FINANCIAL PLANNING & INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FOR A FLAT FEE
OUR SERVICESNOT YOUR TYPICAL “FINANCIAL ADVISOR.”
Beyond Balanced Financial Planning was founded to deliver real financial planning to regular people through a service model that actually makes sense. We serve families that seek to build healthier, more fulfilled lives by taking a values-based approach to building wealth. Financial independence is the goal so our clients can live life on their terms.
FEE-ONLY FIDUCIARY
Dedicated CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ that focuses on you and your most important priorities. We don’t sell insurance, annuities or give hot stock tips. Fee-only means there are no commissions and no hidden fees.
MODERN TECHNOLOGY
We utilize the latest technology to enhance our online services. We offer paperless account opening, secure document storage, and the ability to view your accounts anytime, anywhere in your own client dashboard.
CONVENIENCE
You’re pressed for time and a financial plan shouldn’t be a burden to your time. We offer meetings that fit your busy schedule. We can meet in person or via video conferencing. Occasional weekend and evening hours available.
AFFORDABILITY
Like a gym membership or a mortgage payment, we believe an investment in your financial plan should be no different. Our ongoing planning services have a monthly subscription fee to be easier on your budget.
Hi, I’m Crystal!
I’m the founder of Beyond Balanced Financial Planning, an independent fee-only practice dedicated to helping my clients gain clarity and achieve their financial goals. When I started this practice, my goal was to provide valuable advice in a holistic manner. I believe that we all have to start somewhere and overall financial wellness is what really matters.
Beyond Balanced simply means going beyond the balance sheet to live your life on your terms. We take the time to understand you, your situation, preferences, goals, and your personal money beliefs. There is no one-size-fits-all approach and we work together to design a plan tailored to your unique situation.
“Tell me, what is it that you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” – Mary Oliver
OUR SERVICES
FINANCIAL PLANNING
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS
Money ≠ Happiness
We believe how you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money.
True wealth comes from spending your time in a way that is aligned with what is most important to you. No amount of money will replace the moments you miss with your kids or loved ones.
Experiences > Stuff
You will talk about your unique adventures for years to come because of the joy they brought. The other “stuff” is just forgotten about.
We believe experiences outweigh the (mostly) unnecessary things you buy. Don’t let mindless spending slow you down.
Giving to Others
Giving can take many forms: your time, your resources, your support, etc.
We believe giving not only feels good but many of us are driven to give for reasons beyond our own financial benefit. We’ll help you set up a strategy so you can give to the organizations that are most important to you.
OUR LATEST BLOG
Should I Invest or Pay Down Debt? How to Choose …
Should you invest in the stock market or pay down debt? This is a question I get all too often and the answer is usually, it depends. Things to Consider Everyone has a different set of circumstances, however, there are some common topics to consider before you...
How to Start Investing: A Beginners Guide
You've mastered balancing your budget, established a strategy for paying off debts, and you've accumulated a sizeable emergency fund - it's time to think about investing. Investing in the stock market is a great way to grow wealth, but the process can seem...
Preparing for Tax Time as a Small Business Owner
March 15, 2021 is the deadline for small business owners that are filing an S Corp election or a partnership return. Here are some tips to make sure you’re prepared for tax time.
PROUD MEMBER OF
Access to a fee-only, fiduciary advisor
As a fee-only firm, we are not paid a commission for selling financial products. That means we are objective when it comes to providing recommendations for your particular situation.
This also allows us to provide the advice you wouldn’t typically receive from other financial advisors. Whether you need help just getting organized or you need someone to provide a stock option execution strategy, we're here to help.
Financial plan progress reports
We track several pieces of a financial plan that we measure on an ongoing basis and send you updates.
After we complete our initial strategy, we'll be checking in to provide an update on investments, retirement plan changes, or cash flow needs.
This also gives your advisor a 360° view of your financial situation to continuously measure your financial health and provide accurate and precise advice when those unexpected life events arise.
Quarterly net worth tracking
Along with a real-time net worth summary, which you can always view on your dashboard, we will deliver quarterly net worth progress reports to show a historical view of your progress. The report includes a detailed breakdown of your assets and debts so it’s clear which factors are contributing to growth (or decline).
Retirement plan optimization
A retirement plan is one of the most proactive ways to reduce and defer taxes. For business owners, this could mean designing a retirement plan that will help you maximize your savings or just a great way to increase employee loyalty.
It's important to get advice from someone who is not incentivized to sell you a retirement plan. In many cases, the timing and type of plan you establish will either accelerate your growth or hold you back. We will provide an independent voice of reason to help you understand all the options available in the marketplace—not just the ones available through a single provider.
As technology and service models change, the best-of-class retirement plans also change. We can work with your existing provider to enhance the investment selection and design of your existing plan, or we can recommend a more optimal solution with a new servicing partner that might be a better fit for your situation. The optimal design is often different depending on your business. Every year, we'll continually analyze your retirement plan to see if we can increase your tax deductions. This is important as your personal income reach new levels and higher tax brackets.
Coordination with your other professional contacts
Using a limited power of attorney, we will establish lines of communication with each of your professional contacts to request data and documents on a regular basis. In essence, we’ll be the quarterback of your service provider team and make sure your financial playbook includes the most up-to-date information from all the right sources.
This allows us to complete much of our analysis behind the scenes without disrupting your busy schedule.
Personal dashboard
You and your advisor will collaborate using real-time information. You’ll be able to view your account activity, assets, and debts in one place.
Instead of relying on assumptions, you and your advisor can make decisions much faster, using the most up to date information.
Insurance evaluation and recommendations
We don't sell insurance, however, we will point you in the right direction if we think you have too little (or too much) insurance coverage.
We’ll take a look at your life insurance, personal disability, business insurance, and personal liability. Each of these policies will be reviewed on an annual schedule so we can make adjustments as your spending and net worth change.
Debt payoff strategy
Debt can be a major stressor. Between student loans, mortgages, and other things life can throw at you, the pile of debt can seem insurmountable.
Not only are we well-versed in student loan repayment strategies, we will show you how debt factors into your overall financial strategy and how to find the right balance between paying it down and saving for the future.
An investment advisor on your side
According to Vanguard, using the right kind of advisor can add 3% in net returns each year. We wish it were as easy as buying cheap index funds and putting things on autopilot, however, we believe in a combination of behavioral coaching, asset location, and proper rebalancing to ensure growth is maximized and taxes are minimized. Read Vanguard's full report here.
We'll be cautious as we analyze the tax impact of any changes, and start to position your portfolio with cost-effective investments and a highly disciplined approach that captures value across countries, companies, currencies, and real estate. Your tax rate, liquidity, cash flow, personality profile, time frames, and risk tolerance will all be factored into your investment strategy. As markets go through ups and downs, we’ll be your voice of reason to help you navigate adjustments and stay consistent when it's difficult to do so.
Tax-advantaged charitable giving
Writing a check to your church or favorite charity is a great way to give, however, we can do an audit of your investment accounts to find specific lots of securities that have the most significant capital gains.
The significance in that is that we can then donate those shares to charities that accept in-kind contributions, and eliminate the capital gain taxes owed on those highly appreciated securities. If you are saving money on a regular basis, we can often make these donations with minimum impact to your portfolio diversification.
As with all tax matters, it's important for us to collaborate with your CPA to have a discussion if we are contemplating a large donation and explore any unknown variables specific to each tax year.