Question 1

What makes you or your firm particularly qualified to serve Business Owners?

Accepted Answer

My experience as a business owner before getting into the financial industry laid the foundation for my expertise with business owners. In my early twenties,  I started the Marc Lowe Property Group, a Wholesale Real Estate company in Boston where I flipped homes through short sales for homeowners nearing foreclosure.

After realizing how much I hated showing up to people's homes who were nearing foreclosure I decided to exit the business and move to New York.

Upon moving to New York, I opened Vitalz Health Juice Bar & Grill, a Fast casual dining restaruant in Jackson Heights, Queens. Although, I loved the expereience showing up everyday and providing a healthy alternative in a neighborhood saturated in unhealthy restaruants, i decided to leave the 15 hours days that restaraunts require.

Feeling like I needed a change to an industry where I can use my background in Psychology and Economics, I decided to find a job on wall street.

My career in finance began as a member of a boutique RIA on Wall Street providing investment advice on individual securities. From there, I transitioned  to developing, implementing and monitoring financials plans at two of the largest Investment Advisory firms in the country. Previously to starting my private practice, I had won awards for being a top performer within those companies and I was managing 200 client households totaling over 160 million in assets under management.

I decided to quit the corporate world because I wanted to build a company that specializes on retirement planning for business owners. The many nuances in tax planning, estate planning and many other fields associated with business owners deserved an approach specifically designed for business owners.

By tailoring my services towards retirement planning for business owners, clients working with me have been able to have the unique experience of having a partner that helps them build value in their business & personal investments.

I am a Certified Financial Planning (CFP®) Professional and have a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from Northeastern University. I am a member of NAPFA, National Association of Personal Finance and XYPN, XY Planning Network.

Question 2

What does financial success mean to you?

Accepted Answer

Financial success to me means that you're living out the experiences you wish to live out without worrying about running out of money.

Question 3

Has there been a recent workday that was challenging but rewarding?

Accepted Answer

I recently met with someone who was funding his 401k as much as possible before he retires. He was doing this because it was saving him taxes this year by contributing to his 401k. What was being missed was how he was looking to retire early at age 50!

This meant that by putting all savings into his 401k, he was going to be hit with a 10% penalty on top of taxes by drawing from his 401k between ages 50 and 59 ½. After meeting with him, I was able to show him how to “Bridge the Gap” between age 50 and 59 ½ by looking at other investment account options like a taxable brokerage account first before funding a 401k. A simple change like that made an impact in increasing the duration of his investment portfolio.

Question 4

Are there any books that has had a positive influence on your personal or professional life?

Accepted Answer

"What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell. Highlighted the importance of seeing the world in others' eyes.
"The Wealthy Gardener" John Soforic. Helped me instill healthy attitudes towards work and money in my kids.
"Black Swan" by Nassim Taleb. Gave me many useful stories and mental exercises to think about  life.
“Die with Zero” by Bill Perkins. Broadened my conversations with clients who were affluent but fearful about spending their money in retirement.
"Principles" by Ray Dalio. Helped me write down what principles and values I have chosen to live my life by.

Question 5

What advice would you give a college student wanting to enter the industry?

Accepted Answer

Forget the 60-hour work week cold calling for business. Focus on educating people and developing long-term relationships with the people you are looking to serve.

Question 6

What has been your "aha-moment" during your financial services career?

Accepted Answer

My big aha-moment in my financial services career was being shocked by how limited the financial planning has been at large financial firms. Simple questions, like “Should I be doing Roth conversions” were given vague answers and lengthy processes of meeting with multiple internal teams who still would not answer the question.

Question 7

What is the biggest misconception about your job?

Accepted Answer

The biggest misconception is that as a financial planner, I am mostly pushing buttons on calculators and making spreadsheets. My job is more half therapist, half financial advisor.

Question 8

A stranger at a party asks what you do. How do you answer?

Accepted Answer

I am the Quarterback or CFO for my client's financial lives. Often a client has a team or is aspiring to have a team overlooking their finances. Whether its a CPA, Estate Attorney or Insurance broker, my job as the quarterback is to ensure everyone is on the same page and everything that we are doing in coherence to the financial plan I help set forth with the client so that they may live their best lives in retirement. This allows our clients to sit back & relax knowing they have us in their corner at all times ensuring all actions taken in their financial lives has the purpose of helping them meet their goals.

Question 9

How do you hope the industry will evolve, and how are you contributing towards that change?

Accepted Answer

I hope the industry will evolve towards lower costs to clients by integrating more technology. I believe A.I. will have a huge impact on driving down costs and making financial planning a more accessible option for most Americans.

Question 10

How would you describe your typical client?

Accepted Answer

Our clients are successful, hardworking professionals and small business owners in their 40s to 60s who are preparing for financial independence. Many are engineers, managers, or contractors at Electric Boat—or local business owners across Southeastern Connecticut—who have built solid careers but want help turning income and savings into a coordinated retirement strategy.

They value transparency, direct advice, and a structured process. Most prefer a fee-only fiduciary relationship—someone who acts in their best interest without commissions or product sales. They come to us for help simplifying complex finances, minimizing taxes, and aligning their money with their goals, values, and lifestyle vision.

Question 11

Are you a Fiduciary?

Accepted Answer

Yes! In the Money Retirement is a full-time fiduciary. We adhere to the definition of fiduciary under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, the fiduciary guidelines under the CFP Board, and being fee-only to meet the standards set by NAPFA, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors.
Beware, some advisors are held to a fiduciary standard only when offering advice and not when implementing the advice (selling you products). These are known as fee-based or dually-registered advisors. If you see “securities offered through…Member SIPC, FINRA” at the bottom of an advisor’s website, it means they get paid to sell you products.  This is very different from our fee-only business model.

Question 12

Talk about the importance of creating a financial plan prior to any investment advice.

Accepted Answer

Creating a Financial Plan before any investment advice is critically important. It is like planning a road trip from New York to California. You could just hop in the car and start driving west in your vehicle and you will eventually get there. Creating a Financial Plan is like installing a GPS in that care before you start driving. The GPS can tell you which roads to take to get there the fastest. If you get lost, the GPS can reroute you to your destination.

Question 13

What do you wish more people knew about the process of creating a financial plan?

Accepted Answer

The financial plan you create today is not going to be the same years down the road. As your life changes, your priorities change, your family changes or your goals change, your plan needs to evolve with it. It is for this reason, why I believe ongoing financial planning is the best way to ensure accountability & benchmarking against your peers.

Question 14

What do you think is the biggest mistake people make with their money?

Accepted Answer

The biggest mistake people make with their money is listening to mainstream media or google searches on how they should manage their money. I believe financial planning and investment management recommendations are incredibly personal endeavors that require in-depth knowledge about a person’s goals, cashflow needs and time horizon which cannot be attained through a google search or talking head on mainstream media.

Question 15

What steps do you take so that clients are assured that your fees are transparent?

Accepted Answer

Each quarter you get a billing sheet summary which shows you your total fees. If you are on a monthly subscription arrangement, you get that monthly.

Question 16

Will you break- down your fees?

Accepted Answer

For clients that hire me for investment management & financial planning: I charge an (AUM) Assets under management fee of  .75% - 1.25%. This annual fee is broken up into 4 quarterly payments. There is no upfront engagement cost. Clients with less than 500k of assets are billed 1.25% quarterly and after 500k there are fee reductions for assets above that level. Once a client is over 5 million, the AUM fee is .75% for all assets above that level.

For Financial Planning-Only clients: I bill a monthly subscription price ranging from $99-$1,000 based on the complexity of the plan.

Question 17

Can you provide details on the fees associated with the investment products that you recommend?

Accepted Answer

Definitely. We wouldn’t be doing our job if we do not.

Lower costs are preferable for a better investment experience. Even when something is advertised as being “no fee,” clients will incur a cost somewhere and somehow.

In general, clients pay commissions (if any) to buy or sell securities, and ongoing management fees for open end mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs). None of these commissions or fees go to In The Money Retirement Planning.

Securities and funds make up the bulk of the investment products that we recommend. There are other types of investment costs that we would be happy to discuss. They include the bid-ask spread, market impact, and others.

Question 18

What is your minimum relationship size?

Accepted Answer

There is no minimum asset size requirement to work with us.

Question 19

How are you compensated?

Accepted Answer

Our only source of compensation is what our clients pay us directly. We did this to minimize conflicts of interest.

We do not accept sales-related commissions or referral fees. There are two ways to calculate our compensation. It can be a percentage of assets under management or a fixed-dollar monthly subscription pricing arrangement depending on the service we provide clients.

Question 20

What financial services do you provide?

Accepted Answer

We offer Tax planning, Estate Planning, Insurance Planning and Investment Management. Additional services include, Debt Paydown Strategies, Social Security Optimization, Medicare Planning all geared to the overall goal of helping you live out your best life.

Question 21

How often do you review a client’s portfolio and recommend changes?

Accepted Answer

Quarterly and more. We send portfolio reports every quarter to keep you informed about your holdings. Technology lets us monitor your portfolio regularly.

Instead of a set schedule, we will rebalance portfolios and execute trades as needed. We may adjust portfolios to manage risk or to accommodate changes in your goals and circumstances.

Question 22

How do Business Owners benefit from your services?

Accepted Answer

Business Owners get the unique experience of partnering with me to treat their business as a client. We work to lower the overall taxes & identify ways to drive value in your business. Most advisors either ignore your business or just want to help lower taxes. I go a step further. Often, a business owner's net worth is tied up in the business. I look to drive value in your business to make it as attractive as possible to potential buyers if you are eventually looking to sell or increase your valuation in a systematic approach if you are looking to pass the business on to family members. From choosing helping you choose the  most appropriate business retirement solution, investing your plan in a customized portfolio and evaluating strategies to build value in your business, I provide a way to help in  many facets.

Question 23

How are you able to help General Dynamics Electric Boat Employees?

Accepted Answer

I have spoken with General Dynamics  Electric Boat employees who have recently retired who have expressed to me the most pressing issues they had. 
Half of them were either current or retired Navy personnel who needed help coordinating their military health insurance with their Medicare choice or health insurance choice at EB. Others had most their money in a 401k and needed help understanding if Roth Conversions make sense for them. Some had pensions and needed help determining whether it made sense to take the monthly payments or take the lump-sum payout and invest it to generate income.

Question 24

What does a typical year look like for a client working with you?

Accepted Answer

Once a client has onboarded with me we begin to address the highest priority financial planning items  by implementing solutions discussed in our first few meetings. At first, we are probably meeting once a month for a couple months. Once all the major financial planning concerns have been addressed we move to a monitoring phase detailed below:

Winter (Dec-Feb): 
Activity: Meeting Prep
Focus: We send out a personal Tax Letter Summary to the client or the CPA/Tax Preparer. This letter outlines all the Tax Planning Tasks we undertook that Tax Year. Whether its Roth Conversions, Tax Loss Harvesting or many other items, the client or their tax preparer will get a detailed letter summarizing everything that we did so they do not miss anything when filing their taxes.

Spring (Mar-May):
Activity: Client Meetings
Focus: During this meeting, we review and update retirement projections and review any financial planning areas that were high priority for the client. This could be things like Healthcare/Medicare changes, Social Security Optimization, General Cashflow Planning questions as well as many other topics. We then discuss any changes to their portfolio if they have hired us for investment management. For Advice-Only clients we review their overall asset allocation mix int heir outside investments including 401ks.

Summer (Jun-Aug)
Activity: Meeting Prep
Focus: We send out an email to each client to collect & review their tax returns. If a client is interested in having their tax return reviewed, we comb through their returns for opportunities to lower their tax exposure.

Fall (Sep-Nov)
Activity: Client Meetings
Focus: During this meeting, we run Tax projections and start to complete any Tax Planning Strategies. This could be Roth Conversions, Backdoor Roth Conversions, Business Retirement Account Funding and potentially many other areas. We then review either their Estate Plan or Insurance Coverage. In the Odd years (2025, 2027 etc.) we review a client's estate plan to ensure their beneficiaries are up to date and review their Living will or Trust to identify if there are any areas that may need updating. If a client does need updates tot their plan, we send out a letter either to client or their estate planning attorney. This ensures that when a client walks into a estate planning attorneys office, they have a letter outlining opportunities identified  in their estate plan, making those visits less costly. In the Even years (2026, 2028 etc.) we review a client's Insurance coverage including Life, Disability, Auto, Property & Umbrella. We then send the client or their insurance broker a deliverable outlining either coverage gaps or areas where they are over-covered.

Question 25

What does an initial meeting look like?

Accepted Answer

We start with a collaborative conversation to determine your goals and to see if we’re a good fit for each other.  From here, we will move along at a pace that’s comfortable for you. If you’d like our thoughts on your current portfolio, you can either send us recent statements before our meeting or bring them with you. We will show you how much your investments are costing you, how diversified they are, and how we would do things differently.

Frequently asked questions