Investment management · Greenville, South Carolina
Investment management that answers to the plan.
Anyone can buy index funds. The work is sequencing withdrawals, keeping taxes from eating the gains, and not selling at the bottom because a headline scared you.
What gets looked at, and what you leave with.
What gets reviewed
The inputs
- Current allocation and account structure
- Risk exposure and concentration
- Liquidity needs and time horizon
- Tax-sensitive investment decisions
- Rebalancing and ongoing review cadence
What you walk away with
The output
- A clearer investment policy
- An implementation plan
- A review rhythm tied to life changes, not market noise
Portfolio, retirement income, insurance, cash flow, taxes and family obligations get reviewed together rather than handled as disconnected projects. That coordination is the whole reason one person does all of it.
What 1% actually buys
One fee, the whole job.
Management is 1% per year of the assets I manage, billed quarterly, with a $750 annual minimum, and financial planning is included. On $300,000 that is $3,000 a year. For that you get the allocation, rebalancing on a schedule, tax-aware placement across taxable and retirement accounts, the withdrawal order once you are drawing, and one person who built the plan answering the phone. Fund expense ratios and any custodian charges are separate and shown to you. There are no commissions on managed accounts.
If the balance is small enough that the $750 minimum makes the fee a poor deal, I will tell you to buy a flat-fee plan and invest it yourself. That is a worse outcome for me and the right one for you, and it is in the Form ADV.
Where the money sits
Charles Schwab, in your name, visible any time.
Client assets are held at Charles Schwab in accounts titled to you. I never take custody. You log in to Schwab Alliance and see every holding and every transaction, Schwab sends its own statements, and if you ever decide to leave, the account goes with you because it was always yours. That arrangement is the minimum you should accept from anyone managing your money.
How a portfolio gets built
By the plan, not by the news.
The allocation comes from the plan: when you need the money, how much of it, and how much of a bad year you can sit through without changing course. It is built from low-cost, diversified funds, written into an investment policy you keep, and rebalanced on a schedule rather than on a feeling. There is no stock picking and no promise of beating anything. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal, and anyone promising otherwise is selling something.
The part that usually matters more than the funds is the behavior around them. I went and got a master's in psychology because I kept watching capable people know the right answer and not act on it, and most of the lost money I have seen in fifteen years was lost by selling after a drop or buying after a run. A large part of the fee is paying for someone whose job is to keep that from happening to you.
Upstate balance sheets
The situations that come up most around Greenville.
Concentration
Too much in one company
If a meaningful share of your net worth is your employer's stock, or any single company, that is the first conversation, and unwinding it is a tax question as much as a risk one.
Old plans
The 401(k) you left at a previous employer
Four options, each with different costs and protections. Rolling it to me pays me 1%, so you see the leave-it math first.
Real estate heavy
A rental or two and not much else liquid
Common in the Upstate. The plan works out what the portfolio needs to do that the property cannot, and how much cash that requires.
Inherited accounts
An IRA with a ten-year clock
Inherited IRAs have withdrawal rules that can push income into high brackets if ignored. Sequencing them is planning, and it is included.
Taxable and retirement side by side
Which fund goes where
Bonds, stocks and funds that throw off income belong in different account types. Placement is free money that most portfolios leave on the table.
Drawing down
Turning a balance into a paycheck
The withdrawal order, the reserve and the Social Security date are one decision. See the retirement page.
When not to hire me
Three honest reasons to keep doing it yourself.
If you already run a disciplined, low-cost portfolio and do not touch it when the market drops, you probably need a plan, not a manager. If the balance is small, the minimum fee makes me a poor deal. If what you want is someone to trade, I am the wrong person. In all three cases the flat-fee plan is the better buy, and I would rather say so now than charge you for a year and have you work it out.
Questions people ask
Investment management in Greenville, answered plainly.
What does investment management cost?
1% per year of the assets I manage, billed quarterly, with a $750 annual minimum, and financial planning is included. Fund expense ratios and any custodian charges are separate and shown to you. There are no commissions on managed accounts and no trading fee from me.
Where is my money held?
At Charles Schwab, in an account in your name. I never take custody. You can log in to Schwab Alliance and see every holding and transaction at any time, and Schwab sends its own statements.
Is there a minimum?
There is no hard minimum, but the $750 annual minimum fee means that below roughly $75,000 the fee is more than 1%. On a smaller balance I will tell you to buy a flat-fee plan and invest it yourself. That is a worse deal for me and the right one for you.
Do you pick stocks or try to beat the market?
No. Portfolios are built from low-cost, diversified funds, set by the plan rather than by headlines, and rebalanced on a schedule. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal, and nobody can promise a return. The work I am paid for is the allocation, the tax placement, the withdrawal order, and keeping you from selling at the bottom.
Can you manage my 401(k) where it is?
Generally no. Workplace plans stay with the plan's record keeper. I can review the fund lineup and recommend an allocation as part of planning. Old 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth IRAs and taxable accounts can be managed directly at Schwab.
How often will we talk?
A scheduled review at least once a year, and more often when something changes: a job, a house, a child, an inheritance, a retirement date. Between reviews you call or text and I answer. The firm is deliberately small so that stays true.
Request follow-up
Bring this into the conversation.
Tell me what is on your mind and I will tell you whether I can help. Please leave out account numbers, policy numbers and Social Security numbers.