Financial Planning

Our goal is for you to feel confident in your financial decisions and to know that the North Berkeley team is by your side as a guide and collaborative partner. We have a fiduciary responsibility to always work in your best interests. Financial planning is a dynamic process and is tailored to you and your specific circumstances.

Collaborative Process

At its core, financial planning is about answering the questions that are most important to our clients.  Sometimes these questions are clear from the outset of the relationship, or more often, they arise from our discovery process, or are based on life changes.  We listen closely and provide a decision-making framework.

We may be financial experts, but our clients are the experts on their own lives.  For this reason, we emphasize collaboration with our clients as we manage all facets of the financial planning process.

Working With Other Professionals

Part of our collaborative process is that we work closely with your other professionals to address all aspects of your financial needs. We can also provide personal recommendations as needed to professionals in our network, including tax professionals, estate attorneys, insurance professionals, and others.

Financial Planning Elements

In each client relationship, we typically explore all major areas of financial planning analysis, with emphasis on the areas most important to that client. These areas of your financial life are reviewed and delivered in a bite-sized format, in collaboration with you, so that the process feels natural and is never overwhelming. As clients become more grounded in their financial situation, or when new issues emerge, we can easily refresh our work and go deeper as needed. All areas of financial planning are on regular review cycles. Areas of planning include:

• Wealth Projection: Where are you now? Where will you be in the coming years?
• Retirement Planning: Are you ready to transition away from your current career?
• Estate Planning: How will you direct your wealth? Are your current documents updated to reflect your wishes and shifts in the law?
• Charitable Planning: Maximizing your impact, customized to your portfolio and resources
• Taxes: Collaborating with clients and their tax advisors to minimize taxes where possible, and integrate with investment strategy.
• Real Estate Guidance: Counsel on how investment real estate integrates into a client’s net worth and financial plan.
• Insurance Assessment: Is your insurance optimized to preserve your wealth and protect your heirs?
• Education Planning: Finding the best path to save, and build intergenerational education resources.
• Debt Management: Analysis of how to reduce specific debts, or to effectively utilize debt when appropriate.

Managing Change

Certain events, both joyous and traumatic, can trigger a need for financial planning. We help our clients navigate significant events, from welcoming a new baby to saying goodbye to a loved one.

We help our clients understand what needs to happen in moments of significant change. Often, we try to slow down the process so that the client and we can focus on the most important elements together. We also use specialized tools to model how a particular change may impact their long-term flexibility and financial resiliency.

Actionable Guidance

We believe financial advice is most helpful when it is grounded in your personal story and can be put into action.

Too often, a ‘financial plan’ is a document that sits on the shelf and gathers dust.  We want our planning to be bite-sized and focused on the highest priority topics each time we meet.

We then help our clients track their progress, and adapt the plan based life changes and what is working for them. The best plan is the one that gets put into action and helps our clients feel calm and confident as they move forward.

Our Approach and Services

With each client relationship, we explore the major areas of financial planning analysis, with emphasis on areas of importance to the client. We cover a wide range of services, from estate planning to insurance assessments, and deliver long-term, holistic planning that protects and preserves their life’s work.

Educating & Building Community

We host gatherings covering particular investment and planning topics and provide access to ongoing educational content. We also have quarterly open house get-togethers, art exhibits, and community-building events for our clients and local community members.