Financial Planning • Investment Management • College Planning
I am a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional who acts as a fiduciary for my clients. As a fiduciary, I have a legal obligation to act in the best interest of my clients.
At Bobb Financial, our process can be broken down into the following steps:
There are a number of details involved in the process such as getting organized, investment analysis, tax planning, estate planning and more.
If you are anything like me, it won’t do any good to receive a thirty page book or stack of papers with your recommendations. In order to simplify things, I provide a one page action plan to my clients. The one page plans are always backed by many pages of data for clients that are more detail oriented.
Zoom meetings and technology provide a method for me to work with federal employees across the United States. I do have some local clients that prefer face to face meetings but the majority are virtual meetings via zoom or phone calls.
We provide a secure method of transferring data to each other. We also give clients a login and website, or a phone app to stay up to date on their accounts.
What does it mean to provide fee only advice? It simply means that I am never paid a commission. I am compensated by my clients only.
If an advisor makes recommendations and gets paid a commission when the money is deployed, how can you be sure that these recommendations are in your best interest?
This can be a very difficult process for consumers, which is one of the biggest reasons I have chosen to be a fee-only advisor. The reason is very simple - an advisor has no incentive to make recommendations that aren’t in the client’s best interest.
Fee-only means NO COMMISSIONS, NO HIDDEN FEES, and NO CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.
Financial planning is the foundation of what we do at Bobb Financial. While we offer other services, this is where we feel we can provide the most value. Comprehensive financial planning involves a process of looking at a person's entire financial picture.
We do one time financial plans, as well as ongoing financial planning which can be broken down to a monthly or quarterly fee.
We do ongoing financial planning, as well as one time financial plans.
We view financial planning as an ongoing, ever changing process. A plan can be out of date a few months after it is implemented. Events like a marriage, divorce, job change, having kids, losing a loved one, or a disability can all have a significant impact on your plan. The list of events that can alter your life are endless, not to mention changes in your "wants and needs" as you go through life.
Our belief is that we can provide tremendous value to our clients by managing their assets. We do three things in the investment management process that our clients are not able to do.
If you are looking for stock pickers - we aren't the right fit for you. If you are looking for tested strategies backed by sound research, then we should talk.
Schedule a introductory call below if you would like to have a discussion regarding investment management.
We work with people is two basic ways:
While ongoing planning and investment management is our focus, we also do one time project work as time allows.
Fees for project work range from $300 for an hour consultation, to $1200-$2500 for detailed plans. It is possible to have a scenario that would fall outside of that range, but not normal.
Flat fees for ongoing planning and investment management typically range from $5000-$9000 a year. All new clients will pay a flat annual fee versus the traditional Assets Under Management (AUM) fee.
Why flat fees? We find a flat fee to be the fairest way of working with clients. A flat fee removes many conflicts of interest such as an advisor telling you to take money out of TSP so that advisor can get paid. Paying your advisor a flat fee helps to make sure the advice you are given is in your best interest. We also don't believe that an advisor does twice the work for a household that has $2 million in assets versus the household that has $1 million in assets, therefore we don't charge twice the fee.
One thing that I always want to do at Bobb Financial is enjoy my client relationships. Even though we serve a variety of clients across all age groups, one quality our clients share is that they are good people we enjoy working with.
We have found that both parties need to enjoy the relationship for it to be a good long term fit.
If you fit the above qualities then we would love to talk and see if we are a good fit.
Or, you may be overwhelmed by the slew of acronyms that are part of your benefits such as CSRS, FERS, FEHB, TSP, FEGLI, FEHB, VCP.
Your financial well-being and retirement are too important for confusion to be part of the equation.
I have received professional training on federal employee benefits and have been working extensively with federal employees since 2007. As a federal benefits specialist, I have done presentations at FSA, Rural Development, BOP, SSA, ATF, FBI, OSHA, US Marshals, ARS and the EPA, to name a few.
Whether you are part of the old CSRS system or FERS, I can help you interpret the maze of federal acronyms and assist you along your retirement journey. A typical start to that journey involves putting a plan together that shows you how your benefits will work together to provide a retirement cash flow.
Click here to see how we have helped federal employee clients with their finances.
Ready to take the next step? Get in touch by scheduling an initial phone call here. Schedule an introductory call
Seriously, we enjoy working with good people that treat others they way they would like to be treated.
While federal employees are our main focus, we have some clients that are young doctors, power companies retirees, and retirees in general that are looking for independent fee only advice.
Schedule a phone call to see if we are the right fit for you.
My journey started at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where I graduated with a degree in Business Finance. After graduating, I went to work for Country Insurance and Financial Services as an insurance agent and financial advisor. I have also had the opportunity to work for a large regional bank as a financial consultant. While working for these large companies, I realized that the corporate world may not be the best fit for me. Each of the companies I worked for placed heavy emphasis on product sales and sales benchmarks. Even though I met all of my sales goals and contests, I started to think there was a better way to serve my clients. Enter Bobb Financial. In 2007, I opened up my own practice, Bobb Financial. I believe that being objective is the only way to serve my clients, and the best way to do that is by being independent.
One commitment I make to my clients is to always be learning. Many parts of financial planning are constantly changing, and I take it upon myself to further my education annually. In 2016, I obtained my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation. The CFP® is widely recognized in the industry as the top designation for financial planners. The CFP® curriculum involves all areas of financial planning and CFP® registrants are obligated to act as a fiduciary for their clients.
My goal is to establish long term relationships with all of my clients, so if you are considering becoming a client, you should probably know a little more about me.
My Christian faith is my foundation. I am eternally grateful for what Jesus did on the cross for me. I do my best to share his grace with others in everything I do.
Outside of work, I really enjoy spending time with my family, working out or playing sports, and enjoying the outdoors. My wife, Lynette, works part time as a pediatric and NICU nurse. She also does some administrative work at Bobb Financial. We have been blessed with three wonderful kids, who are both loads of fun and challenging at the same time! It seems like we are busier every year as our kids get older and become involved in more activities.
I love fitness, whether that involves playing sports, watching sports, or working out. Our family does our best to stay active by having family workouts, doing the burpee challenge or playing sports any chance we can. While most people in the Midwest do not enjoy winter much, we (my wife may have a slight argument here) love it! I prefer to take vacations in the winter in search of snow. Even though we only get to go once or twice a year, we love it when we get the chance to snow ski or snowmobile.
Q - I'm not a federal employee, doctor, or in the market for college planning. Am I a good fit for Bobb Financial?
A - Maybe. I work with people across all industries. I want to work with good people who value my advice! This is the most important quality I look for in client relationships.
Q - I don't have any assets to manage, can you help me?
A - Yes. Planning isn't just for asset management but also cash flow, savings goals, and debt management.
Q - Why did you make the decision to go the fee-only route?
A - This is something that I contemplated for a long time, and ultimately came down to me deciding fee-only is the best way to do business from a client trust perspective. There has been a lot of abusive sales practices in the financial industry, most of which revolve around selling products for high commissions. Fee-only eliminates those conflicts of interest.
Q - How do you get paid?
A - I get paid one of two ways, either by a fee of the assets I manage or a flat fee for advice. You will always know ahead of time what the fee for planning will be, or at least a very close estimate. NO COMMISSIONS AND NO HIDDEN FEES
Q - Do you believe everyone needs a plan?
A - The short answer to this questions is yes. For some people a plan may be very simple, yet for others it could be very complex, but I believe having a plan is the best way to reach a goal.
Q - What if I'm not happy about your service?
A - Great question that I hope doesn't happen! But if it does, we can part ways with no fees or penalties.
