I have been a client for about 16 years. Last week I had my annual portfolio review along with an…read moreextremely detailed financial view of what my family's future looks like. I have always been extremely grateful to Samantha and Sandy for their guidance but this week I have reflected even more on what a gift they have been to my family. My husband and I are both 57 with one child in high school. Slow and steady we built a secure financial future. We simply could not have done it without her exemplary advice and encouragement. Not only is Samantha uniquely talented in the realm of full scope financial planning and investment strategies, she is also a wonderful person. By becoming her client you will have an ethical, compassionate, and extremely talented ally that will help you reach your financial goals. You can build a future for yourself and your children that is bright, hopeful, and full of freedom. As the years go by and you watch the outcome of Samantha's guidance you will be overcome with the gratefulness that I feel right now. For a middle class family to build wealth takes discipline and patience, but it can be done. If I can do it you can too.

Samantha has been managing my family's portfolio since 2018. This has been one of the best…read moredecisions we have made. In 7 years, she has doubled our assets. In addition to advising us on our financial portfolios, where she has guided us on salary contributions to different pots (retirement accounts, college savings accounts for our kids, and stocks), she advises us on life insurance and linked us with colleagues to help with our taxes and living will. We couldn't be happier with our decision to work with Samantha and hope this can be a life-long partnership - she is very talented and astute with markets and really has our back with every decision.

If I could give more stars to Daniel, I would; he and his office staff are simply wonderful at…read morehandling both the hard bits (investing, presenting options, keeping me up to date on the state of my finances) AND the soft bits (listening to my concerns/needs and explaining things with fabulous charts/graphics). Daniel has even hosted my 2 young daughters in a session of Finance 101. I will be retiring soon, and feel calm about and clear on my financial picture - I credit Daniel and his team for this.

Daniel has been my financial guy for over a year now.... I could not be any happier. He is…read morewonderful. My wife and I make just enough money to put some aside for retirement - and he helped guide us through the process. He doesn't force you to do anything (which my wife likes) and simply gave us the options for us to decide. He knows how to get you the most bang for your buck - and will make investing easy. I pray he stays in finance for life - as he will be my financial guy for life. Thanks Mr. Jew.

Mary has prepared my tax returns for the last three years. I am so glad to have switched to…read moresomebody I can rely on to answer my questions, who responds quickly and freely offers her encyclopedic knowledge. She is so efficient, and I have absolute confidence in her.

Mary was very helpful in working through my tax situation and provided excellent advice on how to…read moredetermine my estimated tax requirements and plan for next year's withholding. I would highly recommend her for people needing expert income tax support.

Guy manages our office's Simple IRA plan. He is knowledgeable but more importantly is willing to go…read morethe extra mile for his clients and is extremely ethical. I highly recommend him.

What went well? Every. Single. Thing. We have been working with Guy for over 20 years and he has…read moreconsistently steered us straight. We have had some very complicated financial situations and Guy's advice always takes everything into account. He has guided us step-by-step through our various decisions and has saved us thousands and thousands of dollars by sharing his knowledge. he feels like family. This is more than a job to Guy. He is committed to helping you articulate and meet your goals.

I met with Benjamin because I had a specific tax planning question and was exploring the idea of…read moreworking with an advisor. He took the time to ask questions and understand my situation and my needs He basically said "you don't need me, but go talk to my accountant." No sales pitch, just straightforward advice. None of that gut feeling you get when someone is trying to sell you something that you don't understand or don't think you need but you go along with anyway because they're the "expert." Benjamin will be my first call whenever I do need a financial planner.

Seriously, it is time to fire your financial advisor if they are charging a percentage of your…read moreassets. You deserve a fiduciary who is focused on your needs, not their ongoing cut. I started working with Benjamin after a major life setback and felt completely lost. He grabbed my hand and helped me take the financial steps I needed to regain control of my future. He is kind, compassionate, and truly encouraging. He helped me make important adjustments to my finances that I should have made years ago. What I appreciate most is that he does not overcomplicate things to make you feel dependent on him. His goal is to educate his clients so they can take the reins themselves.

I've been looking for a financial advisor for some time now, and saw an ad last week in the Alameda…read moreSun Newspaper for Ruderman Investment Management (RIM). Mark Ruderman is a registered investment advisor and the owner of RIM. According to his ad the initial consultations are complimentary. I met with Mr. Ruderman this week to have him review my 401k plan at work, and help me explore & decide which investment options offered in my 401k plan may be appropriate for me. I was very impressed by Mark's extensive knowledge of investments and mutual funds, and really happy with the customer service he provided. I am fairly inexperienced when it comes to investments, and Mark was able to clearly explain how they work, and answered all my questions. Mark's use of diagrams, graphs and performance comparisons during our meeting gave me insight as to the importance of having a diversified portfolio in helping reduce investment risk. He compared the different investment options offered in my 401k plan, and recommended an investment strategy that made sense for me. I plan to meet with Mark again soon to discuss the College Savings Plans I have set up for my two children. I believe RIM is worth considering if you are looking for the services of a financial advisor who is thorough and genuinely interested in helping others gain financial independence.

From the owner: Ruderman Investment Management, "RIM" specializes in providing high quality investment advice, and…read moredeveloping tax-efficient investment strategies to help clients achieve their financial and retirement goals, without taking undue risk. RIM manages brokerage and retirement accounts, and offers financial planning services. Investments offered through RIM include mutual funds, stocks, exchange traded funds (ETFs), tax-free bonds, real estate investment trusts and tax-deferred annuities. RIM is a fee-only practice, and does not receive commissions from the sale of investment products. RIM's account management fee is 1% or less, depending on assets under management.

I had been looking for a fee-based retirement planning service that would help me with the…read morefollowing issues: - How to determine whether I have enough savings to retire, and if not, what do I need to do to ge there. - How to allocate my assets to minimize risk while still protecting against inflation. I discovered Green Retirement on the internet some ago, and read the blog for several months before deciding to use the service. For a very small fee, I received a straightforward and useful analysis of my situation and along with recommendations based on my needs. I received both a written plan and an hour of personal consultation as well as the spreadsheet sofware that helps me track expenses and create a realistic retirement budget. The software is easy to understand and use. We have Quicken, but I often find it overly complicated, and this is much more practical for me. It has features that help you to find ways to reduce your retirement budget and thus shorten the number of years to retirement. I came away from the consultation feeling much more confident with my ability to retire when I want and more confident in my ability to allocate and manage our assets ourselves. I think Green Retirement is a great value for anyone who is motivated to take charge of their own retirement and needs some help getting started. It gives you some useful tools and advice to set you on that path. It does not attempt to sell you any investments or tell you how much money you should allocate for various expenses, such as insurance -- you are in charge of that. For me, this is just what I was lookng for.

I highly recommend Green Retirement to anyone who is looking for retirement planning in San…read moreFrancisco. What's cool about Green Retirement, unlike the other guys, is that it let's me control how much savings I need for retirement and when I can retire. The reason Green Retirement is green, is because it calculates the positive impact reducing my consumption has on my retirement savings needs, allowing me to retire earlier by going green. Green Retirement is going to let me retire 12 years earlier than if I had gone to a regular financial planner. Although the owner, Ramsay Mameesh is green, he doesn't push a green agenda. And he doesn't sell investments or mutual funds. The software is easy to use and helps you create a budget, track your expenses, and automatically calculates your retirement savings needs. For only $89 you get one hour of personal retirement planning and software. If you're green you'll love it, if you're not green, you'll still love being able to retire a lot earlier.

Faruk was a pleasure to work with! As we wanted to plan further for our future, our goal was to…read moreidentify areas where we are doing well and can improve upon. From the start, Faruk was personable and clear in communicating his services along with having a genuine interest in what our expectations were from this exercise. Fast forward a month, we have gained invaluable clarity and actionable next steps for our finances. Today, we still reference learnings and information shared by Faruk to help influence any financial decisions we may or will make. 100% would recommend Faruk to any family looking to understand their finances.

Faruk is a fantastic guy. I feel very fortunate to have crossed paths with him. He has been great…read moreat setting up our investments to be positioned well, even when the market is volatile. He has consistently grown my investments since working with him (not by single digit percentages either). He is very attentive and always takes the time to explain goals/positions clearly. Faruk is also very friendly, approachable, and genuinely cares about my financial goals. I trust his judgment and appreciate his proactive approach. I highly recommend him!

It's not like everyday you sell the house so I'm sure people usually have a lot of questions. …read more I called and talked to Varsen Assorian (branch manager) three days ago. Whenever I asked a question she was very argumentative and she wouldn't give me a clear answer. I called again today. The lady who answered the phone asked for my name so I gave her my name She said let me see if she's available When she come back on the phone she said she is not available. I know she's there not busy she probably don't want to talk to me. So I left a message with the lady who answered the phone. I also sent an email asking ONE simple question. But she never called or reply my email. Would I use this escrow company again? HECK NO!

My ex-wife used Fidelity to close. Working with Julie was difficult as she did not explain anything…read moreto me, just wanting me to sign the paperwork. When I voiced concern about perjury, however, I was only met with rude remarks belittling me. If you are going to give your business to someone pick another company. It would seem to me that this company is not looking out to reassure people during this critical transition in people's life's.

Deep experience. Steady hand. One of the last excellent solo practitioners…read more I've referred quite a few clients to Ryan over the last decade... I've had no complaints.

Summary: I worked with Ryan on my 2019 taxes and he was excellent. I would highly recommend him to…read moreothers and plan on working with him again for 2020 and beyond. Context: I've been using TurboTax to do my tax returns for the past ~7 years. As our tax situation has gotten more complicated (e.g. house, kids, investment income, etc.) I've gotten less and less comfortable that I was using TurboTax correctly. Finally I decided to seek out professional help and found Ryan. He was very easy to communicate with and patient with my tax questions. And after reviewing my situation, he found tax savings that far surpassed his rate (which was $1,000 for our taxes, but will vary based on your situation). It may have been the best $1,000 I've ever spent. I will definitely be working with Ryan again.