Financial Planning Hawaii

Financial Planning Hawaii treats a client's finances as a review, looking for errors, gaps and opportunities across the whole household picture rather than simply choosing investments.

Planning reviews across the whole household

The core of the service is a comprehensive planning review. The firm gathers each client's financial information and documents into a secure online platform, then works through them to find mistakes, gaps and possible improvements. It says it may identify twenty or thirty findings in a single review, and it presents that review as the thing clients value beyond investment management.

Retirement savings and spending stress tests

Retirement planning tests whether savings will last and whether a client would still be comfortable if returns are below average. The firm covers IRAs and small business retirement plans such as 401(k) and defined benefit plans, and it uses its own interactive software to model both retirement saving and retirement spending.

Asset registration and beneficiary designations

A review checks how assets are registered and who is named as beneficiary. The firm treats these checks as part of the core review, because they can determine where money ends up and they are an area where problems can be fixed in advance.

Education funding and 529 plan choices

Education planning covers how college costs will be funded, including the choice of strategy within a 529 plan. The firm lists whether a client is using the right 529 strategy among the questions a planning review should answer.

Tax and legal risks raised, not advised

Tax planning and optimization is part of the review, but the firm says no part of its review or findings should be read as specific tax or legal advice. Its role is to point clients toward possible tax and legal risks and opportunities, and clients are encouraged to take those points to their accountants or attorneys.

A seven-step process with ongoing monitoring

The firm follows the generally accepted seven-step financial planning process: learn the client's background, set goals, analyze the data, write a plan, present it, and then monitor over time. A one-time fee-only review covers the first five steps, and clients may engage the firm for monitoring under a separate agreement.

Client platform, planning software and articles

All asset-based clients receive access to an online platform that centralizes their financial information. Fee-only clients get access for an initial period, after which a subscription applies. Clients also keep permanent access to Password Guru, the firm's free password management software. Its sister company, Nest Egg Guru, makes client-facing software for advisors. Recent articles cover Hawaii's tenancy by the entirety laws for married couples, the limits of risk tolerance questionnaires, and concerns about the debasement of money.

The firm says its team includes certified financial planners, one of whom has more than twenty-five years of planning experience.

Financial Planning Hawaii is a fiduciary financial planning firm in Hawaii. It treats planning as more than picking investments, and describes its reviews as a hunt for mistakes, oversights and opportunities in a client's finances. It states more than thirty years of experience.

Products and services

• Comprehensive planning reviews: a broad look at a household's finances using documents held in a secure online platform.
• Tax planning: with awareness of tax risks and opportunities that clients can discuss with their own accountant.
• Retirement planning: retirement savings and spending stress tests, plus IRA and small business retirement plans.
• Asset and beneficiary reviews: checks on account registrations and beneficiary designations.
• Education planning: funding strategies including 529 plans.

Who it serves

Households and investors concerned about whether their savings will last. Staff include a Certified Financial Planner, and the firm publishes articles on planning topics.

Key facts

• Based in: Hawaii, USA
• Experience: over 30 years
• Process: follows the seven-step planning process, covering the first five steps in a review