About
You did everything right. So why is this the part that keeps you up?
You funded the 401(k), paid down the house, and kept investing through every market scare. By every measure, you did what you were supposed to do.
Then retirement got close and the questions changed. Can I afford to stop working? Where will my paycheck come from? What happens if the market falls early? Which account do I spend first, and what does that do to taxes?
Being told you are "on track" is not enough. You need to know what your money is supposed to do next.
Who I serve
Who I actually work with
I work with people nearing or living in retirement who generally have at least $1 million in investable assets. Most have between $1 million and $10 million. They have stopped asking, "Do I have enough?" and started asking, "Is what I have doing its job?"
Individuals and couples alike. Some are planning together; some are navigating a big transition on their own. More than a few arrive with beneficiary forms and estate documents that haven't been reviewed in years — exactly the kind of loose end a coordinated plan is built to catch.
I build one written retirement plan covering income, investments, taxes, insurance, and estate planning. The annual flat fee is $12,000 for couples and $10,500 for individuals. It never rises just because your portfolio does.
I am not a fit for people trying to beat the market, looking for stock ideas, or seeking the lowest fee. If another type of advisor is a better value, I will tell you on the first call.
Origin
Why I do this
I entered the profession in 2015 after studying finance at Colorado State and selling my stake in a tech startup. What pulled me in was not the market. It was the trust people place in you when they share what they built, what scares them, and what they want life to become.
In 2019, my first marriage ended. Money had been a source of tension for years, and I had tied too much of my worth to what I earned. A therapist helped me see that something needed to change, including the version of myself I was trying to protect.
That experience changed how I plan with people. The first meeting is not about your portfolio. It is about what your money needs to make possible and what could get in the way.
Philosophy
What I believe about money
Built to win by losing less.
Limit the big losses and you have less ground to make up. Cash and reliable income cover near-term needs, so a bad market never forces you to sell growth investments at the wrong time. A 30% loss at 45 is painful. The same loss in the first year of retirement can change the rest of the plan. This approach does not eliminate market risk or guarantee against loss.
Every dollar should have a job.
Cash for near-term needs. Reliable income for essential expenses. Flexible income for the life you want. Growth for later years. A written job makes it easier to know what you can spend.
Reliable income can make the rest of retirement easier.
Social Security, pensions, and annuities can help cover essential expenses. When the basics are covered, the rest of the portfolio can stay flexible and invested for later.
Investment selection is only one part of the plan.
Picking funds matters less than coordinating income, taxes, spending, and risk.
A flat fee keeps the advice aligned.
Because my fee is fixed, I can weigh paying off a mortgage, using an annuity, making a Roth conversion, or helping family purely on whether it fits your plan. Our advisory fee stays the same as your account grows. We disclose other compensation before you act.
Proof
Credentials, and what they're worth
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® (CFP®). Fiduciary, legally obligated to put your interest ahead of mine, in writing, on every recommendation. Licensed insurance professional, so protection gets handled inside the plan instead of referred out. Financial Thinking Partner® Wealth Advisors is a registered investment adviser in the State of Colorado.
Registration doesn't imply skill, and neither do the letters after my name. What they mean is that I'm accountable to a standard and you can check my work. Form ADV Part 2 is at adviserinfo.sec.gov. My CFP® certification can be verified at my verified CFP® profile.
Better proof of how I work: when someone comes to me about an annuity and it isn't the right fit for their situation, I tell them so. That costs me revenue. It's also the entire point.
If you want to see the thinking applied, walk through the case study. It's a hypothetical $2.4M retirement plan where every dollar gets a written job.
Personal
The rest of it
I'm remarried. Before Hayley and I merged anything, we each wrote out our own values separately, then found where they overlapped. That exercise is now the first thing I run with couples, because I've watched too many people manage money together for twenty years without once saying out loud what it's for.
We have a blended family of six here in Parker, Colorado. Which means I've sat down and done my own beneficiary review on my own retirement accounts as a remarried parent, and I know precisely how awkward that conversation is. If your forms still name an ex-spouse, you are not the first person to tell me that.
Hayley and I recently started coaching our son's soccer team. It's embarrassing how into it we both get, teaching spacing and positioning to a group of nine to eleven year olds. It's also the best practice I get for the day job. If you can't explain something to a fourth grader, you don't understand it well enough to charge anyone for it.
If any of that sounded like your situation
Book a complimentary 30-minute conversation about your retirement. There is no product pitch and no pressure. If we are not a fit, I will tell you and point you toward a better option.
Or reach out to Doug directly by sending him an email at doug@financialthinkingpartner.com.