Fiduciary. At WealthKeel, your needs come first - ahead of anything else. We have an ethical and legal obligation to do what's best for you.
Fee-Based. We are fee-based because we still help our clients with term life insurance and disability insurance. In the investment management and financial planning world, we do everything in a fee-only capacity by utilizing a flat-fee or assets under management model. You can trust that you will receive objective, independent advice when you receive financial planning, investment management, and risk management services.
CFP®. This stands for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. These marks indicate that we have completed rigorous training and education requirements, uphold a strict ethical obligation to our clients, and continue to educate ourselves on the best financial planning and advice practices to build on.
We believe in goal-based investing and focusing on what we can control. We believe the markets are efficient and emotions are inefficient. We believe in objective-based investing for the long-term to build the kind of wealth that will create possibilities in your life. Understand that headline rates of return or the “sexy investment” do not correlate with your financial plan and your goals.
What we can control:
- Reducing expenses
- Diversifying portfolios
- Minimizing taxes
- Staying disciplined
WealthKeel uses an investment team at Vicus Capital to construct and manage our clients’ portfolios. Vicus Capital is only available through qualified and approved financial advisors through their Federally Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). Their portfolios are designed to be cost-effective solutions that help investors pursue their goals by utilizing the investment markets with broadly diversified allocations.
In certain situations, we may look at other money managers. Since we are independent, we have access to numerous money managers that fit our clients’ needs.
Historically, financial planning was only for the wealthy. Think 60+ years old with a million plus in assets. Well, we didn’t like that model. We saw our friends and peers struggling to find guidance on financial planning and life was coming at them fast with starting a family, buying a home, getting married, consolidating finances, large medical contracts, student loans, budgeting, saving, insurance, and the list goes on.
Today, WealthKeel predominantly serves Gen X & Gen Y physicians and their families. In laymen terms, most of our clients’ household incomes are $300,000+ with many households having incomes in the mid-six figures to seven figures or greater and fall between the ages of 25 to 50. Net worth can vary drastically for our clients, from -$1,000,000 (thanks student loans!) to $3,000,000+. With our flat-fee and subscription model, we do not have an asset or net worth minimum. Most of our households have at least one physician, but we also work with many dentists, attorneys, and business owners.
What if I don’t fit that exact avatar? We get it, we are “picky.” However, give us a call and let’s talk through your specifics. If we are not the best fit for you, we will make sure we lead you in the right direction. When we first created WealthKeel, we started off by only working with baby boomers and helping them prepare and navigate retirement. So while that is not our specialty today, we still have expertise in that field. Moral of the story: let’s chat on an Icebreaker Call and take it from there.
Think about all the uncertainties in regards to all the financial topics in your life. From insurance to cash flow to investing to saving for your goals while still enjoying the lifestyle you want today, it’s a lot to try and figure out on your own. You need to make complicated decisions -- and each choice impacts the others ones you need to make. It can feel like trying to balance an endless series of dominos without knocking over a single one -- ever!
But what if you knew the right decisions to make? What if you could make those choices with confidence? Imagine having all those uncertainties identified, explained, and planned out into actionable steps for you. Imagine if you had someone to navigate through the financial decision-making process with you, a trained, educated, and objective third party there to help you at every financial crossroads, ensuring you chose the right path.
That’s what financial planning can do for you. We’ll be there every step of the way, offering professional and highly-qualified advice no matter what goals you want to reach. Having a true financial plan built by a CFP® will give you even more confidence to help you create what you want in your life using the resources you have.
Step 1: The Icebreaker Call
You already know about the professional, formal side of WealthKeel. Through our website, you can see that we’re CFP® professionals with years of training and experience in guiding clients through all their financial questions and concerns and crafting custom plans to help them reach their goals.
But before you hire a financial planner, you need to know if you like them on a personal level. We believe in not only providing you with a great service, but also giving you a great experience while doing so. This call gives you an opportunity to get to know us and to see if we click.
Step 2: Discovery Phase
Once we decide to work together to help you plan and strategize for financial success, we’ll gather important documents and information during our discovery phase. When we do meet, we’ll dig deeper into understanding what you want your future to look like.
This meeting helps us know where you want to go and where you’re starting from. With all of the data at our fingertips, we then begin to build around your specific goals, wants, and needs that we discussed during our Discovery Call.
Step 3: Blueprint Review Meeting
Once your comprehensive financial plan is laid out, it’s like receiving your handcrafted ship that’s ready to set sail. In other words, this is the point in the process where we start taking actions to implement action steps within your plan.
You receive a tangible “to-do” list as part of your financial plan. That includes your specific to-dos -- as well as the tasks we’ll complete and be responsible for on your behalf. Remember, you don’t have to do this alone. We’ll be there every step of the way to keep you on track, hold you accountable, and keep you motivated.
Ongoing Meetings: Your Harbor
A financial plan is never complete and shouldn’t be static. It’s not just a piece of paper. It’s a living strategy, a charted course for an ongoing process that evolves and changes with you. Our ongoing meetings provide reviews, maintenance, and upgrades to your plan. Life will have numerous course correction events, and we will be there to update your nautical map as needed.
Easy, click here to schedule you free one hour Icebreaker Call.
From there, you can select a date and time that fits best with your schedule. If you can’t find something that works for you, just let us know -- we’ll find a date/time that does.
If you don’t want to use the online calendar to schedule, just give us a call or send us an email!
You don’t! We use a subscription-based fee model in our firm. That means we don’t require new clients to have a minimum amount of money in the bank or in investments. We can explain more about how we charge and why we believe it’s the best way to do business on our free Icebreaker Call.
Don’t stress about this one. We invite anyone who’s interested in receiving the best financial advice for their situation to book a free Icebreaker Call with us so we can review your current situation and goals together. Based on your specific situation, we can decide which service is the best fit for you when we chat.
Nope. WealthKeel helps people all across the country with our virtual-based planning model. We can meet with you by phone, virtually (via Zoom or Skype), or in-person if you’re in the Philadelphia region. But even our local clients choose the virtual model for some of our meetings! We can meet anytime, anywhere, whenever and wherever that works best for you.
Anyone can call themselves a “financial planner” or a “financial advisor.” But only professionals who fulfilled the certification, education, training, and renewal requirements of the CFP Board can display the CFP® certification marks. That’s why it’s important to look for the CFP® designation when considering who to hire as your financial planning.
Here’s what’s required in order to hold a CFP®:
- Education – Complete a comprehensive course of study, which covers the financial planning curriculum approved by the CFP Board.
- Examination – CFP® professionals must successfully complete CFP Board’s comprehensive examination, which tests an individual’s ability to integrate and apply their financial planning knowledge.
- Experience – Three years of financial planning related experience before one can use the CFP® marks.
- Ethics – Ascribe to the CFP Board’s code of ethics and additional requirements as mandated. This includes the Fiduciary standard, or acting in the client’s best interest.