What’s the difference between working with an advisor and a team practice?
One of the things that makes Warren Street Wealth Advisors unique is that we are a true ensemble practice.
That means that we work as a team. You don’t get a single advisor, you get a full ensemble of professionals.
Traditionally, you hired one person to be your financial planner, investment manager, and your client service advisor, and they would have to wear all these hats for hundreds of clients. At Warren Street, you get a dedicated planner, a dedicated investment management team, and a primary point of contact for all of your questions.
We feel that this system helps deliver the best possible client experience, and it ensures our team members are working in their strongest capacities.
How long have you been in business?
Warren Street Wealth Advisors was founded in 2015 by Cary Warren Facer and Blake Street. Cary entered the industry in 2007 for a Fortune 100 Company and Blake in 2008 at La Pointe Wealth Management, LPL Financial.
Cary and Blake realized they shared the same vision for delivering financial advice. Their vision was to provide clients with financial advice that was transparent, unbiased, and always with their client’s best interest at heart.
Since 2015, the Warren Street team has grown to a size of 8 members who manage over $130,000,000 for 200+ families and businesses.
What are your fees?
Warren Street is a fee-only investment advisor firm. This means that we charge a flat rate for our financial planning services and a percentage fee for the assets that we actively manage. Our investment management fee is based on the previous quarter’s average daily account balance, so no fee is billed until after the work is done. Fees are typically directly debited from brokerage accounts, to make things easy for our clients. Everything we do is with our client’s best interest in mind.
To view our fees, click here: https://warrenstreetwealth.com/about-us/.
We do not sell products, have quotas, or work on commission. All of the investments in our clients’ portfolio are also in our personal portfolios. We are proud of the fact that we “eat our own cooking”.
What if I decide to leave? Any contracts, surrender charges, or fees?
There are no contracts, surrender charges, or fees for leaving at any point in time. We always want to work with people for the next 30 years and beyond, but on the rare occasions that clients feel they need to move in another direction, they can move on at any time.
Where forms can I fill out to prepare for our first consultation?
Please download and/or print the Retirement Handbook and Retirement Toolkit for your review. Spend no more than 10 minutes filling out your net worth and retirement budget. We will be happy to look this over during our initial meeting together.
Are you a fiduciary?
Yes. Being independent, we work directly with the regulators and must work in a fiduciary capacity for our clients.
Being a fiduciary means that we are legally obligated to act in our client’s best interest. Doing anything else would be a breach of that obligation.
What are your credentials?
On staff, we have 3 CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERS™ (CFP®), and 1 Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). We put an emphasis on attaining and continuing education at our firm because we believe it helps us produce the tailor-made solutions that clients need and are looking for from a financial advisor.
What type of investments do you use?
We utilize active investment managers and passive index funds to gain our market exposure, typically by utilizing ETFs and mutual funds.
Using these tools, we give our clients the appropriate exposure to asset classes that are in line with their goals and objectives. To learn more about how we invest for clients, you can visit our Investment Proven Process.
What returns can I expect you to generate for me?
We aim to generate market-based returns appropriate to each client’s individual risk profile. Our goal isn’t to “beat the market,” but rather to deliver returns sufficient to achieve the investment objective of each client, while taking the degree of risk a client is comfortable with.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer, so we must decide what is in the best interest of our client in their current financial position. This could be anything from a client looking to achieve growth and wealth accumulation, to a client interested in preserving capital and generating income for a family who has recently retired.
Will you beat the market?
“The market”, we find, is an arbitrary benchmark. Our main focus is improving upon the investment outcomes that clients would achieve on their own. Our job as an advisor is to make sense of the infinite investment options available and keep clients away from long-term damage to their capital and portfolio. If we can provide this outcome for clients, then we have succeeded.
We also don’t want to focus on returns as the only metric of success for clients, as it does not accurately reflect the success of an individual’s financial plan and goals. For most people, being able to sleep well knowing someone knowledgeable and ethical is looking out for their financial well-being is more valuable than capturing 100% of the S&P 500 returns. Success for some means having an income stream to enjoy their retirement years and help their children from time-to-time. For others, achieving their 5-year plan to save a down payment for their first house might be their measure of success. We work with each individual to formulate their financial goals, and to help them successfully achieve those goals.