having them offer me aspirin for heart failure and my taking it because I trust them, then dying and them telling my widow, "Well, it wasn't the best treatment but he approved it". read more

Creative planning has assigned me a new Case manager. This is welcome. My trust officer has talked to me three times in the last two days and that's refreshing. He seems genuinely interested and committed to making my life easier rather than harder. I just want to give credit where credit is due. Creative panning is still not gonna pay for my cannabis, But my trust officer is thinking hard about A work around. read more

I was a customer of creative planning for about a year. When they solicit you for business they promise and over commit to a lot of things. I found my rep Anpu very difficult to get communication from and it seems they want to put you into investments that are more beneficial to their organization than to the client. Not sure if this is a fiduciary relationship. When I asked questions and guidance to keep our goals aligned it fell on deaf ears. Please do yourself a favor and ask questions but please don't be surprised after the money is transferred the service level is transferred to a lower tiers as well. It seems like creative planning is more of a multi level marketing designed to bring in cash (aum) rather than looking out for your best interest. Never received a follow up call after several emails requesting one. Sad sad but true. Really enjoyed the lawyer they recommended in FL but other than that not a pleasant experience. We live in MA and can only speak to this area could be a lot different in other parts of the country. read more

Really "NON_CREATIVE" planning ... a "Cookie-Cutter Portfolio" that came out of a lousy computer program, and NO positive results. I dropped them after about 11 months, and then they had the audacity to send me an invoice 6 months later for "Portfolio Management Services"... DO NOT DEAL WITH THEM! read more

Hard sales pitch, talked over me, would not even dignify my questions about their services by answering my questions. Disregarded my intelligence as a woman and a senior. I'd not trust them with a dime even though my advisor at Schwab suggested them. But in a 3 way call, the Schwab advisor went into hard sales mode with the Creative Planning sales guy. Dismissive of my questions. All I could see was two rich men trying to bully me so they could make money off my money . Had already been burned by one financial advisor ( supposed fiduciary as in only concerned with my best interests). In financial advisor business that is a useless concept as they all can only make money by manipulating you in one way or another. And in the financial world, the are CREATIVE in endless ways to make money for themselves but not for the client. read more

I was with Creative Planning for several years and had very disappointing service and results. For your +/- 1% fee you "may" get an annual review, if they remember. My advisor constantly forgot until I reminded him he was late. Then they just put together a mismash of data. I had them do my taxes the first year I was with them.... they forgot to pay the IRS. Big mistake. The returns of my portfolio were far below the market returns, But what really set me off was they were charging me to "manage" an asset that was under active management by the issuing firm. When I challenged them, they couldn't come up with a viable reason for doing that. Overall, they were just sloppy and are just in it for your money. I have since left them and found a reliable and professional firm to deal with. Such a pleasant change from using CP. read more

So far so good but we are still in the process of moving assets over. I've read a number of reviews about poor timing. Investing is a long game so will update this review in five years. To date our adviser A. Hoops and his team has been responsive and helpful. We'd recommend him for sure. read more

I have IN WRITING that they would do a Roth conversion for me EVERY YEAR. In 2023, they did NOT and are now scrambling for excuses as for why this was not done. I escalated my complaint, and got different excuses from each individual I talked to. There is no excuse for something that I have in writing ... and now I have lost an entire year of conversions! Also, they threw large amounts of my investments in under performing funds in 2021. After an entire year of poor performance, their excuse was that it will eventually come back. Two years later, several of them are STILL underwater, with no rebalancing! They are not worth the hype nor fees that you pay. I wish I would've insisted that they pull me out of the funds that I was complaining about, but with the fees I was paying... I shouldn't have to babysit them! I regret that now! The majority of my investments were doing better before I turned it over to them! read more

I'm leaving one star because I have to leave a star to leave a review. I have been with creative planning for eight years, not by choice. From the beginning it was the attorney Nikki who was talking to me about getting the death certificate, She said obviously your mom is dead. Completely inappropriate for someone in this line of work to not choose her words wisely. Meanwhile I had just watched my mother die in front of me a few days before that comment and I had to call her life. Then my sister and I had the joy of watching her sleep in court. Now fast-forward 7 1/2 years and getting reimbursed went from maybe 3 to 5 days to months. I finally had to call the corporate office around April to try to get my reimbursements from January/February. And as of August I found home insurance in Florida, before hurricane season at half the price. So I sent my quote mid August and request for funds to pay the insurance company, as I have for eight years, to find out the day of the hurricane that Mike chose to take it upon himself to send a check to the insurance company directly. Never in my eight years have they done that. So not only did he end up sending a check to the wrong company, the initial company I that was double the price. He then canceled that check and sent the amount for the premium for the new company that I found, again, to the wrong company. So technically during hurricane Helen, as I sat here in Florida, I had no insurance. He canceled that check which no one told me about, I just found that out this . And then I get a call from the new company telling me that they're speaking to someone named Jo and I have no idea Who Jo is and come to find out she's with creative planning. At no time did I authorize anyone to interject themselves into my business or company's I do business with. These are my finances that I have been caring for... for eight years! So now they have taken $20,000 out of my Apple stock to make payments to insurance companies that I did not have insurance with nor did I authorize. Now the new insurance has raised my premium and I am already dealing with the domino effect from April of not getting reimbursed for two months (9 weeks). I can't even begin to get caught up on my credit card minimums, and now I've been without insurance through two hurricanes? I will be withdrawing from creative planning as quickly as possible. Please save yourself peace and time and find yourself another estate planning company. In the midst of your grief and loss, you deserve better. And to see all the money that my grandfather worked so hard for taken from my stock and sent all over the place comment to the wrong companies, is unacceptable! I would like to say that Justin Barringer my financial advisor in Dallas, Texas, is wonderful. Too bad he is with creative planning. I do apologize for any typos and advance I have vision problems. A.S. read more

Based on my personal experience of almost 4 yrs, I cannot un-recommend CP more strongly. As with large institutions generally, YMMV. Personally, if I hadn't gone with CP, and continued on my pre-CP trajectory, I would be worth over 2.5x what I'm worth today (if you think that's an exaggeration, it's not -- outside of my IRA and Roth IRA, I came to them with over 90% of my assets in 2 stocks, both of which have jointly over 3x'd over that period). That by itself is no reason for such a negative review -- that's just the breaks. So why am I leaving this truly negative review? I hired CP so I wouldn't have to think about my finances. I paid more attention the first year (of course), after which I ignored them. I started paying attention halfway through this pandemic, when I realized that even though QQQ (not one of my prior positions) was through the roof, my account had stayed flat. The stocks/funds they'd picked for me had done so poorly that the vast gains in what as left of my prior positions only just offset the equally enormous losses of their picks on my behalf. At that point, I called and had a talk. My questions were not why my overall portfolio hadn't done as well as my prior undiversified positions, but why it was doing so poorly when high tech was through the roof. I was polite -- in retrospect too polite at the expense of clarity, and they are VERY VERY good at talking, if not at portfolio management. The upshot is I took control of 1/2 of my assets then under management, and left them with the remainder (and they recommended moving away further from my profitable positions, which I am glad I did not do). Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when I reviewed again and realized that while my assets under management had seen a slight gain, it was still considerably underperforming QQQ (which I consider a reasonable baseline, as opposed to my prior enormous position in GOOGL). At that point, I decided very politely to terminate our relationship. There were probably some issues with their automated meeting reply systems, for which I did not blame them, but they blamed me. Then, the kicker: instead of transferring my managed assets back to my prior accounts (as was done last year), they merely de-linked my accounts -- so that neither they nor I had access. They didn't even send an email that it was done -- I had to email them and ask where the assets were, i.e., if I'd just logged in at a bad time when assets were stuck in between. They told me that's not how de-linking works, that they no longer have access to my account and referred to my brokerage's 1-800 number. (Btw, my bokerage was lovely and very helpful in restoring access to my accounts, although it's a bit of a process). Of course the state of my finances has the most impact on my life, not the administrative hassle of restoring access. However, that piece is simply unequivocally unprofessional. As for underperforming the market -- well, I guess it's true what they say about monkeys and professional investors, at least in my case. The monkey would have been cheaper, easier, and overall a far more rewarding experience. YMMV. Mine, unfortunately, it what it is. Best of luck to you in your financial journey. read more

My husband and I started working with Adam Hoopes and he has been amazing! Coached us through every step of the way on how to get our finances in order. He is extremely personable, kind and patient which I'm sure he needed with us a few times. I would recommend Adam time and time again! read more

Terrible experience from the very beginning of the actual business relationship, which in my case involved Anpu Stephens and her team. I had to sever ties within weeks due to a neverending cascade of ineptitude, false and unkept promises, not to forget more flat out lies and inaccurate information that I found out even after the relationship had ended. This extends to the "Specialists" I was put in contact with, who also quickly revealed their very limited range of knowledge and questionable professionalism. I do suspect I would have received proper services had my net worth been more substantial, which would have landed me in a different advisor category. The attorney who still sends me reminders to sign up with him was not even licensed to practice in the State I live in and was not even able to lead any aspect of our call, except at the beginning when it seemed normal to simply intentionally ignore me when I joined the call, as it was apparently more important to carry on (and on) an unrelated conversation with Anpu and make me wait there. Neither even apologized for being so rude, and when it was time to tackle the reason of our call, both suddenly became eerily passive. It was like pulling teeth each time I asked for information. And to top it off, Anpu was not saying anything to move things along, perhaps doing something else while I was trying to get actual relevant advice. The dashboard document was not worth diddly. I would not be surprised if there are some class actions filed against them due to the pervasive and widespread incompetence seen. Do yourself a favor, go elsewhere. read more

I spoke with a man named Clay Baker and I'd hire him immediately. Unfortunately he does not directly work clients. But he referred me to a very nice advisor close to me. Excellent place read more

WARNING - Do not sign with Creative Planning. In 2022/23 I paid 1% fee on my portfolio management and CP lost 14% for a total loss of 15% on a money stash for my retirement. Any recommendations for a trustworthy asset management firm? read more

Creative Planning is excellent at getting recommended somehow and being in professional networks (Schwab pushes them, so I have TONS of lost respect for Schwab--also Tony Robbins), but it's not excellent at all at doing its job. Forget trying to grieve your loved ones when you're grieving them botching the handling of estates. STAY AWAY. Don't believe the hype, as it is smoke and mirrors. If you see Tina Kimball, also run, but first ask this buffoon for the 5 hours and counting of my life back that she owes me from trying to deal with ONE SINGLE CHECK. Yup, one check. Just one. run. read more

I highly recommend Ealing Jahn and Clay Baker as advisors and specialists. They were great through both the ups and downs. read more

Very professional but their advice and timing were very poor. Sell into a dip and buy into an inflated market . Final nail was when they failed to execute a trade I demanded and since it was initiated over the phone it was their word against mine . This was the San Diego/Del Mar office read more

Sam Dominguez, Wealth Manager at Creative Planning, has been managing my funds for 4 years. Disappointingly, my net return was 7% over the lifetime of my investment and his fee was 1% of my total asset, a whopping 6% return. Even CDs are 5.5%. His high fee ddn't justify the poor performance so I switched to Vanguard. I guess my Wealth Manager was managing HIS wealth. Don't use Creative Planning! read more

Everytime we asked for a strategy, they couldnt explain a real strategy. They dont take advantage of clear market opportunities and can't tell you why. Zero growth read more

Outstanding financial acumen and customer service. They have managed our portfolio for years with great reults

good experience with Kyle summers and team. super helpful having access to estate planningresources

In 2015 I started using CP legal services for my estate planning and they did a superb job for a fee. However, when it came to their investment performance CP is pitiful. I trusted CP to invest my funds for a long enough time (Feb 2018 to Jan 2023 almost 5 years) to realize the mistake. During that same period my 401k which I personally managed outperformed my CP portfolio even when they roughly had about the same amount of cost basis. The only difference was that CP was charging me thousands annually in commissions. So in Jan 2023 I completely severed my relationship with CP and regret not doing it sooner. Here are my CP issues during my 5 years: 1) They paid more attention to administrative issues such as keeping your dashboard (which consisted of: insurance, estate, bank records) up to date than adequately managing the performance of my funds. 2) They would deflect blame for their meager portfolio performance by telling me I had to look at the long term picture. Okay, well my 401k was long term too so why did it outperform my CP portfolio? I believe if I did not have another portfolio to compare to I would have continued believing CP. 3) When we told CP to invest my wife's funds conservatively CP simply threw everything into bonds and never bothered to address that between 2000-2023 she had consistent losses! 4) They simply took us for granted as being too dumb to challenge them. 5) The irony is that CP rightly says to invest in index funds and they are absolutely correct. So why do I need them? My 401k was all invested in index funds and continues to perform great without all the commissions. 6) Regarding your financial projections into the future and how to properly allocate and manage distributions - there are plenty of a financial advisors who can prepare that information for free or for a minimal fee. read more

I was with Sunrise\Creative Planning for over two years. In that length of time my wife went with a different investment firm, without a management fee, picked her own investments and outperformed mine by 10% per year, The stock markef was up 4% this fall to an all time high and in that same length of time Creative had actually lost money for me, claiming they had a long term approach. When I asked some hard questions about investment strategies and individual investments, they dropped me instead of answering. I am sorry to have ever gone with them, they cost me a lot of potential returns compared to my wife's company and i wouldn't recommend them to anyone. There are a lot of better companies out there so do your homework and hopefully save yourself the problems I and many of their other clients have had. If you can't beat them join them and since Creative couldn't even compete with my wife's company I have transferred me funds to them, a move i had started before Creative decided to cut ties. read more

Parents were referred to this company through Scottrade to manage their trust and stocks. They were not good with explaining anything with what they were doing with stocks and what they went from 78 company's invested in to 17, balance from $5,000,000 to $300,000 in 4 yrs. Our tax person also pointed out that every 4 months there was a spike in work, that's when they got paid. I'm still trying to understand where 40% of the money went and why. read more

I've been with them a little over two years after they acquired a private firm I was aligned with. In these two years, I'm still trying to figure out what they're doing for me other than making sure they get their management fees. I'm definitely not making money with them-time to move forward with another firm. read more

This company is dismal when it comes to customer service. After 5 years of having my investments with them, I have moved to another firm. I was given incorrect information about transfer fees, my account numbers were changed via the TD Ameritrade platform and no one notified me making it very difficult to move my funds. As though that wasn't bad enough, it took weeks and 3 executives to make a decision about how to refund me $200 in fees. The performance of the portfolio was not what we expected compared to other brokers we worked with over the same time period. On all counts, they were a big disappointment. read more

First mistake transferred our account to Creative Planning on 2/22 in less than 6 months lost over $60,000 when I spoke with our advisor in May of that year, he said we will move some of your assets to stop the bleeding. We continued to suffer loses the next call-in late June/22 first Question I asked are we on the right track? His response was AND I QUOTE. Was I am not sure. at that moment I should have pulled my accounts right then and there from Creative Planning with no clear plan from Creative Planning about a month later we moved our account out Creative Planning control. The whole time our accounts were in their control every month we had negative growth. Lesson do your research before you trust an advisor with YOUR MONEY because what I was told by this advisor was you should not get emotional attached to YOUR MONEY. read more

Stay away. There aren't any checks and balances as the legal, accounting, and fiduciary services are all internal. A trust that was completed by an attorney through CP, which didn't match the Succession Plan. Resulted in devastation for the family. read more

I employed Creative planning around a year and a half ago and had very disappointing results. To keep this simple, Blake who was their representative, was very knowledgeable and professional. However, the choices they made for my portfolio left little to be desired. Basically, the choices I made with my 401K earned over 8%, during the same time period, where I lost over 2% with them. Not happy at all, as they are a little too passive when it comes to investing. My portfolio dropped by 10 % and no action. I discontinued my association with them as like an spoiled girlfriend, I could not afford the relationship anymore. Do yourself a favor, find yourself a company that will act. I trusted this company after reading Tony Robbins book and it cost me a lot of money. I'm a novice investor and increased my portfolio by 9% in 6 months only to ultimately trust in a large firm who let me down. Think long and hard before you trust your money to good old Peter M. read more

Jenna Heimbaugh is an excellent resource, she made what can be a complicated request with other financial panning companies a very simple process. She replies extremely quickly and most importantly, GETS THE JOB DONE!! 5 stars! read more

When I was doing estate planning a couple years ago a relative recommended that I consolidate my investments at Creative Planning. I have followed their growth over the years so I felt there was no reason to do any due diligence on the company. The advisor my relative referred me to is Adam Hoopes, a partner and private wealth manager. My spouse and I meet formally with Adam a couple times a year. His integrity, financial knowledge, personality, and likability are off the charts. The services (many free) and the teams of expertise always available to assist are remarkable. I will not tell you what Adam does for us because you probably know what a financial advisor does. Adam does it a little differently...he never pushes to invest available money in a bad market. Finally, a lifelong friend of mine in the financial field told me a key consideration he used when picking his financial advisor. It had to be someone he and his spouse could trust unconditionally to guide his spouse through financial decisions in case I pass away first. Adam and Creative Planning are that and so much more! read more

We moved our account to Creative Planning a few years ago and have been very pleased with the experience provided by Adam, our wealth manager and the entire company. Adam gets back to us quickly and helps to manage every element of our finances. The communication we receive is above and beyond what we experienced with our previous company and the regular planning meetings keep us on track. read more

If sitting in losing positions while the economy faces unprecedented risks, then this company is for you. They only see the market moving in one direction and refuse to capitalize when there are clear opportunities in the other direction. They severely lack innovation and don't have the tools to invest in the modern world. Move elsewhere... read more

We have worked with Creative Planning for about 7 years. They handle our investments and also prepared our will and trust. It is so convenient to have everything located in one spot. Everyone we have worked with at the company is super at communication and really listens to our needs. They send us regular updates about the economy and their recommendations. We would highly recommend this company!!! read more

Company is sales driven. Will talk to you every day to get a sale. Hard to talk to anyone after you are on board. They lie during sales pitch. They give NO insurance or tax consulting. They put you in a cookie cutter portfolio then ignore you. Are not knowledgeable in available investments. Without Schwab referring them, they would be out of business. read more

I would have given Creative Planning less than one star if I could. I am so upset. My husband started getting dementia. We were recommended CP by Schwab. Unfortunately, we believed the hype and how they were going to manage out accounts, they would take care of everything. Our accounts are now down at least 30%. I would not recommend them to anyone! read more

I read the book, Unshakeable, by Tony Robbins and Peter Mallouk in 2017 and it prompted me to reevaluate my company 401k plan. I am the business owner and plan sponsor. I was grateful that Tony Robbins had provided a resource to help me understand. Obviously, this book also points the reader to use the connected company, Creative Planning, for money and wealth guidance. I hired them individually as well, in March of 2017. As of this month Feb 2023, we have been assigned 5 wealth "advisors". This is an indication that this company has high turnover among employees. Not once did the company interview us to determine what advisor would be a good fit. Also, if you were to take our current 401k balances and subtract the contributions made over 6 years, our balances were higher in 2017. We have had less than ZERO growth in our 401k plans since 2017. In Jan 2023 my newest "advisor" in the KS office was directed to execute trades in my investment IRA. She confirmed trades were complete, but 2 weeks later I noticed the trades were not done. I caught her lying. I involved her supervisor and even the compliance director who never admitted any wrongdoing. So, no thanks Tony Robbins, for the misleading referral within the pages of this book. And a bigger no thanks to Creative Planning for no gains in our investment accounts, lies, and constant turnover. We are moving along, far away from this company. read more