Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
How do I get started?
You begin by completing our New Investor Form to provide us with all of the important information we need to get you set up for the right service, the right forms, and the right investment strategy to help you reach your financial goals. Once you submit the form, you will receive a response to set the investment plan meeting at one of the times you selected. We will have everything prepared for you at that initial meeting to help begin a great investing experience.
How do I know what service is right for me?
We try to provide you with as much information here on our website to help you start finding the right service for you. But each service has an initial meeting with one of our financial professionals to work with you and help assure you have the right service to best meet your financial circumstances, personal preferences, and investment objectives. That process begins with you completing our New Investor Form so we can get the information we need to learn how to best help you find your very best service.
What account types do you support?
We can support a wide variety of account types including: Individual, Joint, or Trust Brokerage Accounts. Individual Retirement Accounts such as Traditional IRA's, Rollover IRA's, and Roth IRA's. Retirement plan accounts such as SIMPLE IRA's, SEP IRA's, Individual 401k's, Pensions, and other accounts. There are other accounts we support that are not listed here. If you do not see your account type listed, please Contact Us to see if we can support it.
Can I rollover an old 401k account or retirement plan account?
Yes. Rolling over an old retirement plan into an IRA (or a conversion into a Roth) is a common practice and often recommended. We simply establish a new Rollover IRA account and help you move the assets in the proper manner to avoid creating a taxable event (a Roth conversion is a taxable event). To make sure everything goes smoothly and as easy as possible for you, we monitor the movement, let you know that it arrived in your new account, and are there to assist you through the entire process. If you have a retirement plan or account you want to Rollover you can take the first step by completing our New Investor Form. One of our financial professionals can help you from there.
Can I transfer an account from another investment firm?
Yes, transferring an account from one firm to another firm is a common occurrence. We can establish a new account and help you with the transfer process. You can have the same account type and choose to have it transfer as cash or "in kind", where your account maintains the same title and none of your investments are sold in the transfer process. You can usually expect the whole process to take between 5-10 business days. If you have an account you want to transfer you can take the first step by completing our New Investor Form. One of our financial professionals can help you from there.
Where are my assets held?
All accounts are held at TD Ameritrade. Conscious Capital Management is the investment advisory firm providing the financial advice, guidance, and investing services. TD Ameritrade is the custodial brokerage firm that hold the accounts and acts as the broker dealer for all trading, transaction, and other investing activities. TD Ameritrade also provide our clients additional services such as producing account statements & tax forms, account services, & maintenance and have a 24 hour customer service line available to our clients for any account related questions or service needs.
Who manages my investments?
Our world class quality investment management succeeds because we leverage the collective specialized abilities & expertise of different teams. Conscious Capital Management primarily focuses on portfolio strategy development & management, financial guidance & planning, and investment advisory services. TD Ameritrade provides our account support, servicing, trading, and brokerage capabilities. They also provide our technological capability to optimize efficiency in areas like automating rebalancing, tax harvesting, tax lot selling and block trading. Morningstar is our largest provider of research, financial planning, and portfolio management tools. Together, these teams create the core that allow us to give the very best in quality financial and investment services.
Do I have to be a Wisconsin resident to work with CCM?
Our firm is registered in the State of Wisconsin and primarily works with Wisconsin residents. However, if you reside in another state, please contact us directly through our Contact Page and let us know what state you reside in, as there are other states in which we can work with investors but limitations may apply.
What is your minimum required investment?
It depends on which service you choose. Our smallest required minimum investment is through our Simple Investing Services, where we require a minimum of $10,000 per account to get started. The primary reason for this amount is so that we can meet all investment required minimums and provide adequate diversification. However, if you have less than that to start with please Contact Us and we can see how we can help you.
What is an Investment Policy?
An Investment Policy is part of our advisory agreement between Conscious Capital Management and you as a client. It sets the guidelines for how to best manage your investments for your financial circumstances, investment objectives, and personal preferences. It includes the investment objectives and describes the strategy to achieve those objectives. Important suitability information such as time horizon, risk tolerance, income & liquidity needs, and target return are also outlined in the Investment Policy. Client information such as date of birth, income level, tax rate and net worth is also required. Every client receives their own personal investment policy to help align our investment management with their best financial interests.
What is Fiduciary Responsibility?
Fiduciary Responsibility is our committed duty to always act in the best financial interests of our clients.
Why do I need to give Limited Power of Attorney to CCM?
Limited power of attorney gives us the authority to see your accounts, execute trades, transactions, and other investing activities on your behalf. But it does not give Conscious Capital Management the authority to move money in or out of your account, except for the deduction of management & advisory fees. This separation between investment management and cash transactions is another way our structure keeps your money well protected.
Is there SIPC or FDIC Insurance on the Accounts?
Yes. All TD Ameritrade accounts have SIPC insurance. Additionally there are FDIC insured choices in those accounts such as CD's and bank sweep options for FDIC insured cash management.
Is Conscious Capital Management a Brokerage Firm?
No. We are a registered investment advisory firm. This means our primary focus is on your professional financial advice, guidance and investing services. We use TD Ameritrade as our custodian firm to hold client accounts and to process all of our transactions and brokerage activities for our clients.
Why does Conscious Capital Management offer Ethical Investing?
We love that we get to use our investing expertise to help our clients invest in a manner that matches their values, gives them the opportunity to make a incredibly powerful impact, and provides a more meaningful return to our clients that simply cannot be measured. However, it also is a proven approach in achieving optimal financial results. Research has shown that by measuring additional risks across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) areas you can reduce exposure to investment risk and other risk outliers such as lawsuits & litigations, pollution & environmental degradation, boycotts & other negative surprises, and inefficient cost management & poor long term business planning. All which can greatly effect investment performance. We also believe ethics belong at the core of investing and for too long it has not played a large enough role in traditional financial services. Finally, ethical investing allows for something more than just giving back, it allows our clients to invest forward. Having their capital used over longer periods of time across a wider range of ethically invested areas to help build a positive future. These are just a few of our reasons, but it certainly begins to explain why we take such great pride in helping so many investors do so much more when they invest with us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Simple Investing
Frequently Asked Questions
Simple Investing Services
What are Simple Investing Services?
Simple Investing Services are full professional investing services combining the best in investing technology with proven fundamentals and the right amount of financial help for a great investing experience. They offer low investment minimums starting at $10,000 per account and low management costs starting at .50% (or lower based on size of investments) plus a $250 annual advisory fee. It is a full portfolio management option with little required time from the client. There is one initial meeting to get started and annual consultations & reviews with one of our financial professionals around the anniversary of your initial start date. We offer two specialized investing approaches in that clients can choose from: Optimal Investing Portfolios or Ethical Investing Portfolios. Clients can use any combination of the two approaches: One approach for your entire financial strategy or any blend of the two for different accounts or financial objectives.
Are Simple Investing Services similar to Robo-Advisor Services?
Only in some small ways. We have the same type of advanced technologies that allow for smart functionality across all of our services. Our services also have low investment minimums, low fees, and full professional investment management. The largest difference is we believe personal meetings, a local office, and people are still incredibly important in understanding our clients and being part of the decision making process for portfolios. That is why we still have an annual face-to-face meeting with each simple investing service client. This office meeting allows us to take into account the personal circumstances, changes, and information we need to better understand and manage our clients' investments for real life circumstances instead of computerized decision making often applied by robo-advisers. This blend of the right amount of personal attention combined with full management on an ongoing basis is what makes our services different than any other firm. We also offer Ethical Investing Portfolios in these services, which allow clients to dedicate an account or entire strategy to investing ethically. To learn more about Simple Investing Services, click here.
Are there transaction fees in Simple Investing Services?
Conscious Capital Management never charges commission or transaction fees. Accounts are held through TD Ameritrade and there are typically no account fees. However, other fees such as mutual fund internal expenses or expense ratios (which are typically incurred in every mutual fund and exchange traded fund) and other investment related fees may be applied by either the custodian (TD Ameritrade) or the investments themselves that are not waived or reimbursed. Some investments may also incur a commission charge or transaction fee and Conscious Capital Management may review and reimburse any of these additional fees at their discretion usually as a reimbursed credit on the following quarterly bill. We make effort to reimburse such fees but there can be limited occasions where a fee is applied that we will not or cannot reimburse.
Who do I contact when I have questions?
For investment related questions, you can contact Conscious Capital Management via email at team@ccminvestment.com or by calling directly at 608-630-9501 during normal business hours. For all account related or after hour questions, you can contact TD Ameritrade 24 hours a day at 1-800-431-3500.
What is Discretionary Authorization?
Discretionary authorization is the authority a client gives to Conscious Capital Management and the client approved financial professional(s) or authorized agent, listed in their advisory agreement to manage their account for them. This primarily means the authorized agent(s) can do activities like place trades or process other investment transactions without immediate prior approval. We ask this authority on some of our services because it allows for more accurate and efficient trade execution in managing portfolios. It also avoids the inability to process a transaction in a suitable & timely manner if we cannot reach the client. In other words, without discretionary authority, we cannot process a trade without an immediate discussion and consent by the client to process it at that time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Simple Investing Services
Frequently Asked Questions
Optimal Portfolios
How do I get started with Optimal Investing Portfolios?
Every service begins with gathering information from you to put together the right services, the right investing strategy, and the get everything set up for you in the right way. We first need you to submit a New Investor Form.Once we receive your information one of our financial professionals will set up an appointment to go through everything with you and help you get started off with a great investing experience.
How often do I need to meet to review my portfolio?
We request a face to face meeting with each Optimal Investing client once every year. A financial professional meets with you at the beginning to help you get set up, and then an annual one-on-one consultation meeting is scheduled around the anniversary of your start date in working with us. This important meeting is a time to review your financial situation, update your investment policy, review your portfolio, run a progress report, and get additional financial guidance. The remainder of the time, CCM will professionally manage the portfolio for you and be available for any investment related questions. TD Ameritrade also is always available to you 24 hours a day at 800-431-3500 for any account related needs or questions.
Why do you use ETFs in Optimal Investing Portfolios?
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a basket of investments typically correlated to a particular index, asset class or sector. They offer a number of distinct advantages taking some of the positive characteristics from mutual funds, indexes, and individual securities and puts them into one investment. A few of our favorites are below:
Passively Managed or Indexed
ETFs tend to take a passive investing approach or have less active trading in their portfolios. This allows for longer holding periods of the underlying investments and helps to avoid the ineffective practice of "market timing." It also means ETF's typically incur less in taxes. Removing these negative effects has proven to add to overall performance.
Diversification
ETFs still retain the advantage of mutual funds in that they are a broad set of holdings of an entire market, class, or sector providing greater diversity than individual investments.
Marketability
Unlike Mutual Funds that trade at Net Asset Value (NAV), calculated at the end of a trading day, ETF's trade like individual stocks allowing for real-time trading in the market throughout the entire day, allowing for more efficient trade execution.
What are some of the ways Optimal Investing Portfolios helps create greater tax efficiency?
Here are a few examples of how we achieve greater tax efficiency:
1) Asset Location: This occurs when there are both taxable (ex; brokerage) and tax-deferred (ex: IRA, Roth) accounts and relates to what investments we place into what type of account. As an example, we can place certain investments with greater tax implications into tax-deferred accounts and investments with a lower tax implications into taxable accounts.
2) Using Tax Efficient Investments: We may use investments that take a passive approach(such as index based exchange traded funds) or have federal or state tax exemptions to better mitigate tax implications.
3) Selective Lot Selling and Loss Harvesting: We can evaluate realized gains & losses in real time in all of our client portfolios to look for opportunities to offset gains with losses, sell specific lots, or incur losses to reduce taxable gains by creating tax deductions as needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Optimal Portfolios
How do I get started with Optimal Investing Portfolios?
Every service begins with gathering information from you to put together the right services, the right investing strategy, and the get everything set up for you in the right way. We first need you to submit a New Investor Form.Once we receive your information one of our financial professionals will set up an appointment to go through everything with you and help you get started off with a great investing experience.
How often do I need to meet to review my portfolio?
We request a face to face meeting with each Optimal Investing client once every year. A financial professional meets with you at the beginning to help you get set up, and then an annual one-on-one consultation meeting is scheduled around the anniversary of your start date in working with us. This important meeting is a time to review your financial situation, update your investment policy, review your portfolio, run a progress report, and get additional financial guidance. The remainder of the time, CCM will professionally manage the portfolio for you and be available for any investment related questions. TD Ameritrade also is always available to you 24 hours a day at 800-431-3500 for any account related needs or questions.
Why do you use ETFs in Optimal Investing Portfolios?
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a basket of investments typically correlated to a particular index, asset class or sector. They offer a number of distinct advantages taking some of the positive characteristics from mutual funds, indexes, and individual securities and puts them into one investment. A few of our favorites are below:
Passively Managed or Indexed
ETFs tend to take a passive investing approach or have less active trading in their portfolios. This allows for longer holding periods of the underlying investments and helps to avoid the ineffective practice of "market timing." It also means ETF's typically incur less in taxes. Removing these negative effects has proven to add to overall performance.
Diversification
ETFs still retain the advantage of mutual funds in that they are a broad set of holdings of an entire market, class, or sector providing greater diversity than individual investments.
Marketability
Unlike Mutual Funds that trade at Net Asset Value (NAV), calculated at the end of a trading day, ETF's trade like individual stocks allowing for real-time trading in the market throughout the entire day, allowing for more efficient trade execution.
What are some of the ways Optimal Investing Portfolios helps create greater tax efficiency?
Here are a few examples of how we achieve greater tax efficiency:
1) Asset Location: This occurs when there are both taxable (ex; brokerage) and tax-deferred (ex: IRA, Roth) accounts and relates to what investments we place into what type of account. As an example, we can place certain investments with greater tax implications into tax-deferred accounts and investments with a lower tax implications into taxable accounts.
2) Using Tax Efficient Investments: We may use investments that take a passive approach(such as index based exchange traded funds) or have federal or state tax exemptions to better mitigate tax implications.
3) Selective Lot Selling and Loss Harvesting: We can evaluate realized gains & losses in real time in all of our client portfolios to look for opportunities to offset gains with losses, sell specific lots, or incur losses to reduce taxable gains by creating tax deductions as needed.
What areas am I impacting when I invest ethically?
Ethical Investing can include a variety of areas that can make an impact, support important efforts, and contribute to positive change. Broadly speaking, it tends to cover areas under these three themes: Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG). The mutual funds we research can cover a broad range of sustainable themes involving different socially responsible or socially conscious principles and ESG measurements. However they also can offer a particular emphasis or focus on such areas as women's leadership, social empowerment, environmental stewardship, clean energy, water solutions, microfinance, and community development (just as a few examples). Our Ethical Investing Portfolios are built using these areas across different asset classes and are selected based on our entire financial, ethical, and suitability analysis process. Find out more about ethical investing here.
Is there a difference with performance in ethical funds over other mutual funds?
Certain studies show that expanding the analysis process to include environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics along with traditional financial measurements can reduce certain risks and increase consistency in performance. This process can also exclude companies through negative screens, helping to avoid a wide range of risks or include companies that are committed to certain ESG initiatives offering growth opportunities. Risks avoided can include things such as: greater litigation or liability risk, higher costs due to energy & waste, employee turnover, & unethical practices. ESG growth opportunities could include things such as: clean energy, advanced medical care, community building, and the latest technologies. Although ethical investments offer some additional analytical advantages, all investments have risk and can incur principle loss. No investment can guarantee performance and past performance does not guarantee future results.
How do you screen for Ethical Investment Portfolios?
We pull data from Morningstar (a leading expert in mutual fund research), other ethical data providers, and use our own analysis process to fully evaluate different ethically invested mutual funds. For us, our process of Ethical Investing research covers the entire spectrum of Socially Responsible, Socially Conscious, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) qualified funds. We also expand our research to include focused specializations such as women's empowerment, clean energy, water solutions, and community development (to just name a few). In addition to the ethical measurements, all mutual funds go through a rigorous analysis process of important financial metrics and performance data to help us select superior performers in each asset class.
Why do you use mutual funds in Ethical Investing Portfolios?
Mutual funds are one of the most rapidly growing areas of investing ethically as seen in the USSIF's Sustainability Investing Trends Report. These investments provide a large universe of choices across the entire spectrum of ethical investing allowing us to build optimal performing portfolios with the very best investments in ethical values. Financially speaking, mutual funds provide a basket of diversified securities usually in a specific asset class, sector, or comparable index managed for that particular area. This added diversification allows us to better manage risk and utilize the portfolio manager's expertise in each specific area. We also have the ability to measure metrics that show things like consistency in performance with mutual funds allowing us to further balance risk and return in each portfolio.
Are there additional fees for Ethical Investing Portfolios?
All mutual funds have what is called an expense ratio that is charged internally on each fund. You can typically find this charge on the mutual fund's prospectus. The expense ratio also known as internal expenses are generally charged on any mutual fund and is typically an unavoidable fee. CCM never charges any sale loads, commissions, or transaction fees on the mutual funds we use nor do we receive any compensation from the fund expense ratio. The only fee charged by CCM are the fees listed here. If the custodian, TD Ameritrade, or the mutual fund itself charges an additional transaction fee, CCM will review the circumstances and may reimburse you for that fee at their discretion.
What is Institutional Access?
Some mutual fund companies have certain funds designed to be only available to professional investment firms or large institutional investors. In our case, our institutional access allows us the opportunity to review a greater universe of mutual funds and sometimes at lower investment minimums and lower annual fees (ex: no load shares, lower annual management fees, and/or waived 12-1b fees). This gives us the opportunity to provide investments from a greater selection and offer lower cost investments to our investors.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ethical Portfolios
What areas am I impacting when I invest ethically?
Ethical Investing can include a variety of areas that can make an impact, support important efforts, and contribute to positive change. Broadly speaking, it tends to cover areas under these three themes: Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG). The mutual funds we research can cover a broad range of sustainable themes involving different socially responsible or socially conscious principles and ESG measurements. However they also can offer a particular emphasis or focus on such areas as women's leadership, social empowerment, environmental stewardship, clean energy, water solutions, microfinance, and community development (just as a few examples). Our Ethical Investing Portfolios are built using these areas across different asset classes and are selected based on our entire financial, ethical, and suitability analysis process. Find out more about ethical investing here.
Is there a difference with performance in ethical funds over other mutual funds?
Certain studies show that expanding the analysis process to include environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics along with traditional financial measurements can reduce certain risks and increase consistency in performance. This process can also exclude companies through negative screens, helping to avoid a wide range of risks or include companies that are committed to certain ESG initiatives offering growth opportunities. Risks avoided can include things such as: greater litigation or liability risk, higher costs due to energy & waste, employee turnover, & unethical practices. ESG growth opportunities could include things such as: clean energy, advanced medical care, community building, and the latest technologies. Although ethical investments offer some additional analytical advantages, all investments have risk and can incur principle loss. No investment can guarantee performance and past performance does not guarantee future results.
How do you screen for Ethical Investment Portfolios?
We pull data from Morningstar (a leading expert in mutual fund research), other ethical data providers, and use our own analysis process to fully evaluate different ethically invested mutual funds. For us, our process of Ethical Investing research covers the entire spectrum of Socially Responsible, Socially Conscious, and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) qualified funds. We also expand our research to include focused specializations such as women's empowerment, clean energy, water solutions, and community development (to just name a few). In addition to the ethical measurements, all mutual funds go through a rigorous analysis process of important financial metrics and performance data to help us select superior performers in each asset class.
Why do you use mutual funds in Ethical Investing Portfolios?
Mutual funds are one of the most rapidly growing areas of investing ethically as seen in the USSIF's Sustainability Investing Trends Report. These investments provide a large universe of choices across the entire spectrum of ethical investing allowing us to build optimal performing portfolios with the very best investments in ethical values. Financially speaking, mutual funds provide a basket of diversified securities usually in a specific asset class, sector, or comparable index managed for that particular area. This added diversification allows us to better manage risk and utilize the portfolio manager's expertise in each specific area. We also have the ability to measure metrics that show things like consistency in performance with mutual funds allowing us to further balance risk and return in each portfolio.
Are there additional fees for Ethical Investing Portfolios?
All mutual funds have what is called an expense ratio that is charged internally on each fund. You can typically find this charge on the mutual fund's prospectus. The expense ratio also known as internal expenses are generally charged on any mutual fund and is typically an unavoidable fee. CCM never charges any sale loads, commissions, or transaction fees on the mutual funds we use nor do we receive any compensation from the fund expense ratio. The only fee charged by CCM are the fees listed here. If the custodian, TD Ameritrade, or the mutual fund itself charges an additional transaction fee, CCM will review the circumstances and may reimburse you for that fee at their discretion.
What is Institutional Access?
Some mutual fund companies have certain funds designed to be only available to professional investment firms or large institutional investors. In our case, our institutional access allows us the opportunity to review a greater universe of mutual funds and sometimes at lower investment minimums and lower annual fees (ex: no load shares, lower annual management fees, and/or waived 12-1b fees). This gives us the opportunity to provide investments from a greater selection and offer lower cost investments to our investors.
What is included in the Personal Advisory Service?
Our Personal Advisory Services is our most complete and inclusive package of services. Financial planning, investment management, regular consultations and a dedicated financial professional are all included under the one advisory fee. It offers the widest selection of investment choices and different investment types such as individual stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds, ETF's, and options. We can apply more sophisticated strategies that can include techniques such as hedging, diversifying with commodities & market neutral positions, applying different trading types, and can account for ethical/sustainable alternatives. It can be set up as discretionary or non-discretionary authorization based on your preference for how you want us to manage and advise on your investments. To see our full pricing tier for personal advisory service click here.
What does Unconstrained Investment Selection mean?
Our status as an independent advisory firm means we are not limited in the products and/or investments we select. We have the ability to build and manage portfolios with a larger selection of different investment types, like individual stocks, individual bonds, ETF's, mutual funds, and others. We also have the ability to account for different alternatives primarily in the ethical/sustainability space such as community investment funds, microfinance loan funds, and private funds.
Who is my advisor at Conscious Capital Management?
Your advisor will be listed in your investment advisory contract where you get to authorize them to work with you & your investments. Your advisor is whom you will meet with most often for quarterly reviews and regular communications to maintain a consistent & personal understanding of your individual needs, objectives, and preferences. However, other support teams will be there to help you for other needs or if there ever is a situation where you need immediate assistance. For example, TD Ameritrade can help you with any account related questions 24 hours a day at 800-431-3500. This team based approach helps assure you the personal attention of your advisor with the high level of service to meet all of your needs in a timely manner.
How does Financial Planning work in Personal Advisory Services?
Our Personal Advisory Services includes planning as part of the services you receive under the one advisory fee. All the different Financial Planning Services are available to our personal advisory clients as well. You can choose to complete a full comprehensive financial plan or we can focus on specific goals, important needs, or a particular life event. We typically incorporate planning right at the beginning of the start of services and request a review of planning areas annually to make any necessary adjustments or updates, but it is also available to you at any time with no additional costs.
Why is the advisory fee higher in Personal Advisory Services than Simple Investing Services?
To cover our costs associated with the greater level of services. As our premier choice, Personal Advisory Services include a personal advisor, financial planning, investment management, and unconstrained investment choices. It is a full financial service that requires more regular communications, quarterly investment reviews, active portfolio management, developing & managing more sophisticated strategies, additional analytics, as well as other services to make sure we are helping you in every way possible. Because it requires a higher level of service and a greater involvement of time we charge a higher fee to cover the different costs associated with the different services provided and additional time with financial professionals. However, discounts apply based on the amount of assets being advised on.
Why is the minimum investment higher in Personal Advisory Services than Simple Investing Services?
The minimum advised asset level of $250,000 or more is primarily so we can cover the different costs associated with the higher level of service and greater involvement of professional advisory time. As a full financial service, it requires regular communication, quarterly investment reviews, active portfolio management, strategy development, additional analytics, as well as other services. It also relates to achieving appropriate diversification with the different investment types offered. As an example, we need higher asset or investment amounts to properly diversify across individual securities like stocks. However, the minimum requirement is based on the aggregate of all accounts being advised on and not a single account. In other words you can have mutilple accounts being advised on to meet the minimum required $250k.
Frequently Asked Questions
Personal Advising Service
Frequently Asked Questions
Financial Planning
Frequently Asked Questions
Simple Investing Services
What kind of financial plans do you offer?
Conscious Capital Management offers a variety of financial planning services that range from a simple portfolio review to a comprehensive financial plan. We have a plan for someone just beginning their financial lives to retirees ready to begin again. For our complete summary of plan services click here.
What does the Financial Planning fee Include?
Our Financial Planning Services are designed to help you focus on the financial areas that are most important to you with the right professional guidance to make sure you have everything you need to fully implement your plan. Each service includes a complete analysis, plan development, recommendations, implementation, and a professional review one year following the completion of the plan. The review is provided to make any necessary adjustments, address additional concerns, and help assure the plan has a firm foundation to keep you heading in the right direction towards reaching goals & objectives.
Is investing included under Financial Planning Services?
No, not in our flat fee financial planning services. Our other services offer ongoing financial advice and investment management. Our Financial Planning Services will provide a recommended strategy with specific investment recommendations and guidance on implementation, but processing any transactions of investments is completed by the client. We do not take trading authority over an account under any of our financial planning services. These services provide the planning and professional guidance, but allows you to retain your independence and make decisions around when and how the action steps are completed.
Do I have to invest through Conscious Capital Management to use a Planning Service?
No. Our Financial Planning services are perfect for independent investors who prefer managing their own investments or maybe already have a financial professional and just need some planning or additional guidance. It is a straight flat fee with guidance for a year, but allows for you to take action steps, continue managing your own investments, and maintain your accounts independently.
What are the fees for Financial Planning Services?
Conscious Capital Management charges only the single fee associated with each financial plan, as shown here. However, investment charges, commissions, and/or other brokerages fees may apply as determined by the broker/dealer or financial institution where the investment accounts are held. These fees are in addition to the fees charged by CCM and may not be known by us. We do consider fees in our recommendations and try to bring any additional fees that we uncover to your attention before action steps are taken.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ethical Retirement Plans
Frequently Asked Questions
Financial Planning
How do I know which retirement plan is right for me?
We offer an initial consultation at no cost to you to help answer questions and understand the different options that are available to you. We strive to help make sure you have all of the right information to make the best decision for your business or organization. To see different retirement plans available, take a look at our chart on our Ethical Retirement Plan Consulting Page.
Who typically uses Ethical Retirement Plan Consulting Services?
We developed this service for what we see is an underserved portion of our community. Small employers who desire and need a retirement benefit that is full service but affordable. We built our services to help small businesses, startups, non-profits, and other organizations by providing them access to low cost, full service retirement consulting & plan management. Some common traits shared by employers (sponsors) interested in this type of service are that they want ethical principles as part of their retirement benefit, they want professional consulting for their leadership team, easy set up with a full service package to for their employees, complete professional investment management, and an affordable plan that makes sense for their budget. Our comprehensive service was designed to deliver that entire package to these important members of our community & major contributors to our local economy.
If we already have a retirement plan, can we change to your plan?
Yes. We can help you with the process of transferring from your current retirement provider to our services for most plans. We can determine if and how we can best help you with this at the initial no cost consultation that we offer to any business or organization.
Why does your retirement plan focus on Ethical Investing?
Our Ethical Investing Retirement Plan Consulting Service provides a truly unique benefit that businesses and organizations can offer to their entire staff. Ethical investing goes beyond just a retirement benefit in that it can reflect the values and ethics that are part of your organizational culture. It gives your employees an opportunity to meet their future retirement while making a positive impact and contributing to the world around them. Ethical Investing has also shown to improve consistency in performance by measuring a broader set of risks and looking at expanded opportunities, making it a smart investing approach. However, it should be noted that all investments incur risk and no strategy guarantees performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
How does the fee structure work?
We try to separate the investment management fee from the plan consulting fees. Under our service the employer (sponsor) pays the $250 annual advisor fee for each participant (account) to cover education, enrollment, reviews, and professional guidance. Each participant pays the management fee that begins at .50% annually, but this is discounted with larger plan amounts for all participants based on the total assets in the plan. We separate the fees to apply the appropriate fee to the appropriate service, reduicing costs for both sponsors and participants.