The starting point
What Should Your Financial Plan Actually Do?
A financial plan should help you make decisions. It should not sit in a binder.
The hard part is rarely a lack of information. It is knowing what to do next, and what else that choice affects.
Retiring next year can change what you should do with taxes today. A Roth conversion can affect Medicare premiums later. Selling an investment can create a tax bill. Taking Social Security can change how much you need from the portfolio. The decisions are connected.
Financial planning considers those decisions in tandem, so one choice is considered alongside the others.
What it covers
What Does a Financial Plan Cover?
Depending on what you need answered, a plan may cover:
- Retirement: when you can stop working, where your income will come from, and when to claim Social Security or a pension. More on retirement planning.
- Taxes: Roth conversions, capital gains, asset location, and which accounts to draw from first. More on tax-efficient investing.
- Investments: whether your portfolio fits your income needs, time horizon, taxes, and ability to take risk.
- Insurance: what is covered, what is not, and whether a policy you own still makes sense.
- Estate: beneficiaries, account titling, and how your accounts fit the estate plan your attorney drafts. More on estate planning coordination.
- Major decisions: selling a business, receiving an inheritance, equity compensation, deferred compensation, or a divorce.
Not every plan covers everything. The scope is set by the questions you bring.
Holland Capital does not prepare tax returns or legal documents. When those are needed, we coordinate with your CPA and attorney.
Trusts
Do You Need a Trust, and Which One?
A trust is a legal document, but deciding whether you need one starts with your financial life.
What are you trying to protect? Who should control the assets if you cannot? Should children inherit everything at once or over time? Is there a second marriage to plan around? A business or concentrated stock position? An IRA that needs special attention?
Those answers help determine whether a trust belongs in the plan and what it needs to accomplish.
Your attorney determines the appropriate legal structure and drafts the documents. Holland Capital helps you work through the financial decisions first, then coordinates with your attorney and CPA so the pieces fit together.
If a trust already exists, we can also review how it fits with the rest of your financial plan and manage trust investments under an Investment Policy Statement built around its terms.
More on estate planning coordination and investment management.
The process
How Does the Planning Process Work?
1. Define the Questions
What prompted you to reach out, and what decisions you need to make.
2. Gather What Matters
The statements, tax returns, benefits, policies and estate documents that bear on those questions.
3. Analyze the Options
The choices in front of you, and the ripple effects each decision can have elsewhere in your financial life.
4. Recommend
When the engagement calls for it, you receive a written recommendation in plain English. Sometimes the right answer is to change something. Sometimes it is to leave things alone. Either way, you should understand why.
5. Implement, If You Want Help
You can carry out the plan yourself or with our help where appropriate. Implementation is a separate decision.
A plan rests on assumptions about markets, tax law and your own life. Actual results will differ, which is why a plan should be revisited when your circumstances change.
More on how we work.
Ways to work together
How Much Help Do I Need?
The scope and fee are put in writing before we begin.
Focused Analysis
One decision, analyzed in depth. The fee is fixed once the question is clear.
Financial Planning
The major decisions in your financial life considered in tandem, including retirement, taxes, investments, insurance and estate questions. The engagement is quoted as a fixed fee based on what you are asking us to solve.
With Investment Management
If you hire Holland Capital for ongoing investment management, planning updates are included in the advisory relationship.
Hourly advice is also available when that makes more sense.
You do not have to move your investments to Holland Capital to get financial planning.
Fees and conflicts
How Is Financial Planning Paid For?
Financial planning is quoted as a fixed fee based on the scope of the engagement.
The scope of the engagement and what it will cost are agreed in writing before we begin.
Holland Capital acts as a fiduciary in every recommendation it makes, including insurance. M. Chad Holland, CFA, CFP®, is also bound by professional standards that require him to put clients’ interests first.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between financial planning and investment management?
Financial planning determines what your money needs to do: income, taxes, risk and timing. With ongoing investment management, a portfolio is built and managed to fit that plan. You can hire Holland Capital for one without the other.
Do I have to move my investments to get a plan?
No. Planning and investment management are separate decisions.
What do I receive?
When the engagement calls for it, a written recommendation on the questions in your scope, explained in plain English, along with the reasoning behind it.
Do you prepare tax returns or legal documents?
No. Holland Capital works alongside your CPA and attorney, who prepare returns and draft documents.
How is the fee set?
It is a fixed fee based on the scope of the engagement, agreed in writing before we begin. Hourly advice is available when that makes more sense.
Does the plan stay current?
A plan should be revisited when your circumstances change. If you hire Holland Capital for ongoing investment management, planning updates are included in the advisory relationship.
Areas served
Asheville: Asheville, Fletcher, Hendersonville, Weaverville
Athens: Athens, Bogart, Watkinsville, Winterville
Atlanta: Alpharetta, Atlanta, Decatur, Dunwoody, Johns Creek, Kennesaw, Marietta, Peachtree City, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Smyrna
Augusta: Augusta, Evans, Grovetown, Martinez, North Augusta
Cape Coral: Cape Coral, Estero, Fort Myers, Lehigh Acres, North Fort Myers
Cary: Apex, Cary, Holly Springs, Morrisville
Charleston: Charleston, Goose Creek, Hanahan, Hilton Head, Isle of Palms, James Island, Kiawah Island, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Sea Island, Summerville
Chattanooga: Chattanooga, East Ridge, Lookout Mountain, Red Bank, Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy
Clarksville: Clarksville, Hopkinsville, Oak Grove, Sango
Columbia: Cayce, Columbia, Forest Acres, Irmo, Lexington, West Columbia
Columbus: Columbus, Fortson, Midland, Phenix City
Daytona Beach: Daytona Beach, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange
Fort Lauderdale: Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Plantation, Pompano Beach, Sunrise, Weston
Franklin: Franklin, Nolensville, Spring Hill, Thompson's Station
Greensboro: Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, High Point, Hillsborough, Jamestown, Morrisville, Oak Ridge, Reidsville, Summerfield
Greenville: Five Forks, Greenville, Greer, Mauldin, Simpsonville, Taylors, Travelers Rest
Hialeah: Hialeah, Miami Lakes, Opa-locka, Palm Springs North
High Point: Archdale, High Point, Jamestown, Trinity
Jackson: Humboldt, Jackson, Medina, Milan
Jacksonville: Atlantic Beach, Fernandina Beach, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Orange Park, Ponte Vedra Beach, St. Augustine
Knoxville: Alcoa, Farragut, Knoxville, Lenoir City, Maryville, Oak Ridge
Lancaster: Indian Land
Macon: Byron, Centerville, Gray, Macon, Warner Robins
Melbourne: Cocoa Beach, Fort Pierce, Melbourne, Merritt Island, Palm Bay, Sebastian, Titusville, Viera
Memphis: Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland, Memphis, Olive Branch, Southaven
Miami: Aventura, Coral Gables, Doral, Hialeah, Kendall, Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Gardens, North Miami
Mount Pleasant: Daniel Island, Isle of Palms, Mount Pleasant, Sullivan's Island
Murfreesboro: La Vergne, Lascassas, Murfreesboro, Smyrna
Myrtle Beach: Conway, Garden City, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Pawleys Island, Surfside Beach
Nashville: Brentwood, Franklin, Hendersonville, Mount Juliet, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Smyrna, Spring Hill
North Charleston: Goose Creek, Hanahan, Ladson, North Charleston, Summerville
Orlando: Altamonte Springs, Apopka, Heathrow, Kissimmee, Lake Mary, Ocala, Orlando, Oviedo, Sanford, The Villages, Winter Garden, Winter Park
Palm Beach: Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Coral Springs, Delray Beach, Lake Worth, Palm Beach, West Palm Beach
Port St. Lucie: Fort Pierce, Jensen Beach, Port St. Lucie, Stuart
Raleigh: Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Holly Springs, Knightdale, Raleigh, Wake Forest
Rock Hill: Clover, Fort Mill, Rock Hill, Tega Cay, York
Roswell: Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton, Roswell
Sandy Springs: Alpharetta, Dunwoody, Roswell, Sandy Springs
Sarasota: Bradenton, Englewood, Longboat Key, North Port, Sarasota, Venice
Savannah: Garden City, Pooler, Port Wentworth, Richmond Hill, Savannah
Spartanburg: Boiling Springs, Duncan, Inman, Lyman, Spartanburg
St. Petersburg: Cape Coral, Captiva Island, Clearwater, Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Gulfport, Largo, Marco Island, Naples, Pinellas Park, Sanibel, Seminole, St. Petersburg, Treasure Island
Summerville: Goose Creek, Ladson, Summerville
Tallahassee: Crawfordville, Havana, Monticello, Tallahassee
Tampa: Brandon, Clearwater, Palm Harbor, Riverview, St. Petersburg, Valrico, Wesley Chapel
Wilmington: Carolina Beach, Leland, Ocean Isle Beach, Sunset Beach, Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach
Winston-Salem: Clemmons, Kernersville, Lewisville, Winston-Salem
Start With One Conversation
Tell us what you are trying to solve.
The first conversation is free. If it makes sense to move forward, we will scope and price the engagement, then adjust it with you as needed before we begin.
