Yes, and as a fiduciary financial planner we are legally and ethically obligated to act in the clients’ best interest. This means we must prioritize the clients’ needs above our own and disclose any potential conflicts of interest. If a financial professional is not held to this standard of care, they may only need to recommend suitable investments or products, not necessarily the best ones.

Generally, I am available to meet via Zoom or have a phone call up until 3:00pm Eastern Time (12:00pm Pacific Time) Monday - Friday and occasional weekends.

We have an internal fee calculator that includes all topic areas we could cover. We have helped hundreds of individuals, giving us a good sense of the expected number of minutes per topic.

Find Your Path is $2,500-$3,000 or approx. 10-12 hours; generally, an individual or couple who is just starting out in their career and only needs help in 2-3 areas - cash flow/goals, employer benefits, and investments - as an example.

Comprehensive Financial Planning is $4,200 - $6,500 or approx. 17-26 hours; generally, an individual, couple or young family who is more established in their career and needs help with most of the topic areas listed on our Services page. The topic areas that will add significantly more hours could include, stock option planning, deferred compensation planning, small business planning, and moving abroad planning.

Outside of Comprehensive Financial Planning and Find Your Path, it may be most economical to hire Cairn FP for project-based services. This is likely only appropriate in a limited set of circumstances, and we would be happy to discuss.

While Cairn Financial Planning does not manage any client money, it is important that we share our investment philosophy as we do educate clients on investments and help them make investment selections. We believe in holding a diversified portfolio of low-cost, tax-efficient index funds and we will never recommend you buy an individual stock.

Not necessarily. It depends on your investment philosophy and the level of investment management service you want. Once we talk and better understand your needs, we can always refer you to someone who is a better fit.

Those focused on stock picking and trying to out smart the markets. The financial plan is only as good as the assumptions we give it. If you aren’t investing similarly to our investment philosophy, it is going to be hard to confidently build a financial plan.

Additionally, we work collaboratively with clients. If you are looking for someone to do 100% of the work for you, a high-service firm will be better suited to your needs.

• Review your spending, so you have a good understanding of what’s leftover each month.

• Link financial accounts and/or securely share recent statements and other financial documents.

• Place your own investment trades. If this makes you nervous, don’t be! You can share your screen and we’ll walk you through it.

• Be open and curious! There are no dumb questions and we’re here to learn.

Yes. All engagements can be canceled at any time. Any earned fees will be prorated up to the date of termination.

Keeping your data safe and secure is our top priority. We avoid sending sensitive information in emails and encourage clients to do the same. We use an online portal to transmit and receive sensitive information and documents that is more secure than email.

Our services are based entirely on web-based software applications. We use multi-factor authentication and select app-based over SMS-based where available. All systems are accessed using strong, generated passwords.