What we will not claim
No returns, no track record, and no claim to beat the market
Why a practice that writes plans has no investment results to show, and what it shows instead.
AI-generated illustration. Not a real home or business.
What you will see advertised
“Our clients' portfolios have beaten the market year after year.”
Quoted in order to be refused: this practice never says it, and the rest of this page says why.
An adviser's advertisement may not say anything untrue or that it cannot substantiate, and performance comes with detailed rules of its own. A practice that writes plans and manages no money has no results to show. So there is no return, no chart and no comparison with any market on this site.
What the rules say
Each read against its source in October 2026.
- An adviser's advertisement may not include an untrue statement, a statement it cannot substantiate, a misleading implication, or benefits without fair and balanced treatment of the risks (17 CFR 275.206(4)-1).
- An adviser that advertises performance shows net results with gross results, over one-, five- and ten-year periods, and may not imply that the SEC has approved them (17 CFR 275.206(4)-1(d)).
- False advertising in the conduct of any business is unlawful in New York (GBL § 350).
The sources, to read in full:
What we say instead
This site shows no returns, no performance figures and no track record. A planning practice that writes plans has no portfolio results to show, and an adviser that does show performance must follow detailed rules about how it is presented.
We will not tell you what the market will do, this year or any year. Nobody knows, and a plan is written so that it does not depend on anybody guessing right.
- We do not show returns, a track record or a comparison with any market.
Why planners' websites say it, and why it doesn't hold
A figure with a plus sign in front of it is the most persuasive thing an adviser's page can print. It answers the question everybody brings, which is whether the money will do well, and it does so in one line nobody has to read twice.
The first rule above asks that nothing in an adviser's advertisement be untrue or impossible to back up, and the second sets out how any figure for past results must be shown when an adviser does print one. Even shown that way, a figure leaves out much of what a reader needs: whose money it was, and which accounts were left out of the count. And a practice that writes plans and holds nobody's money has no results of its own at all, so any figure here would have been made up, and a made-up figure looks exactly like a real one.
What a planning practice can honestly say, and do
What a site can honestly show is what a plan is made of, which is decisions and the order to take them in, not a figure about markets:
A written plan is a short document in plain words: what you told us matters most, what you have and owe, the decisions in front of you in the order they should be made, and who makes each one: you, your employer's benefits office, your CPA or your attorney. Every assumption it makes is written down and labeled as one.
And it can say plainly that the money stays where it is, so there is nothing of a client's for the practice to report a figure on:
There is nothing to sell here: no insurance, no annuity, no fund, no account. The practice never holds, moves or manages your money; you act on a plan in your own accounts, wherever they already are.
What to ask any planner
Put them to any planner before you sign anything. A plain answer tells you something, and so does a vague one.
- Whose money do your figures come from, and over which years?
- Are the figures before or after your fees?
- Did any client's actual account earn what you show?
- What would you have me do if the market fell next year?
- How are you paid if I invest the way you suggest?
The other things this site will not claim
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.