A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ is someone who helps you decide how to get the most out of your wealth—and then create a comprehensive plan to make it happen. CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals are fiduciaries, which means they are required by law to act in their clients’ best interests in every situation.

A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ must meet the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Board’s qualifications, complete a Board-registered education program, and pass the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ exam. In addition, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional must have three years of full-time relevant financial planning experience or two years of apprenticeship experience within ten years preceding the exam or five years after. CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals also must pass a background check and abide by the Board’s standards of ethics, as well as attend an ethics course every two years as part of their continuing education.

At Toujours Planning, you’ll benefit from the knowledge and attention of not one CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional but two: we offer double the expertise from Dustin & Danielle, a brother-sister duo.

Great question. Simply put, “financial advisor” is a loose term that can mean a variety of things. In our industry, it typically means they only manage your investments, while financial planner implies that more aspects of your financial picture are taken into consideration besides just your investments. A financial planner may take a more holistic approach and consider your entire financial picture. For example, they may offer investment planning, retirement planning, insurance planning, estate planning, and tax planning. CFP® professionals are financial planners with all the certified credentials we just discussed above.

CFP® professionals offer comprehensive financial planning, but here at Toujours Planning, we go even deeper. We focus on life planning with our unique Dream. Design. Do. framework so you can easily work through the process and monitor your progress!

You can learn more about our Dream. Design. Do. process here.

No. You will need to look for the CFP® credentials in order to work with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™. See the first FAQ question above to learn more about the requirements and qualifications needed to become a CFP®.

There are no restrictions on who can call themselves a “financial planner,” a “financial advisor,” or any other title that uses “financial” or “wealth” or any other grouping of words associated with helping you with your finances, which is why you should look for the official mark of a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™.

When working with any type of financial advisor, we recommend you do a quick search on BrokerCheck, a free tool to research the background and experience of financial brokers, advisers and firms, to see if any complaints have been filed against the person you are considering working with.

CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals support their clients in creating and moving toward financial goals, as well as help their clients manage and invest money. A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ will also meet with their clients to ensure their financial goals and plans are still on track.

Whether you need help managing debt, monitoring income and expenses of your household, or saving up to make a big purchase, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ is going to be in your corner. Most of all, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals will be able to advise you in long-term planning and investments that help ensure security for yourself and your loved ones.

At Toujours Planning, our clients also have access to a supportive team that makes sure you feel confident and in control of your wealth — no matter where you are. With the help of our CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, you’ll finally have the resources and support you need to make educated decisions for your future. You’ll also feel more capable and stable with the financial well-being you’ve created for yourself.

Our team works alongside you (whether in person or online) to design and implement a Life Plan that helps you build wealth and a life you love.

We can say, At Toujours Planning, we work two ways: on a subscription basis or on an investment management basis. If you are a subscription services client, you pay a low monthly fee and 1% in investment fees should you choose to invest with us. If you are an investment management client (with over $350,000 in investable assets with us), you pay only the 1% fee.

These two options give us a chance to serve you, no matter where you are in your financial journey. And the 1% fee gives us an extra incentive to keep our clients’ accounts growing. It also builds trust. With fee-based advising, there are also no hidden fees. If we need to make an investment change, there won’t be an additional transactional fee.

At Toujours Planning, both our offers are driven by our desire to help our clients move further in line with their goals — not further from them. We believe the real value of a financial life planner is not in just managing your investments. It’s in understanding your goals and helping you form a complete plan that incorporates everything that impacts your financial life.

We use fee-based advising, which means we charge either a flat rate of 1% on your assets under management with us or an upfront fee with an ongoing monthly subscription rate…and sometimes both depending on your situation.

There are two other situations where you would see an additional fee:

Our broker dealer, LPL Financial, charges a $40 annual fee for any retirement accounts.

Both Dustin and Danielle are licensed insurance providers. Depending on your situation, we are able to recommend and sell you life insurance, long-term care insurance and variable annuities (a life insurance product.) When we procure these “products” for you, there will be a separate fee from the ongoing 1% fee on assets under management and/or subscription fee. We will always notify you of the extra fees before and during the engagement and procurement process.

It is worth mentioning again here that as CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals, we act as a fiduciary, meaning we are obligated to put our clients’ interests first by law. TL;DR: We only recommend insurance products that are in your best interest.

When starting a cross country road trip, do you plug in your destination address as you begin or do you wait until you’re lost?

If you’re someone who likes to know where you’re going from the get go, then you need financial planning as soon as you’re ready to chart your course and start working towards your big goals.

If you’re ready to see if we’d be a good fit, let’s chat! Please take a few minutes to answer some questions for us so that we can make the most of our time on the Discovery call. Once you hit submit, you’ll be redirected to snag a call on our calendar to speak with a member of our team about how we can help you start building wealth and financial security.

If you’re interested, but not sure what you even need or where to start…or maybe you just have a financial question…hop on a quick Icebreaker call with Danielle. After this 15-minute call, she’ll be able to point you in the right direction for your next step, even if that means we need to revisit your situation in a year before we get started on working together.

Tired of DIY’ing it? Not sure if the endless online financial advice suits your specific situation or needs? Want a little more assurance that you’re headed in the right direction? If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, then it may be time for us to talk. We offer several service options that meet you where you’re at, whether you feel completely behind, broke and lost or are even feeling confident and ready to take your finances to the next level.

Think financial advisors are only for the wealthy and retired? Think again. It’s actually the younger generations that needs it most. The pace and frequency of life transitions–like changing careers, home purchasing, family planning and building resilience against emergencies–impacts your financial situation more than any other time in your life and creates a set of complex needs that calls for ongoing financial planning.

Having a financial planner means having your own personal financial coach giving you customized advice that is derived straight from your financial plan whose destination is your very own unique life goals. IF THIS SOUNDS LIKE A DREAM, THEN WE SHOULD PROBABLY TALK.

It’s easy to put off something when you feel less confident or anxious, but with investing, time really is money.

Free financial & investing advice is everywhere, but not every Finance Tok is a winner. Building confidence around money may take some time, but with the right guidance, it doesn’t have to feel so daunting. Working with a professional now will help you take action, step by step, in the right direction for the future.

A savings account is just one small part of your overall financial plan, and yes, you can open a savings account at your bank…in fact, we recommend it. But we also recommend that you don’t have too much cash sitting in a savings account and that you’re making your money work for you through a suitable investment strategy. On top of that, investment planning is just one aspect of financial planning. We’ll also help you figure out how to save for your children’s education, maximize your tax savings through your investments, navigate big purchases like a home or vehicle, make sure you have the right amount of insurance and estate planning and hold your hand through your ongoing life events, tumultuous markets, and big life goals. Hiring us means you’ll have a professional guiding you through every step of your financial journey, helping you to make the right decisions.