Our process

What you can expect.

Three meetings to get started, and an ongoing relationship from there. Here is what each one covers.

Two hikers walking a ridge trail above layered mountains

How it works

Three meetings to get started, then an ongoing relationship

It starts with a free 30-minute video call to see whether we are a fit. If we are not, we will say so and point you somewhere better. From there, three meetings to get started, and nothing is billed until you sign the agreement in step three.

  1. 90 minutes · complimentary

    Discovery

    A video call spent on you: what you want your money to do, the people who matter, and the accounts, income, taxes and debts as they actually stand today. You do not need to have anything figured out beforehand.

  2. About 90 minutes

    Strategy

    What we found and what we recommend, with the reasoning as it applies to you: investments and retirement income together, the tax, estate and insurance decisions in front of you, and what to do first and what can wait.

  3. Agreement and onboarding

    Mutual commitment

    Only once we both decide to go ahead: the advisory agreement, the services and the fee, account opening and transfers, access to your plan, and the first priorities. We take you through the paperwork rather than emailing it.

  4. Quarterly, and in between

    Ongoing planning

    The tax projection, the insurance review and the beneficiary check happen on a schedule rather than on recall, and with your permission we bring your accountant or attorney into the conversation. You never have to wait for the next review.

Watch the narrated portal tour0:40
Client portal walkthroughNarrated · 0:40
Synthetic voice
Client portal walkthrough, narrated with a synthetic voice, using a hypothetical household in the Valerio Wealth Management portal. Illustrative projections, not guarantees. Your own results would differ.

After the Strategy meeting

Every recommendation, on a roadmap

Every recommendation from the Strategy meeting gets a place and a time: what we do in the first 90 days, what we finish in the first year, and what we come back to every quarter and every year. We go through it together at each progress meeting, so you always know what is done, what is under way and what comes next.

Example householdPlanning roadmapMarried, 52 and 49, one spouse owns an S corporation. Built in the Strategy meeting, reviewed every quarter.

First 90 days

  • Completed. Consolidate accounts. Everything under one custodian, moved in kind so nothing is sold by accident.
    • Completed. Old 401(k)s checked for employer stock (NUA) and age-55 access before any rollover
  • Completed. Tax projection first. This year’s return projected before a single position is sold.
  • In progress. Portfolio transition. Into the allocation agreed in the Strategy meeting.
    • Completed. Bond share sized to years of spending, not to your age
    • In progress. Losses harvested first, gains spread across tax years
    • Not started. Bonds in the IRA, stocks in the Roth
  • Completed. Cash put to work. Idle cash moved to a Treasury money market fund, with the emergency reserve sized to you.
  • Completed. Beneficiary audit. Primary and contingent beneficiaries on every account checked against your wishes.

First year

  • In progress. Business owner tax plan. Entity, salary and retirement plan set together.
    • Completed. S corporation salary benchmarked and documented as reasonable
    • In progress. Salary tuned for the QBI deduction (§199A), not just payroll tax
    • Not started. Solo 401(k) and cash balance plan modeled side by side
  • Not started. Insurance needs analysis. What your family would need against what you own, from someone who sells none of it.
    • Not started. Life insurance need built from income, debts and goals
    • Not started. Disability coverage and existing policies reviewed
  • Not started. Property and casualty review. Home, auto, flood and umbrella limits read against your net worth and hurricane deductible.
  • In progress. Estate plan. Wills, trust and powers of attorney updated with your estate attorney, then accounts retitled so the trust is funded.
  • Not started. Roth conversion plan. A multi-year schedule that fills the low brackets before Social Security and RMDs.

Every quarter

  • Recurring. Rebalancing check. Trades when an account drifts past its bands.
  • Recurring. Tax-loss harvesting. Losses captured on the way down, with wash sales watched household-wide.
  • Recurring. Estimated taxes. Checked against the projection and the safe harbor, to head off an April surprise.
  • Recurring. Cash flow. Spending and saving against the plan, and the next dollar pointed at the right account.
  • Recurring. Plan update. The retirement projection rerun with real balances.

Every year

  • Recurring. Year-end tax plan. Conversions, gain harvesting and gifts set before December 31, coordinated with your tax preparer.
  • Recurring. Charitable giving. Appreciated shares or a donor-advised fund, whichever does more for the gift.
  • Recurring. Contributions maxed. 401(k), HSA and the business plan funded to the limits, in the right order.
  • Recurring. Insurance renewals. Home, flood and umbrella coverage rechecked before hurricane season.
  • Recurring. Beneficiaries and documents. Checked against any change in the family.
An illustration for a hypothetical household, not a recommendation for you. Yours comes out of your own Strategy meeting and changes as your life does. All of it is covered by the one advisory fee.