Frequently Asked Questions

Our office is located in Mystic, CT. However, we have the ability to scan documents and conduct phone and internet meetings, allowing us to work with people across the country. If you are looking for an experienced financial advisor, and are comfortable building a relationship via phone and web, please reach out and start a conversation with us. More than half of our clients live outside of the immediate area.

No, we do not. Our first meeting is just a "Get to Know You" meeting, where we both have the chance to ask questions and determine if working together would be a good fit.

For Financial Planning clients, our fees generally range from $2,5000 to $4,500, depending on complexity of the case involved. Fees are always communicated in advance of our engagement, and are almost always fixed prices (the exception is for more complex cases where the time involved cannot be easily estimated). We also have a program to offer discounted financial planning fees to employees, retirees, and family members of General Dynamics.

For clients that wish to have us manage their investments, we have a simple fee structure that starts at 1.25% of the amount of assets managed, and scales down from there beginning at $500,000. Investment Management fees are deducted directly from the brokerage or IRA accounts that we manage. Unlike many of the Wall Street brokerage firms you may be familiar with, we do not layer in fees and expenses that are typical of the mutual funds that many brokerage firms utilize. We keep our client's expenses very low by utilizing individual stocks and low-cost index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETF's) from providers such as Vanguard. And we never receive commissions, "kickbacks", 12b-1 fees, revenue-sharing fees, or many of the other forms of "back door" payments that most brokerage firms receive for directing your investments to specific mutual fund companies.

Divorce Financial Planning is far more complex, and generally starts at $3,500. We can often cap the fixed cost, although there is no specific "cap" on the service in general, as divorce cases can become very complex and time intensive. But the fixed fee or hourly rate is always agreed to in advance, once we review your case and have a better idea of what will be involved.

We provide Investment Management, Retirement-Focused Financial Planning, and Divorce Financial Planning, each on a fee-only basis.

When you hire us for financial planning services you are not required to move your investments to us. As part of the financial planning process, we will evaluate and provide direction on your investments. At that point you have the opportunity to hire us to implement the investment portion of your plan. However, most clients ultimately choose to have us manage their investments. In this case, we do not charge a separate financial planning fee, but include initial and ongoing financial planning as part of the investment advisory fee we charge.

Yes. Many of our clients are in a comfortable financial position, and simply want us to manage their investments for them. However, at minimum, we will typically go through a "get to know you" process to make sure that the investments we recommend and the solution we implement for you is appropriate for your specific financial situation.

Absolutely. This is a significant part of what we do for clients. Our typical client has a blend of 401K and brokerage accounts (or 403B, 457, TSA's, IRA's, etc.). We will walk through the entire process of helping them consolidate accounts, generating and processing the necessary paperwork, and following up to make sure all assets have been properly transferred.

We provide Investment Advisory Services, Financial Planning, and Divorce Financial Planning, each on a fee-only basis. We do not receive commissions from any mutual fund companies for the investments we recommend, nor do we receive any commissions or "kickbacks" from the brokerage firms we use for our clients to open investment accounts. However, we ARE licensed to sell insurance and annuities, primarily to maintain our ongoing continuing education, and to assist and help service our client's existing insurance policies. Selling insurance and annuities is not part of our business.

It's important to understand that because we are fiduciaries by law, and are completely independent of any financial institutions, we have complete freedom to only recommend the best types of investments and insurance needs for each individual client. As such, we are not peddling high-cost mutual funds and unnecessary insurance and annuity products that are often laden with substantial agent commissions and high internal costs. And we aren't running contests or promotions to win trips or other prizes. We do what is in our client's best interests. Always.

In fact, most of the investments we utilize are individual stocks, low-cost index funds and ETF's (exchange traded funds), institutional share-class mutual funds, and when necessary, very simple annuity and insurance products such as fixed annuities and low-cost term life insurance (which we will refer out to insurance agents we trust).

Lansdowne Wealth Management, LLC is a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) in the State of CT. This simply indicates the legal structure of the firm and how we are required to operate. As such, we can only charge fees for the investments that we manage on behalf of clients, and may not charge or receive commissions for investments (nor any brokerage firm or mutual fund "kickbacks" which are common in brokerage firms).

In addition, RIA firms are required by the SEC to operate on a Fiduciary basis with clients for ALL accounts, at ALL times. This explicitly means that we are required to put the interests of our clients AHEAD of our own interests. Many of the Wall Street brokers that you are familiar with operate as Registered Representatives (selling agents) of their firms. They are only required to recommend investments and insurance products that are considered "suitable" for investors.

Specifically, our firm is one of the few in Southeast CT that offers pure fee-for-service financial planning in Mystic, CT for clients. Many brokers will claim to provide "free" financial planning, but nothing is free. They are only offering very limited "planning" services under the expectation that they will earn commissions when they sell you securities,  annuities, or insurance products. Typically, the result of their "plans" is a recommendation for the products they sell. At our firm, our clients may opt for either investment management (for a fee), or financial planning (for a fee), or both.

What you WON'T find with us, is fancy offices and an expensive brand name. We don't earn company-paid vacations or attend complimentary "due-diligence" trips, paid for by mutual fund and insurance companies. There's no monthly quotas, and we don't attend training sessions teaching us how to "maximize" our selling commissions. This only adds layers of costs to what you pay, and monthly quotas that are driving their recommendations. What you WILL find is honesty and integrity in all of our dealings with you.

Retirees and pre-retirees: Typically individuals and couples that are in their early 50's to early 70's, either already retired or looking to make sure they are well-positioned for retirement.

Pfizer Employees, Retirees, and their Families

General Dynamics Employees, Retirees, and their Families: See our General Dynamics page for more information

Women in Transition: Women going through divorce or the death of a loved one. We have the education and experience in dealing with these situations.