FAQ

It answers the, “What next?” in your life. Our guiding principle is plan first, invest second, and financial planning should be a continual process as you travel through life. As fiduciary professionals, we review your financial picture, then create strategies around budgeting, tax considerations, retirement, insurance, and estate planning, all tailored to your evolving journey and goals.

Retirement planning is one of our core services. We give you an understanding of your retirement income needs, optimize contributions to tax-advantaged accounts (401(k), IRA, Roth IRA), develop a drawdown strategy, and plan for healthcare costs and Social Security timing.

We recommend reviewing your plan at least annually, and whenever a major life event occurs, such as a job change, marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or a significant inheritance. Markets and tax laws also change, which can warrant adjustments even when your life stays constant.

It first starts with our Investment Committee, made up of our advisors, informed by the top investment managers around the world. We take a goals-based, evidence-driven approach. Rather than chasing returns, as fiduciaries, we focus on building diversified portfolios to align with your risk tolerance, time horizon, and financial plan.

We believe in long-term, disciplined investing rooted in research, not guesswork. Most portfolios are constructed of a curated number of high-quality, low-cost investments, broadly diversified across not only geographies and asset classes but also investment managers.

We construct your investment portfolio based on your financial plan, cash flow needs and risk tolerance. During periods of volatility, we also look for opportunities to optimize contributions, rebalancing and tax-loss harvesting. Our plan first, invest second approach helps you avoid emotional decisions which could derail long-term outcomes.

Yes, we have ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) portfolios. You can learn more about reflecting your values through ESG investing from Kate Moss’s blog. 

Yes, tax planning is integrated into everything we do throughout the year. We use a well-tested, sophisticated, and intuitive software to analyze your tax return to project future tax situations according to your needs. We also work alongside your CPA or tax preparer (or we can refer you to one) to help minimize your tax burden across your investments, income, and estate.

When appropriate, we add a low-cost monitoring option to accounts to identify harvesting opportunities on a daily basis, which is especially valuable during periods of market volatility.

Roth Conversions can be advantageous for your heirs, reducing future RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions), cost of Medicare, and future taxation. We analyze your tax return to identify whether a Roth Conversion fits your financial journey.

We help you understand your options and build a drawdown strategy that minimizes unnecessary tax exposure. Inherited accounts have specific tax rules that can significantly affect how and when you need to withdraw the funds.

The short answer is yes, but in many cases, it doesn’t have to be complicated. We’re here to help you protect what matters, especially if you have dependents, a business, or specific wishes for your assets.

Beneficiaries are listed on retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and transfer-on-death accounts and they supersede your Will. We continually review your designations as part of our plan first philosophy.

We look for ways to help you understand your exposure and plan accordingly by working with your attorney and CPA.

Insurance isn’t about predicting disasters, it’s about peace of mind. We’ve all heard stories from friends and family about a tragic situation that disrupted their financial plan. We can represent you in the marketplace to find the most effective policy to reduce the financial impact of unexpected life events.

As fiduciaries, our concern is your, “What if?” worries. We can guide you through the planning process to make sure your customized coverage matches your needs and compliments other protection you may have.

Yes, we are. We are legally and ethically required to always act in your best interest; a responsibility we take very seriously. Scott Danek and Kate Moss serve in a fiduciary capacity as CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals and Investment Advisor Representatives (IAR). Adam Baczkiewicz is a fee-only Investment Advisor Representative (IAR).

Please visit FINRA’s BrokerCheck website brokercheck.finra.org or the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website adviserinfo.sec.gov. These list our licensing, registration, and if we were to have any disciplinary history.

Yes, we believe in providing fiduciary advice and financial coaching rather than commission sales. We'll provide a fee schedule before you engage with us, in a transparent manner with no surprises.

EWM cannot have direct custody of your funds. We use Charles Schwab and Fidelity to custody your accounts. They are both independent, SIPC-insured custodians. Please see the SIPC website for more information.

Your initial discovery meeting is at no cost or obligation. We'll learn about your financial situation, goals, and concerns, while sharing with you our experience and capabilities. Call our office today at 517-324-1266 or email info@EQ-Wealth.com to take the important first step toward your equanimity as we help you ...find yours™.

We enjoy working with you at all stages of your financial journey. Whether you're just starting to build wealth or managing a complex estate, we can help you.

Yes, we can work with you on a project, on an hourly basis. Once you become an investment advisory client, we waive all planning fees.