We have zero desire to become a massive corporation. As a family-owned and operated business, our mission is to always remain small enough to listen but large enough to deliver. We value creating long-term, meaningful relationships and providing personalized service to our clients rather than treating them as another number in the database.

Many of our clients decided to work with us because:

• We go above and beyond in everything we do, remaining at the forefront of our industry.
• We stay current with financial matters so you don’t have to (unless you want to, of course). We pay close attention to what is happening in the world, the economy, the markets, and financial and social trends to bring you relevant feedback and how it relates to your money and your life.
• We do what works. We believe in an academic, evidence-based approach to investing and financial planning. We never implement strategies that aren’t proven through published, academic research.
• We’re accessible and approachable.
• We strive to make investments, finances, and retirement planning more relatable and simpler.
• We work for you, not a Board of Directors or shareholders.

The main characteristic you should be considering when deciding to work with a financial advisor is trust.

However, in the financial industry, there is a war between investments and insurance. In fact, it has got quite ugly over the years at the detriment to those seeking guidance. The problem is those who manage only investments market negatively against those who sell only insurance and vice versa to persuade investors to believe in their philosophy.  The marketing ploy they use are:

1. Fee-Only Advisors (Investments)
2. Safe-Money Agents (Insurance)

While both the fee-only advisors and safe-money agents can be very compelling and persuasive, both groups have a vested interest in you choosing their approach, which is why all their marketing must be negative toward the other solutions.

So, who can you trust? The answer is neither. Both consciously or otherwise will provide conflicted, biased, and unobjective advice.

The investment or product should not matter for a true fiduciary. A true fiduciary must always act in the best interest of the client regardless of investments or insurance. That's why Phibbs Financial never takes an extreme, one-size-fits all approach. Instead, we create an innovative retirement plan tailored to your goals, your dreams, and your financial situation. 

A true fiduciary must meet two criteria:

1. They must be independent with no affiliation to a broker/dealer. They must provide solutions and recommendations that are in the best interest of the client, not any one company or shareholders.
2. They must be full-service, which means they offer both insurance and investments. This is the only way you can receive objective and unbiased advice.

You can rest assured that Phibbs Financial always adheres to the fiduciary standard of recommending only what is in your own personal best interest.

We've found a lot can happen in one conversation. As such, we do not charge an upfront fee to meet with us. Our goal throughout our process is to learn more about the items that are on your mind that led you to us, about you and your family and your priorities, and finally to determine if we might be a good fit for a long-term relationship. Whether you become a client or not, we're confident you'll find this meeting beneficial. 

Unlike many financial firms that will only work with people who have accumulated a minimum amount of investable assets, we purposely do not have an asset minimum. We didn’t get into financial planning to determine a relationship with someone based on the size of their wallet. We have invested heavily in technology to make our services more affordable and accessible to everyone.

All of our clients' accounts are held at Altruist, a custodial solution helping more than 1,000 financial advisors keep their clients' money safe. That means they hold your money and investments, and produce your account statements and tax forms every year. Altruist also provides us access to some of the brightest investment analysts, a dedicated cyber security and technology support team, and all the important oversight we need in an incredibly regulated industry. 

We are a fee-based financial advisory firm. Our fees depend on the level of assets under advisement. Some advisory firms are commission-based, which can lead to conflicts of interest and misleading advice. Not Phibbs Financial. Our straightforward fees include the management of all your investment accounts, comprehensive planning and unique ongoing Retirement Planning Meetings (RPMs) throughout the year.

If an advisor can’t answer this question clearly, find the exit door. Quickly! An advisor cannot be all things to all people and still be exceptional at what they do.

As in the medical profession, it’s important to seek out the advice of a specialist when your situation demands it. For example, if you want to reduce your debt and you hire an advisor who specializes in people ages 50+, chances are you have the wrong advisor. Conversely, if you’re seeking wisdom on how not to run out of money in retirement and your advisor doesn’t specifically specialize in creating retirement income plans, chances are you won’t receive the best advice. The key is to align yourself with the financial advisor who specializes in people just like you!

We recognize we’re not the right fit for everyone – nor do we want to be – and not everyone is the right fit for our client family. We believe that you can only be the best at what you do if you specialize. We specialize exclusively in helping people near/in retirement.

So, when we are asked what makes us different, we respond with three separate points:

1. As mentioned above, all we do is retirement planning. We are trained retirement specialists with the knowledge and skills needed to help you enjoy the retirement you earned and deserve.
2. Our mission is to always remain small enough to listen but large enough to deliver. Because of this, we intentionally limit the number of new clients we take on each year so we can make a profound and positive impact on the families we’re fortunate to serve.
3. According to a 2019 J.D. Power study, the average age of financial advisors today is 55, with 20% of the financial industry currently 65 or older. So, when you’re ready to retire, your advisor might be, too — right when you need their help the most. We aren’t going anywhere soon.

We believe in a simple, but sophisticated and disciplined approach to managing our clients’ investments. It is important to us that our clients should understand their investments, and the process we use to select and manage your portfolio should be consistent. In order to do this, we've created an evidence-based approach to the steps in our investment management process; including – goals-based risk assessment, strategic asset allocation, manager selection and rebalancing. Most importantly, we do not try to time the market.

As soon as you see the shimmer of a slick-looking marketing sheet with impressive historical returns, your antennae should go up. Although it may sound surprising, this is a danger sign because this proves the advisor consistently recommends the same investments to each and every client. You deserve to be treated like a human, not a number. How could your unique challenges and aspirations be like every other client? For years we’ve struggled when asked this question because we don’t have a one-size-fits-all plan. We believe in taking great care and time in tailoring each investment plan, because you are unique, and no two clients are the same. The optimal, holistic approach to managing wealth is not only to take into account the investment strategies, but also make them tax efficient by reviewing the tax return each year and crafting a personal pension plan so you’re confident you won’t run out of money in retirement. We call this custom wealth advice, hence the name of our website!