FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

It's good to ask questions of any prospective financial advisor. Here are answers to some important questions.
If you don't see what you're looking for or need clarification, let us know and we'll get back to you posthaste.

WHAT SERVICES DO YOU PROVIDE?

We offer ongoing financial planning and investment management to help you better grow, protect, spend, and pass your wealth. We’re with you every step of the way along your financial journey, answering questions and providing guidance. With us managing your wealth, you can focus your time on what you enjoy most.

Areas of financial planning that we help our clients with include the following:

• Investment Management

• Retirement Planning

• Employee Benefits

• Risk Management

• College Savings

• Estate Planning

• Tax Reduction

• Stock Options

• Philanthropy

WHO IS YOUR IDEAL WEALTH MANAGEMENT CLIENT?

While we work with a wide variety of clients, our specialty is mid to late-career professionals with $1-10 million in investable assets—stocks, bonds, cash, options, RSUs, etc. These clients typically have numerous financial planning needs and the time horizon necessary to achieve them.

We work exclusively with folks who agree to our Client Engagement Standards, which include among other things:

1. Engaging in the planning process

2. Responding in a timely manner with information when we request it

3. Valuing holistic planning (i.e., if you’re only concerned about short-term market performance, or picking the next Apple stock, we’re not the advisor for you)

At the end of the day, we like to work with clients whose lives and financial well-being will be positively transformed by our ongoing relationship.

DO YOU OFFER HOURLY OR PROJECT-BASED SERVICES FOR THE DIY-ER?

Nope.

No matter how well-intentioned DIY folks are, our experience is that people inevitably fail to execute the plan, putting their financial goals in jeopardy. Either life gets in the way, or emotions get the best of them. Neither is a recipe for long-term success.

The benefit of an ongoing relationship is that our depth of knowledge, years of experience, and unflinching discipline dramatically improves your likelihood of creating lasting wealth.

HOW ARE YOU PAID FOR YOUR SERVICES?

We charge a fee based on assets under management/advisement that is all-inclusive (financial planning + investment management). Why all-inclusive? Because we don’t want you to be afraid to pick up the phone or email us with a financial question, no matter how trivial it may seem. We’re here to help you make informed decisions.

Our fee is typically paid from the managed account(s) so as not to impact your day-to-day cash flow (i.e., no checks to write or debits to your credit card). Fees for minimum-fee clients may be charged (all or partially) to a credit card if necessary.

We do NOT receive commissions, kickbacks, or any kind of payment other than the fee our clients pay us. We’re professional financial planners, not sales reps.
⤷ Read our Fiduciary Pledge

DO YOU HAVE A MINIMUM PORTFOLIO OR ACCOUNT SIZE? 

Not exactly. We have a minimum annual fee of $12,000. Based on our fee schedule (above), that corresponds to a $1.375M portfolio. A minimum annual fee rather than a minimum portfolio size allows people to hire us with ~$1M portfolios if they plan to grow their investable assets through aggressive contributions or sale proceeds.

WHAT MAKES YOU QUALIFIED TO BE A FINANCIAL ADVISOR?

We hold college degrees in finance and economics and have 20+ years of experience. In addition, we are Chartered Financial Analysts and Certified Financial Planners.

The CFA Charter focuses exclusively on an in-depth knowledge of investments. To earn the Charter, one must endure a rigorous, 3-year program in which only 1-in-5 participants successfully earn the coveted Charter.
⤷ What is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)?

Only CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals are rigorously trained in 72 areas of financial expertise and must accrue thousands of hours of experience prior to earning the certification. With a CFP® professional, you get a financial planner committed to working in your best interest and the confidence that comes with building a comprehensive plan.
⤷ What is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®)?

Beware of other “XYZ” credentials that sound impressive, but require little in the way of knowledge or experience. Open the right Cracker Jacks box and you too can call yourself an “XYZ”.  

ARE YOU A FIDUCIARY?

Yep.

North Ridge is and always has been a fiduciary. That means we place clients' interests first. Period. We do not, and never have sold anything or received commissions or kickbacks. Our clients pay us a fee, just like any other professional.
⤷ Read our Fiduciary Pledge

DO YOU SELL PRODUCTS OR RECEIVE COMMISSIONS?

Nope. Never have. Never will.

We are NOT insurance salesmen or stockbrokers masquerading as “financial advisors.” And we don’t peddle life insurance or annuities as some kind of holy grail investment opportunity.
⤷ Read our Fiduciary Pledge

HAVE YOU BEEN SUED OR DISCIPLINED FOR ANY REASON?

Nope. Nada. Never.

You can verify this on the SEC’s Investment Advisor Public Disclosure website. We like to think of ourselves as being one of the good guys (-:

DO YOU TAKE POSSESSION OR HAVE ACCESS TO MY MONEY?

Never.

Client assets are held (or “custodied”) at Fidelity or Schwab. As a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), we have what’s called a limited power of attorney. This allows us to place trades on your behalf, but we cannot access the funds ourselves. This is for your protection and ours. You also receive trade confirmations and monthly statements from Fidelity or Schwab to verify everything we do on your behalf.

ARE MY INVESTMENTS PROTECTED IF A CUSTODIAN GOES BANKRUPT?

Yes.

All custodians (Schwab, Fidelity, etc.) are insured by the SIPC up to $500,000 for securities (including up to $250k in cash). The SIPC was created under the Securities Investor Protection Act to oversee the liquidation of member firms that close when the firm is bankrupt or in financial trouble.

In addition, virtually all custodians carry excess insurance through insurers like Lloyds of London. Schwab carries an additional $600M of aggregate coverage and Fidelity carries an additional $1B of aggregate coverage.

It’s also worth noting that the Security & Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Customer Protection Rule (Rule 15c3-3) safeguards customer assets at brokerage firms by preventing firms from using customer assets to finance their own proprietary businesses. Client’s securities are segregated so that they are not available to the brokerage firm. Furthermore, cash deposits invested at the broker are maintained in Special Reserve Accounts for the exclusive benefit of customers, as required by the SEC’s Customer Protection Rule.

Of course, none of these protect against risk of loss due to market volatility, just custodian insolvency.

WOULD I BE WORKING WITH AN INDIVIDUAL OR A TEAM?

North Ridge employs a 3-person team approach to leverage our vast breadth of knowledge and experience. Your team will include two financial advisors as well as a client service manager.

In our industry, it’s not uncommon for an advisor to have 100-150 clients. At North Ridge, our client-to-advisor ratio is ~60:1 in order to provide our clients with the boutique, high-touch service they expect. We’ll know you, your family, your hobbies, and more on a very personal level.

WHY WORK WITH A PROFESSIONAL FINANCIAL ADVISOR?

Clients work with a financial advisor for a variety of reasons. They desire a relationship. Behavioral guidance. Organization and accountability. For others, it's to gain the most priceless thing of all...time.

Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything." Life has a way of happening. Our value to clients isn't a written "financial plan" or market outperformance. It’s our willingness and ability to adapt to change and help clients plan for, and face, the unexpected adversities that will surely come their way.

WHAT MAKES YOUR CLIENT EXPERIENCE UNIQUE?

North Ridge strives to find that perfect balance where means and meaning intersect. Where other advisors simply focus on building "more wealth," we focus on building "meaningful wealth." We call it creating prosperity with purpose.

Long before we talk numbers, we listen to who you are, what makes you tick, and why. Our job is to engage, educate, and empower you to live a fulfilling and remarkable life.

We also adhere to and require clients to adhere to our Client Engagement Standards which assures a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.

HOW DO YOU MEASURE SUCCESS AS A FINANCIAL ADVISOR?

If our ongoing relationship provides clients with greater clarity, more confidence, and a sense of control of their destiny…only then are we successful.

WHY DID YOU BECOME A FINANCIAL ADVISOR?

People only get one shot at retirement. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that Wall Street is their adversary, not their advocate. What folks need is an experienced professional who has a legal, moral, and ethical obligation to protect their clients. To better understand why this matters, see our Fiduciary Pledge.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU COMMUNICATE WITH CLIENTS?

We believe in proactive communication and keep you informed every step of the way, including trade notifications that explain buy/sell decisions as well as quarterly statements and market commentary.

In addition, we try to communicate in plain English terms anyone can understand. You won't get from us an 85-page financial plan that might as well be Greek.

We're huge proponents of the Japanese principle of KANSO (簡素) which is the art of simplicity and omission of the nonessential in pursuit of clarity. Our financial plans are streamlined with only the information you need and nothing you don’t.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU EVALUATE AND UPDATE MY FINANCIAL PLAN?

We like to meet with clients at least once a year for a full review of their financial plan to ensure they remain on track to achieve their stated goals. Between our regular updates, we’re available via phone, video conference, email, or in person as needed.

Are you thinking about refinancing your house? Making a gift to a charity or your church? Or, want to know the best way to pay for college? Let’s talk. We want clients to reach out whenever there is a question, finance-related or not.

For one client looking to retire abroad, we did significant research to identify a specific city that met very stringent criteria: climate, cost of living, healthcare, and an active dance community. We went so far as to enlist the help of a world-champion dancer and international dance judge to identify locales that met this client’s particular dance style requirements. If you can dream it, we can plan it.

WHAT IS YOUR INVESTMENT PHILOSOPHY?

There are two schools of thought when it comes to managing investments. Passively managed funds (e.g., index funds) are low-cost, tax-efficient, fully-diversified investments that reliably capture market return. Conversely, actively managed funds rely on a so-called “expert” to jump in and out of the market or select stocks in an attempt to outperform the market.

Historically, a passive approach has outperformed an active approach about 90% of the time over 5-, 10-, and 20-year periods. The sheer weight of academic evidence favoring passive strategies is staggering.

North Ridge uses low-cost, tax-efficient enhanced index funds as the building blocks of our portfolios. It may not be sexy or exciting, but sometimes, boring is better!

Learn more about our “10 Guiding Principles for Pursing a Better Investment Experience” on Our Investment Philosophy page.

DO YOU USE DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISOR (DFA) FUNDS?

Yes. DFA funds play a central role in the construction of our investment portfolios.

For those unfamiliar with Dimensional Fund Advisors, unlike most fund companies which are a product of Wall Street, DFA was born out of academia. They take a scientific, evidence-based approach, applying academic research to practical investing. Nobel prize-winning scholars like Dr. Eugene Fama (University of Chicago) and Dr. Robert Merton (MIT) drive their and Our Investment Philosophy.

Despite being one of the largest asset management firms in the world ($500+ billion), the reason why you’ve likely never heard of DFA is that their mutual funds are not available to retail investors. DFA mutual funds can only be accessed via a select group of registered investment advisors (like North Ridge) who have been thoroughly vetted by the folks at Dimensional Fund Advisors.

You can think of them as an institutional version of Vanguard (which we also use). Or, as we like to call them, “Vanguard on steroids.”

WHAT STRATEGIES DO YOU USE TO REDUCE OR ELIMINATE TAXES?

It’s not what you make, but what you keep that matters. Minimizing your lifetime tax liability is one of the few things you can control as an investor. To that end, there are several strategies we employ to reduce your tax bill:

• Index Funds - We use low-cost index funds as the building blocks of our portfolios. These funds distribute relatively little in the way of capital gains.

• Asset Location - We strategically hold tax-unfriendly assets (bonds and real estate) in tax-deferred accounts and tax-friendly assets (stocks) in taxable and tax-free accounts whenever possible.

• Tax Loss Harvesting - We offset realized capital gains by realizing losses if/when they exist. These temporary losses become a “tax asset.”

• Tax Gain Harvesting - We sometimes can realize capital gains to fill the 0% tax bracket, thus removing that gain from becoming a future tax bill.

• Roth IRA Conversions - Upon retirement and entering a lower tax bracket, we often make small annual conversions from tax-deferred IRA accounts to tax-free Roth IRA accounts. These can then be passed to heirs tax-free for their lifetime.

• Donor-Advised Funds (or charitable giving) - Whether or not a client has philanthropic intent, donating appreciated assets to charity or a donor-advised fund (DAF) can meaningfully lower a client’s tax bill.

• Estate Planning - Through the use of vehicles like credit shelter trusts (CSTs) we can “shelter” some assets from state-mandated estate taxes. In Oregon, for example, anything over $1M is taxable! In Washington, it’s $2M.

CAN YOU PROVIDE SEVERAL CLIENT REFERENCES?

Absolutely! Feel free to contact us and we’ll get you those references right away.

DO YOU ONLY WORK WITH CLIENTS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST?

Not at all.

We serve clients not only across the country but around the globe, including Europe, the middle east, the far east, and South America. Some clients we travel to meet, and others we hold meetings via phone and/or video conference. Isn’t technology great?

DO YOU EVER TAKE CLIENTS ON YOUR OUTDOOR ADVENTURES?

All the time. We love it when clients join us for hiking, backpacking, mountaineering, rock climbing, kayaking, snowshoeing, skiing, photography, and more.

I’ve had world travellers tell me our week-long expedition in the Alaska bush to photograph 1,000-pound brown bears was the best experience of their life. That’s why I do it year after year.

The most common deathbed regret isn’t something you did. It’s that you didn’t do something. So, we encourage our clients to live remarkably...live a story worth telling.

Want in on the adventure? Let’s talk.