Schmidt

How We Work

We believe that planning is best suited to quick sprints with consistent updating to ensure progress remains on target. That’s why we created our own planning process called The Agile Planning Framework.

1.

Get to know you and your goals

Gather

Gather your financial data

Our planning is comprehensive so we ask for quite a bit of information to get started – your equity grants, employer benefits including your 401k investment menu, debt statements, investment account statements, insurance policies, estate documents, past tax returns and financial goals.

DefineDefine your risk profile

A conversation about risk deserves so much more than a set of templated questions. Our clients have substantial equity grants with concentration risk and illiquidity considerations. And that requires an intelligent discussion far beyond what an online questionnaire can provide.

Create

Create an asset allocation

All too often planning is driven by the output, instead of the input. We believe most advisory offerings over-rely on model portfolios. But models don’t understand how to optimize around your single stock concentration. Our advisors are well-versed in how to solve for this dilemma.

2.

Make a plan and test

Build

Build your roadmap

Your wealth is complex and requires much more than an investment recommendation. We work closely with our clients to distill the complexity – vesting schedules, trading windows, post-IPO lockups, tax considerations, etc. – into clear and actionable steps.

TestTest our assumptions

We believe that a recommendation should always be based on robust analysis. That’s why we test our planning by modeling how your equity will perform using various performance and liquidity scenarios. You’ll never have to wonder how a tender offer, IPO or market correction will impact your planning.

SelectSelect your investments

As an independent RIA with a fiduciary standard, we choose investments that we believe are the most suitable for our clients. We don’t have sales quotas, commissions, white label products or investment dogma. Just unbiased advice and a proven track record of results.

3.

Track and Invest

ImplementImplement your plan

Mark Twain once said “the secret of getting ahead is getting started.” It’s a choice quote and one that highlights our human tendency to do lots of planning and not a lot of doing. We help close that gap by opening and funding your accounts, establishing all reporting, collaborating with CPAs and more.

TrackTrack your progress

We have the tools to monitor your asset allocation across all your accounts (with most custodians), keep your investments risk optimized and closely track your progress to plan. No more tracking accounts across multiple websites or wondering how your plan is performing over time.

Implementing a plan is just the beginning, not the end.

Even the best plan inevitably needs to be updated when circumstances change. And we understand how quickly that happens – new equity grant, tender offer or IPO, new financial goals, changes to the global economic environment, etc. That’s why we meet regularly with our clients to constantly review our progress and assess what changes are needed to optimize their trajectory.

Ready To Get Started?