At a glance
- Paid only by clients, through one published fee. No commissions and no insurance or annuity sales.
- A fiduciary standard on every recommendation, not only the investment ones.
- One advisor, a CFP® professional and Enrolled Agent, makes the tax decision and the investment decision together.
- Tax planning, not tax preparation: the firm does not prepare or file returns or represent clients before the IRS.
- No asset minimum and no minimum annual fee.
What fee-only means here
Fee-only describes where the money comes from, and it is a narrower claim than it sounds. Valerio Wealth Management is paid by its clients and by nobody else. There is one advisory fee, it is published, and it is the firm’s only source of revenue.
That rules some things out by design. The firm takes no commissions. It sells no insurance and no annuities. It is not paid by fund companies or custodians, and it does not accept payment for sending you anywhere else.
The phrase many firms use instead is fee-based, which means they charge a fee and can also earn commissions. If you are comparing advisors in Miami, that one word is the difference worth asking about, and the answer is in Item 5 and Item 14 of a firm’s Form ADV Part 2A rather than on its homepage. There is more on the distinction in what a fee-only fiduciary is.
What fiduciary means in practice
A fiduciary owes you a duty of loyalty and care. In plain terms, the recommendation has to be the one that is right for you rather than the one that is right for the advisor. At Valerio Wealth Management that standard applies to every conversation, not only to the ones about investments.
You do not have to take any advisor’s word for it. Form ADV Part 2A describes how a firm is paid and what conflicts it has. Form ADV Part 1 reports its disciplinary history. Both are public on the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site, and the advisory agreement says what the firm is obliged to do. Read all three before you hire anyone.
One advisor for tax and investments
Joseph Valerio holds the CFP® certification and is an Enrolled Agent, a federal tax credential issued by the IRS. Most households end up with the planning on one side of a wall and the tax work on the other, and the decisions that matter most sit exactly on the wall: how large a Roth conversion to do, which account a withdrawal comes from, when to realize a gain, what to do in the year a house sells or a grant vests.
Here there is no handoff. The person modeling the portfolio is the person who understands what the tax return will do in response, so the two decisions get made together instead of in sequence by two people who have never spoken.
One limit, stated plainly because it matters. Valerio Wealth Management provides tax planning. It does not prepare or file tax returns and it does not represent clients before the IRS. If a CPA or an Enrolled Agent prepares your return today, that relationship stays where it is, and the planning work is built to give that person a cleaner year to report.
What you pay
One asset-based fee, charged as a percentage of what the firm manages for you:
- 0.90% on assets from $0 to $2,000,000
- 0.75% on assets from $2,000,000 to $5,000,000
- 0.50% on assets from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000
- 0.25% on assets above $10,000,000
It is billed quarterly in advance, based on the account value on the last day of the previous quarter. There is no asset minimum and no minimum annual fee. The pricing page has the full schedule and a calculator.
What the fee covers
Nine areas, handled by one advisor:
- Investment management
- Tax planning
- Estate planning
- Retirement income planning
- Risk and insurance review
- Equity compensation and benefits
- Budgeting and cash flow
- Student loan planning
- Business owner planning
The insurance work is a review of what you already have and whether it is doing its job. There are no policies to sell and no commission to earn from the answer.
How working together starts
Three meetings to get started, then an ongoing relationship:
- Discovery. Complimentary, about 90 minutes by video. What you want your money to do, and the accounts, income, taxes and debts as they actually stand today.
- Strategy. About 90 minutes. What we found and what we recommend, with the reasoning as it applies to you, and what to do first.
- Mutual commitment. Only once we both decide to go ahead: the advisory agreement, account opening and transfers, and the first priorities.
- Ongoing planning. Quarterly, and in between. The tax projection, the insurance review and the beneficiary check happen on a schedule rather than on recall.
The process page walks through each step.
Meetings by video
The firm is based in Miami and works with households across Miami-Dade and Broward. Meetings happen by video, and that is not a lesser version of the service. Sharing a screen is how the planning software gets used properly, and it means a meeting does not have to wait for two calendars and the traffic on US 1 to agree.
Documents you send come in through an encrypted client vault rather than as email attachments.
Common questions
Is a fee-only advisor the same thing as a fiduciary?
They are two different claims, and a firm can make one without the other. Fee-only is about compensation: the firm is paid only by its clients. Fiduciary is about the legal standard owed to you. Investment advisers owe a fiduciary duty whether or not they are fee-only, and plenty of fee-based firms that also earn commissions are advisers. Asking both questions separately is the point.
Is there an asset minimum?
No, and there is no minimum annual fee either. The fee schedule starts at the first dollar.
Do you prepare tax returns?
No. Valerio Wealth Management provides tax planning. It does not prepare or file tax returns or represent clients before the IRS. The planning side is where the decisions get made, and it works alongside whoever prepares your return.
Do you sell insurance or annuities?
No. The firm reviews the coverage you already hold and tells you what it thinks, and it earns nothing either way because it has nothing to sell.
How is the fee charged?
Quarterly, in advance, calculated on the value of the accounts under management on the last day of the previous quarter.
What should I ask any Miami advisor before hiring them?
Four questions, and the answers should come without hedging. Are you paid only by me, and if not, how else are you paid? Are you a fiduciary at all times, and will you put that in writing? What does your Form ADV Part 2A say in Item 5 and Item 14? And who actually does the work, you or someone I have not met?
Joseph G. Valerio, CFP®, EAFounder and Lead Advisor at Valerio Wealth Management, a fee-only, fiduciary wealth management firm in Miami, Florida. One advisor, credentialed in both financial planning and federal tax. About Joseph
This page describes Valerio Wealth Management’s services in general terms. It is not individualized advice, and it is not tax, legal, or accounting advice. Valerio Wealth Management does not prepare or file tax returns.
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