Goddard Financial Planning

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Sandra did a complete review of all finances, made a summary and gave us her recommendations on how to make our money last longer than our lives. She did a stellar job of pulling everything together and explaining what we need to do. I have never received a more useful service. She was very patient with out questions. I can't recommend the Goddard company and Sandra in particular more highly.

Excellent from start to finish. Great customer service.

They were very comprehensive and thorough. I liked his general philosophy and their pricing model. They don't actually benefit from advising you on anything particular. They just give straight out recommendation.

Great service and good advice. A bit expensive but I guess you get what you pay for.

I found that he was very good. I was completely satisfied. He took time in understanding my style in the stock market and everything and he valued that. He suggested me according to what I feel comfortable and I believe the plan is going well and it was very helpful for me. The services were very good. He was very prompt and he spent enough time in explaining everything and I was happy with the service. I felt he was a little bit pricey. I would definitely recommend him. I went through Angie's List and except for the price, I would recommend him because not everyone has same style. I liked that my style of investment matched his so I'm very happy with his recommendations and not everyone would like it. It depends on the style. He goes index funds environment mostly a bit converter I could say, but that's who I am and I found him of my same style so someone of my style would definitely like it. His responsiveness was okay because he took a lot of time in replying to my mails. I used to get replies to my mails, but it used to be late. If I send a mail today, I would get a reply two weeks later or something. I would use him again the future.

John has been my financial planner since early 2008 when I was looking for a fee-only planner. My first pick of a CFP had too many clients and he pointed me to John. I hired John to determine when I could retire, and how to arrange my investments to meet that goal. He provided a financial plan with explicit advice regarding what stocks/funds to sell and which to buy, taking into account taxable vs non-taxable. The plan was delivered in the form of a binder with many charts of projections of investment gains, income, expenses, and details regarding what to do when (pre and post retirement). John favors Vanguard funds because of no load and low cost, but will include existing investments into the plan when instructed. The advice includes what mix of stock vs bonds, domestic vs international, and large/small/risk profiles. He gives his advice, then it is up to you if you want to implement it or not. I took most of his advice, and ended up saving many thousands of dollars in the 2008 melt-down. Since then I have gone back every 8 months or so for help in re-balancing or re-running the retirement model. The initial work of a complete financial plan cost roughly 1% of my overall holdings. My most recent visit was for re-balancing and re-running of the retirement model and that cost $850. He provides a not-to-exceed estimate in advance of any work he does. I am extremely satisfied with his work, and intent to continue to use his services as long as he is available.

We'd been meaning to see a financial planner for years, but didn't really want to go to someone who made their money on commission. My wife and I had a plan in place that we were using, but we weren't really sure it was right, and we were pretty unsure about what to do in a few key areas. We didn't need someone who would actively manage accounts for us, and we very much didn't want someone who'd sell us a bunch of financial products we may or may not need. When I finally got around to looking for a planner, I used Angie's List to find someone who had top ratings AND charged hourly, not by commission. When I picked John, we got the added bonus of having someone who's a fiduciary, so he has a legal obligation to work in our financial best interest, without a conflict of interest. When we went to John, we wanted help planning just how much and when we should be saving for our kids college educations, when or if we should do a remodel on our house, how much was reasonable to budget for cars, etc. Also, we wanted advice on how much and which types of insurance to get - I'd done a lot of reading, but still wasn't sure. John was awesome. Both my wife and I loved talking to him. He was very approachable, explained things in whatever detail we wanted, and adjusted our plan several times when we wanted to tweak something. He gave us an easy-to-follow action plan to go execute the recommendations, and he checked in with us a couple of times to make sure we weren't blocked. I think John charged us $180/hour, which came out to about $2000 for the total work he did for us. Given the peace of mind we got out of it, the money was well spent.

Before we met John he asked that we fill out an online questionnaire. Designed to determine our individual comfort level of financial risk, we discovered that my wife and I are pretty much at the same level. He also provided us with a list of financial information he would need from us. It took a while to get all this stuff together, but it really made us stop and think about where we spend our money. At our first meeting with John, we mostly discussed our future goals - when would we like to retire, how much assistance would we like to provide for our kids, all that. We then scheduled a follow up meeting for later in the month. At that meeting, John had a three-ring binder full of information. He went through each section with us, answering questions about insurance policies, 401(k) contributions and specific contribution numbers. He had developed a series of charts that showed how our investments might work out over time. Fascinating. One thing that struck me about John's level of detail. I was expecting him to suggest that I change my W-4 withholding. He not only made that suggestion, he had a W-4 all filled out - all I had to do was sign it and send it to my HR department. At the end of the meeting, he gave us the binder. A few days later he sent an email with a checklist of things to do, complete with a timetable for completion.

We met with John twice - once to discuss our financial objectives and goals and then again to review his recommendations. We couldn't have been happier with our experience. He was extremely helpful and professional and walked us through each step of our financial plan, answering all questions along the way. We felt very comfortable working with him and will confidently enact his recommendations. We look forward to working with him again in the future as our goals change.

He met with me for approximately 90 minutes to review my financial history, goals, and expectations. This initial meeting was free of charge. He then provided me with an estimate for his services, and outlined expectations. We met again about 4 weeks later to review his recommendations. He addressed my concerns regarding saving plans versus repayment of debt (I am still paying off significant student loans), as well as security issues such as life insurance. I also had recently inherited several investments, and he helped guide me through this. At the end, he gave me a full written summary of his recommendations, and a step-by-step guide on the mechanics of setting up these recommendations. He was very low-pressure, which I appreciated, and as he is not affiliated with a bank or brokerage, he does not pressure you to buy a particular product. He works solely as an adviser, not a manager, so you will still have to do paperwork yourself, but, he was very clear in explaining how to navigate this, which made it less intimidating to me. Because he does not manage money, he charges by the hour, not by the percentage. This meant a greater initial payment, but over time I anticipate this will actually save me money (as I will still be paying a set hourly rate, even when my portfolio grows). Much of his advise was common sense advise; however, for someone like me who dislikes dealing with financial matters, the process of sitting down and reviewing everything was worth the price. He also advised a yearly consultation, which he estimate would take 1-2 hours of billable time.

Absolutely excellent, unbiased advice. John is a "fee only" financial planner meaning that he charges his clients by the hour for his expertise. **He is not associated with any financial services company and does not get a commission, kick back or other compensation for guiding you to particular investments.** Planners who work for a bank or financial firm will steer you toward investments that company sells, but John is a fiduciary (meaning he is required by law to work in your best interests), so he will pick the best investments he is aware of regardless of the company that offers them. He can help you with the "big picture" or provide specific advise on particular questions. Visit his website if you want to learn more about what he does, how he does it, etc.