Frequently asked questions

We work with about forty families, most of them within a decade of retirement or recently through it. Many are Californians or former Californians. What they tend to have in common is a set of decisions that are hard to reverse and a tax picture that has grown more complicated than their planning has.

The first meeting is the Intro Meeting, a twenty-minute virtual conversation about your goals, what prompted you to reach out, how we work, and what we charge. Before the Findings meeting, you send us a few documents. We review them and present what we found and how we see the problem. Afterward, you receive a written proposal covering the work we would do and what it costs.

1. For ongoing investment management and planning, we charge a tiered annual fee based on the assets we manage, billed quarterly in advance and deducted directly from your accounts. We will walk you through the schedule and what it means for your situation before you sign anything.

2. For planning without investment management, we offer a subscription arrangement. The fee depends on how complex your situation is, and we quote it after the Findings meeting, once we know what the work actually involves.

Either way, you will have the fee in writing, in the proposal, before you decide anything. Financial North Partners is a fee-based practice, and advisory services are offered through NewEdge Advisors, LLC, a registered investment adviser.

Nothing. The Intro meeting is a conversation, and there is nothing to prepare. If we both decide to continue, we will ask for your most recent tax return and current investment statements.

Our standard schedule includes three meetings a year: a planning update after the April filing deadline, a tax planning meeting in the fall, and a short check-in in December. We also meet whenever something changes, and we adjust the timing to your preferences.

Taxes are usually where the decisions are. We build the tax picture first and the portfolio second. The order of withdrawals, the timing of conversions, and where an asset is held are all planning choices, and we would rather work through them deliberately than leave them to default.

Yes, and we prefer to. We do not provide tax or legal advice, so our role is coordination. We share projections with your CPA, flag what an estate attorney should see, and keep all three of us working from the same numbers. If you do not have either, we can make introductions.

Yes, and it is one of the areas we know best. A move changes what gets taxed and when, and some of it depends on decisions made before you go. We work through residency questions with your tax advisor, and we look at what should happen in the years on either side of the move.

No. We do not prepare tax returns or provide tax or legal advice. We build multi-year tax projections, plan around them, and coordinate with your CPA, who prepares and files the return.

It is the stretch of years, usually between retirement and the start of required minimum distributions, when taxable income is lower than it was while working and lower than it will be later. Converting part of a traditional IRA to a Roth during those years may cost less in tax than the same conversion would later. How long the window lasts, and how much of it to use, depends on your income, your balances, and when you claim Social Security.

California taxes most retirement income, including traditional IRA and 401(k) withdrawals and most pensions, as ordinary income at the same rates as wages. It does not tax Social Security benefits. That combination is why the timing of withdrawals and conversions matters more for Californians than for residents of many other states.

Client assets are held at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., in accounts in your name. Schwab executes transactions, sends your statements, and provides online access. Financial North Partners does not hold client funds or securities.

Yes. Financial North Partners works with families nationwide, though most are Californians or former Californians.