We understand that a lot is riding on your investments: retirement, children’s or grandchildren’s education, your financial legacy. Your portfolio and financial plan should get the attention they deserve. You can save time and have the comfort of knowing that our team of professionals is managing your investments.
Our process Philosophy What we invest in Tax-aware investing Fee-only & fiduciary Questions
Your portfolio should be an instrument of your plan. Every portfolio we manage follows the same five steps:
1
Start with your plan.
Your goals, time horizon, income needs, and tolerance for risk come first — the same factors that drive your financial plan.
2
Build the allocation.
We will decide what needs to stay stable, what can be left to grow, and how much short-term volatility the plan can absorb.
3
Implement with taxes in mind.
We choose the investments, decide which belong in which accounts, and coordinate with your tax picture before placing trades.
4
Monitor and rebalance.
We monitor your portfolio on an ongoing basis and rebalance regularly and with discipline, bringing it back in line with its target allocation as markets move and adjusting it when your plan changes.
5
Report and review.
You can see your accounts anytime through our client portal and mobile app, and we review your portfolio with you regularly.
Prudent, not predictive.
Experience helps us navigate changing markets. It doesn’t let us predict them, and we don’t pretend otherwise.
No one can consistently predict where markets will go next, including us. Trying to time the market means being right twice: when to get out and when to get back in. So rather than making predictions, we keep your portfolio prudently allocated for what your financial plan needs it to do, within the parameters that matter to you: your time horizon, your tolerance for risk, your tax situation, and your personal preferences.
We believe in diversification, discipline, and prudence.
Diversification
Concentrating too much in any single company, sector, or trend adds risk that is hard to justify, and chasing last year’s winners tends to hurt more than it helps.
Discipline
When markets move, we don’t abandon the plan; we rebalance back to it.
Prudence
As fiduciaries, we’re required to act in your best interest, and that means managing your portfolio prudently for the level of risk we’ve agreed on.
Read about the prudent person rule in our October 2026 newsletter.
CIMA® CFP® CPA
Our team includes a Certified Investment Management Analyst℠ (CIMA®), an advanced credential in investment consulting and portfolio management, alongside CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals and a CPA.
We choose investments based on your plan, the accounts you hold, and your tax situation. Most portfolios are built from:
Index ETFs
Broad, typically low-cost exposure to stock and bond markets.
Individual stocks
Direct ownership of specific companies.
Individual bonds and CDs
Income and stability, including for money you’ll need on a known date.
Actively managed stock and bond mutual funds
In areas where we believe active management is worth its cost.
Portfolios can also be customized to reflect your preferences, such as sustainability, social responsibility, or ethical governance.
Occasionally, a client’s needs call for a specialized strategy outside our own expertise. When that happens, we conduct a thorough search for an outside (third-party) manager to handle that portion, or “sleeve,” of the portfolio, and we continue to monitor it as part of your overall allocation. Outside managers charge their own fees, and we’ll review them with you before you decide.
What you keep matters more than what you earn.
Our in-house CPA works alongside our advisors, so tax planning shapes how your portfolio is built and managed — not just how it’s reported at filing time. That includes:
Asset location
Holding each investment in the type of account where it’s taxed most efficiently.
Tax-loss harvesting
Realizing losses to offset gains when markets fall.
Capital gains management
Timing sales to manage your gains and your tax bracket.
Withdrawal coordination
Drawing from the right accounts in the right order once you’re in retirement.
As a fee-only fiduciary, we’re required to act in your best interest, and we’re paid only by our clients — never by commissions, product sales, or fund companies. We have no proprietary funds to place you in and no payment that depends on which investments we recommend.
We also aren’t tied to a single custodial platform, so we can often manage your accounts where they already are instead of requiring you to move them. Your assets are always held by an independent, qualified custodian, never by BKM. More about BKM. For fees, minimums, and what to expect, see how we work with clients.
Comparing advisors? See how fee-only fiduciaries, fee-based advisors, and commission brokers compare in our guide to how to choose a financial advisor.
Click or tap a question to see the answer.
Most clients pay an annual fee based on the assets we manage, and we also offer flat, hourly, project, and negotiated consulting arrangements. We don’t earn commissions or receive payments from any third party. Our maximum fee schedule is in our Form ADV and Form CRS.
Often, no. Because we aren’t tied to a single custodial platform, we can frequently manage your assets at the custodian where they’re already held. If consolidating accounts would simplify things or lower your costs, we’ll talk it through with you first.
We start with your financial plan: when you’ll need money, how much, and how much volatility you can live with. Those answers, along with your tax situation and personal preferences, set your allocation. We revisit it as your life changes and keep it on track as markets move, rather than reacting to headlines.
No. We’re experienced professionals, but no one can consistently predict where markets are headed, including us. Instead of trying to time the market, we keep your portfolio prudently allocated for what your financial plan needs and rebalance with discipline as markets rise and fall.
Most portfolios are built from index ETFs, individual stocks, individual bonds and CDs, and actively managed stock and bond mutual funds. Occasionally, when a client’s needs call for expertise outside our own, we conduct a thorough search for an outside manager to handle a portion of the portfolio.
We monitor your portfolio on an ongoing basis and rebalance regularly and with discipline. Rebalancing brings your portfolio back to its target allocation after market moves push it off course, and we adjust the targets themselves when your plan or goals change. Because trades can have tax consequences, we weigh the tax cost before rebalancing taxable accounts.
Yes. Portfolios can be customized for preferences such as sustainability, social responsibility, or ethical governance. We’ll walk through any tradeoffs, including effects on diversification or cost, so you can decide what fits.
Anytime. Clients can view their accounts via their custodian’s website, or through our online client portal and the BKM Wealth mobile app for iPhone and Android, and can track their financial plan online.
Financial planning decides what your money needs to do; investment management carries it out. Most clients work with us on both, because a portfolio managed without a plan is just a collection of investments. More on financial planning.
If you would like help with your financial planning and investment decisions, make an appointment to talk with us.