We've just started working with James and team at Switchpoint financial. I've been impressed with the thoughtfulness of their approach as well as the business model.
Switchpoint uses a flat fee approach which pays for financial advice and investment management on a flat fee which factors complexity and whether it is single or a couple. It is higher value and lower cost than paying typical fees for AUM (assets under management). The flat fee also allows James and team to be objective in how our assets will reside. For example we have some 401K that are best left in pace right now as rolling money over early would prevent us from doing back door ROTHS and some other state tax advantages nearer term. An advisor who is paid strictly on AUM has an incentive to push for all assets to be managed by them. James and team can objectively decide what is best and provide guidance on how to invest any accounts we keep for now with an employer plan.
Their investing approach aligns with my own which is more index based lower cost investments, not actively trying to time sectors or the market. Hands on planning and picking an investment strategy, but more hands off in terms of not trying to constantly touch the investments month after month guessing what will happen in the market. A philosophy of building a solid plan and letting the market do its thing long term. That said James is thoughtful and when there are obvious macro trends such as rising interest rates we are leveraging shorter term fixed income to avoid what appears to be obvious risk in the bond sector. A good balance of looking at market situations in terms of expected returns for an asset and tuning the investment approach which is different than pure market timing.
In terms of onboarding there are a couple of well known brokerages (Eg. Schwab) that you can utilize to hold investments that James will manage. Although it means moving from a custodian I've been with for a while, we're very comfortable with their custodian options.
James likes to use Dimensional Fund Advisor funds for some investments. After some research on these, they're very well regarded with Morningstar analysts and we're comfortable with how he's deciding on individual funds or ETF.
A few other reasons we selected Switchpoint is that James is building a small organization to grow the business thoughtfully. We'd looked at some individual financial planners that didn't have a backup plan if something happened to the sole proprietor. Some of those planners also seemed a bit maxed out in being able to handle a new client well. Kyle has brought on an associate advisor Kevin who is learning the business and adding capacity to the org. James also has a Client Service coordinator Jessica who has been great and all our paperwork has been accurate, pre-filled out and making things very easy as well as an operations manager.
I take the time to write a detailed review as we did a lot of research trying to find the right planner. We are in our 50's and wanted a planner who is experienced enough but also young enough they'd not retire before us :-) I hope this helps others who are looking for an advisor. read more
