Our comprehensive financial plan begins with an analysis of your current situation, and your life goals. We help you understand your alternatives and help you implement the ones that make the most sense for you. We also help monitor and update your plan as life, and the world, changes.

The cornerstone of a good plan is realistic budgeting and cash management. Smarter Bear can make projections and recommendations based upon your current spending patterns, priorities and goals. Providing you with the tools to monitor your progress and helping you make adjustments as needed are keys to success.

Your investments need to match your objectives as well as your timeline. We review your accounts and provide an assessment of whether your current investments and strategy are going to get the job done. We’ll help you better understand your tax advantaged accounts like 401ks and IRAs, and your savings, brokerage and mutual fund accounts.

Many clients have insurance products that may no longer be a good fit, if they ever were. We can help you understand your needs & exposures. We don’t sell insurance products and make no commission on them, unlike some planners, but it’s important to have the right coverages. We can help you understand what you have and alert you to gaps.

Tax considerations are present in all aspects of a Comprehensive Financial Plan. Smarter Bear can review past and current tax returns, and work with your tax preparer to ensure that you are taking advantage of all the options available to you. Tax laws and rates have changed recently, and can be expected to change again at the end of 2025. Financial Plans need to track these changes and adjust as needed.

Whether you are approaching retirement, or just starting to think about it, we can provide projections of retirement income requirements, and projections of existing and planned savings as well as Social Security and any pension or profit sharing plans that will impact your success. We can also help you optimize your retirement savings through things like Roth Conversions, annuity planning and strategies for Social Security and Medicare participation.

As veteran corporate executives, we have a unique understanding of the compensation and benefits plans most corporations offer. We can help you understand whether you are getting the most out of your plans, and whether there are gaps that you may want to consider filling through third-party plans.

We’ll help you consider your lifetime income needs and tax efficiency for retirement and beyond. Key strategies can provide better outcomes for you and your beneficiaries. Now is also the time to think about your key estate planning documents; Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney, and Advanced Healthcare Directives. We can work with your estate attorney to make sure these documents are in place and provide you with the protections you need to avoid or minimize probate costs, and delays.