Services

What are the services offered by Contour Financial? Although no two clients are ever the same, typically a client seeks both financial planning1 and investment management services. Remember that financial planning includes insurance protection, estate planning, education funding, budgeting, business planning, tax planning & preparation, investments, and much more. This plan is 100% customized for you, and updated annually. As all of our clients are unique, we never employ cookie-cutter solutions.  After the financial planning tasks are done, investments can be held two ways:
  • Type #1 Client – Contour Financial opens an account for you at Charles Schwab. The account can be either:
    • Non-Discretionary – Prior permission is needed to buy or sell any investments
    •  Discretionary – Prior permission is not needed to buy or sell any investment

  • Type #2 Client –  Client has sole responsibility for an account and implementing recommendations, Common reasons are:
    • The client can’t open an account (E.G. – Has a 401(k) account through his current employer)
    • The client prefers their own custodian (E.G. – Really likes Fidelity or Vanguard)
    • The client seeks advice only and wishes to maintain sole control on account(s) 

Contour Financial tries to include all services needed by the client in the assets under management fee if at all possible.  We do not believe in layering on additional fees. It is exceedingly rare that a client pays any Contour Financial related fee outside their quarterly or semi-annual billing cycle.  Refer to the “compensation” tab for more detail. Services included with the investment billing cycle if asset minimums are met would traditionally include:   

  • Initial financial plan generation
  • Annual “Goals Letter” updating where you stand in regards to your future or present retirement status
  • Individual Federal & State tax-return preparation
  • Portfolio construction, implementation (Type #1 Only), monitoring, rebalancing reporting, and rebalancing implementation (Type #1 Only)
  • Quarterly (Type #1) or semi-annual (Type #2) account reporting
  • No additional charge for telephone or face to face meetings throughout the years 

Occasionally a client will seek non-investment related services, which we call a Type #3 Client. Some example would be a client that seeks: 

  • Only financial planning services
  • Only to have individual Federal & State tax returns generated
  • Bookkeeping services 

Regardless of the option(s) selected above, the ultimate success of any financial program is up to the client.  A financial plan will state where the individual stands now and what needs to be done to achieve the objectives over the long-term.  Market fluctuations and the client not adhering to the plan can affect results.  Therefore, we can not offer guarantees as to the success of any of the three programs above developed by Contour Financial or its planners.  

1We respect your privacy.  If you wish to keep your personal life private, although we strongly recommend it, Contour Financial does not mandate that you do financial planning.  Note that the quality of the investment program may be compromised if financial planning is not done.
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