As a fiduciary financial advisor in West Palm Beach, Holland Capital helps you connect your investments to a written plan for retirement, taxes, family gifts and your estate. We start with that plan, then manage the portfolio to carry it out.
At some point, the question stops being how much to save.
The money is there. Now the questions are different. How much can you spend without worrying about it? How much could go to your children or grandchildren while you are alive to see it? What will the portfolio cost you in taxes this year? What happens to everything when it eventually passes to someone else?
You may still be working, with retirement a few years out. You may have sold a business or be well into retirement. Your investments may already be managed by a wealth management firm.
What you may not have is one written plan connecting all of it.
Wealth Management Starts with the Plan
A large portfolio can hide a simple problem. No one has written down what the money needs to do.
We start with your spending, your income and the dates that matter to you: when work stops, when Social Security starts, when a gift or a home purchase is likely. From there, we can see how much of the portfolio has to support you and how much is really for someone else.
That distinction changes the investment decisions. Money that has to support you for thirty years has a different job from money you expect to leave to your children or grandchildren.
Taxes run through those decisions too. Which account pays for which expense, when to realize gains, and whether Roth conversions make sense in lower-income years can change what you keep after tax over a lifetime. Our guide to asset location explains one part of that process, while retirement planning brings the pieces together.
You Already Have a Wealth Manager
Your money may already be at a large firm. The reports arrive. You have someone to call. You meet once or twice a year and review the portfolio.
But try answering a few questions without looking at an investment report.
How much can you spend every year and still be comfortable that the money will last? Which accounts should fund that spending first? How much risk do you actually need to take? What are you paying for the entire arrangement? If you want to give money to your children, should you do it now or later?
Those are planning questions, not performance questions.
A review starts with what you already have. What do you own, and where? What do you pay in total? Does the level of risk match what your plan requires? Are you holding essentially the same investments in different accounts? Are the investment decisions being coordinated with the work your CPA and estate attorney are doing?
The answers may show that your current arrangement is doing exactly what you need it to do. If so, there may be nothing to change.
If something should change, we show you what and why, including the tax cost of moving. Our portfolio construction guide explains how we think about building the portfolio itself.
If You Work at NextEra Energy
NextEra Energy’s headquarters is in Juno Beach, in northern Palm Beach County.
Your paycheck, retirement benefits and some of your investments may all be connected to the same company. As retirement gets closer, the decisions can include how much company stock to keep, when to leave, how to take your retirement benefits and how the rest of the portfolio should account for what you already own through your employer.
Our guide to NextEra Energy retirement planning covers more.
Managing the Portfolio
Once the plan tells us what the money needs to do, the portfolio has a job.
Some of the money may need to fund spending in the next several years. Some may not be touched for decades. Some may ultimately go to your children or grandchildren.
We build around those different time frames rather than treating every dollar as though it has the same purpose.
We also start with what you already own. If you have held a stock for years and selling it would create a large tax bill, the question is not simply whether we would buy it today. The question is whether changing it improves the plan enough to justify the tax cost.
The same thinking applies when one stock or one company already represents a large part of your wealth. The rest of the portfolio should account for what is already there rather than adding more of the same risk.
That is investment management at Holland Capital: the plan carried out through the portfolio and adjusted as your life changes.
Working with Holland Capital
Holland Capital Management is an independent registered investment adviser and a fiduciary. M. Chad Holland, CFA, CFP® works directly with clients and is responsible for the planning and advice.
The first meeting is about understanding your situation. We ask what you own, what you want the money to do, and what is on your mind. If you have recent statements from your current firm, they help.
Afterward, we tell you what we see, including when we think your current setup already works.
We coordinate with your CPA and estate attorney. They keep their roles. We make sure the portfolio and the plan agree with the tax return and the documents.
The first conversation is free. If there is work worth doing after that, we will define the scope and cost before you decide whether to move forward.
Our offices are in Charlotte, North Carolina and Winter Park, Florida. We work with clients in West Palm Beach primarily by video or phone. When an in-person meeting makes sense, we meet by appointment at the Regus center at 1555 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard in West Palm Beach.
For clients whose investments we manage, accounts are held directly at Charles Schwab in the client’s own name. Holland Capital manages the investments but does not take custody of client assets. If a client ever needs in-person assistance from Schwab, the closest branch is in West Palm Beach at 501 South Flagler Drive.
We work with clients throughout Florida. You can see the other Florida communities we serve here.
Our what we do page explains how a planning engagement works.
RETIREMENT ENGINEERING™
The Order Matters
Five retirement decisions and why timing matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Chad Holland a Certified Financial Planner?
Yes. M. Chad Holland, CFA, CFP® holds the CFP® certification and the CFA charter. He does the planning and gives the advice himself.
You can confirm anyone’s CFP® certification with CFP Board’s verification tool.
Can You Review a Portfolio That Is Already Managed by Another Firm?
Yes. We can start with the accounts and investments you already have rather than assuming they need to move.
The review looks at what you own, how much risk you are taking, what you are paying and whether the portfolio fits the financial plan. If changing an investment would create a tax cost, that is part of the decision too.
Do You Work with My Estate Planning Attorney?
Yes. Your attorney drafts the documents. We handle the financial side that makes them work.
That includes a complete list of accounts and how each is titled, beneficiary forms that match the plan, moving assets into a trust when the documents call for it, and making sure there is enough cash available for taxes and expenses when an estate is settled.
Our guide to estate and wealth transfer planning covers the planning side in more depth.
If You Review My Current Portfolio, Whose Interest Comes First?
Yours. Holland Capital acts as a fiduciary when providing financial planning and investment advice, and that applies to a second opinion as much as to a portfolio we manage. We look at your written plan for retirement, taxes, family gifts and your estate, then at whether the current portfolio carries it out.
Moving your accounts to us would increase what we are paid. That is part of the conversation before you make a change. If your current manager is carrying out the plan well, we say that too.
Can You Work with My Attorney and Me If You Are Not in West Palm Beach?
Yes. Most of our meetings happen by video or phone, including meetings with your estate planning attorney or CPA, and documents are shared securely.
When meeting in person is useful, we can meet by appointment at the Regus center at 1555 Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard in West Palm Beach.
How Are You Paid?
Advisory work is paid by fee: financial planning is offered for a fixed fee once the scope is clear, and investment management is an advisory fee based on the assets we manage. We act as a fiduciary when we give planning and investment advice, and you see the cost in writing before you decide anything.
Photo: Jared / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0, cropped.
