A written plan, $2,400 or $3,600
Retirement planning
Every source of income you will have, in the order you can draw on it, and the decisions in front of you, written down in plain words.
With your CPA, agent and attorney
Insurance: where it sits in your plan, and who answers for a policy
Who depends on your income and what would happen if you could not work, written down as questions for a licensed professional.
AI-generated illustration. Not a real home or business.
Where insurance sits in a plan
In New York, being paid to review or advise on an insurance policy, annuity or pension contract requires a license from the Department of Financial Services. A real planning practice either holds an insurance consultant license or leaves that review to someone who does. This demonstration practice holds no license, sells no insurance and reviews no policies.
A plan looks at insurance from the household's side, not from the policy's. It asks what the household would need if something went wrong, and writes down the questions for a licensee to answer about a particular policy.
- No policy reviewed or sold.
- The questions, for a licensee.
The planning questions
A plan records the coverage you tell us you have and asks the planning questions: who depends on your income, and what would happen if you could not work. Those questions go to your agent, your broker or a licensed insurance consultant, who can answer them about a particular policy.
Who depends on your income?
Children, a partner, parents here or abroad, a relative who lives with you: the plan lists each of them, and for how long each would need support.
If one earner could not work for months, what would the household live on?
The plan puts the household's reserve beside the household's fixed costs, and writes down what would still need covering.
If one earner died, what would the others need?
The rent or the mortgage, the children's years at home, the money sent abroad: written as needs, in the household's own words.
What coverage comes with your job, and does it end when the job does?
That question goes to the employer's benefits office, which knows the answer for its own plan.
Which policies does the household have already, and who bought them?
Including a policy a relative bought for you. The plan records each one as you describe it; whether it suits you is the licensee's question, not the plan's.
Who answers for a policy
Your agent, your broker or another licensee of your choosing can answer those questions about a particular policy, and the plan hands them over in writing. Nobody here tells you to keep a policy, change it or end it, and nobody here sells one.
If you ask, the practice gives you more than one name for an attorney, an accountant or an insurance professional, and takes nothing from any of them. You choose, and you may already have your own.
Fee-only means the practice is paid only by the people it works for: no commissions, no ongoing payments from fund companies or insurers, and no referral fees from any attorney, accountant or insurance professional it names. It does not mean conflict-free.
- N.Y. Insurance Law § 2102(b)(3) (opens the source in a new tab) Unless licensed as an insurance agent, broker or consultant, no one may be paid for examining, reviewing or evaluating any insurance policy, annuity or pension contract, plan or program, or give advice about one.
- N.Y. Insurance Law § 2102(b)(1) (opens the source in a new tab) No one who is not licensed may hold themselves out as an insurance advisor, insurance consultant or insurance counselor.
A pension's options sit on the same line
A pension's options are chosen on the pension plan's own forms, and in New York being paid to advise on which option suits a household may need an insurance license. A plan here lists the questions to ask the pension plan and how each answer would change the rest of the plan.
So the plan sets out what each answer from the pension plan would change in the rest of the plan, and stops there. The choice, and the advice on it, belong elsewhere.
What it costs
The questions on this page are part of every written plan, at the plan's published fee; there is nothing to buy on top of it.
| What it is | What it covers | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Written plan | One household, up to two goals, two meetings and the written plan, with sixty days of questions by e-mail. | $2,400 |
| Detailed written plan | A household with a business, two retirement systems, a home purchase or family abroad: two meetings and the written plan, with sixty days of questions by e-mail. | $3,600 |
A written plan is billed in two halves: $1,200 (or $1,800 for a detailed plan) when you sign the written agreement, and the same again when the plan is delivered, which is within ten weeks of the agreement. No fee is billed more than three months ahead.
Related planning
A written plan, $2,400 or $3,600
Cash flow and saving
Where the month's money goes, how large a reserve to keep, and which debt to pay down first, in a plan you can follow.
Part of every written plan
Estate coordination with your attorney
A list of what you own and how each part would pass, and the questions for the attorney who drafts the documents.
Ask for a first meeting
A first meeting costs nothing, gives no advice and asks nothing of you afterwards: about forty-five minutes, at the office or by video. The office replies in office hours.