Why Work with Us?
Your Interests First
As a Registered Investment Adviser, we are legally bound to act as fiduciaries to our clients. As fiduciaries, we must always put our client’s best interest first. CWM has acted as a fiduciary since its founding and always will. That’s the way it should be.
Comprehensive Services
Given our suite of services and our relationship with Cunningham & Associates, CPAs, we are able to provide individuals and businesses alike with a one-stop shop for all of their financial needs.
Independence
We do not work under the umbrella of any other financial firm. This allows us to remain completely independent with no inherent conflicts that may interfere with our client relationships.
Fee-Based
As fiduciaries, we believe in structuring our fees in a way that aligns our interests with the interests of our clients. We never charge commissions on investment trades.
Industry Standard Designations
All of our team members are either Certified Public Accountants or CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERS (CFP®). You can rest easy knowing that your advisors have the knowledge and experience necessary to provide you with the advice and service you deserve.
Our Process
Initial Conversation
We want to get to know you. This stage involves a candidly casual phone or video call where one of our advisors will answer any questions you may have about us while beginning to initially understand your situation, needs and goals.
Fact Finding
This stage takes the information from the initial conversation and dives deeper into your financial situation as we learn your assets, liabilities, income sources, expenses dependent needs and risk coverage. The more we learn here the more value we can provide throughout the planning process.
Analyze and Discover
We take everything we have learned from the first two stages and work directly with you to analyze your situation and develop a plan that is custom tailored to your short term and long term needs and goals.
Implement
This is where we put our plan to work. We implement any changes from your plan in order to best suit you moving forward.
Review and Update
Financial planning is not a one-and-done process. We constantly review and update your plan as your situation, needs, and goals change over time.
What We Do
At CWM, everything we do starts with financial planning. Without first understanding you as a client, we believe it is imprudent to give advice on investments, tax, estate, or other items. We strive to make the planning process simple and approachable by creating an ongoing dialogue with our clients. We believe in transcending the transaction, allowing us to understand you as a client.
We believe that everyone’s investment portfolio should be based on their situation, goals, and risk tolerance. Given that everyone has different factors, no two people should have identical portfolios. At CWM, we believe in an evidence-based approach to investing. We use over 100 years of market data to drive investment decisions and create tailor-made, custom portfolios for each of our clients. Some of the traits we look for in investments include:
- Low Cost
- Consistent Track Record of Quality Performance
- Aligned Philosophy
Taxes play a role in every financial decision made. Without the proper planning, taxes can eat at returns, affect cash flow, and prohibit the achievement of goals. Working alongside the professionals at Cunningham & Associates, CPAs, we strive to provide clarity and efficiency to all tax-related issues. Our wealth management clients have access to a dedicated tax manager at Cunningham & Associates. They will typically meet with our clients twice a year including a January tax planning meeting and a late-year tax projection meeting.
Who We Serve
The Expertise Seeker
The Expertise Seekers do not have an extensive background or knowledge of personal finance or the time to learn. Think of non-financial professionals: engineers, technology workers, educators, and medical professionals. They are successful in their respective careers but understand their own limitations and come to us for financial planning and investment advice.
The Team Player
The Team Players have some sort of baseline knowledge of finance and investing. However, as their lives have grown, so has the complexity of their situation. They want to stay involved in managing their finances but come to us for a second set of eyes and help with items that may be beyond their personal expertise.
The Delegator
The Delegators have a great understanding of personal finance and investing. They may even have a career in finance or accounting. However, they simply do not have enough time in the day to appropriately monitor and manage their household finances. They, instead, turn to us to outsource this job as a CEO would delegate to a CFO.