Lifetime Financial is a boutique financial planning service for non-profit professionals that want expert financial answers about retirement, college planning, investing, and insurance. Lifetime Financial helps you build the financial support to lead your best life.
Lifetime Financial LLC
7000 Carroll Ave Ste 201A
Takoma Park MD 20912
202-350-1515
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U.S. News & World Report: What Is a Fee-Only Financial Planner? Advantages and Alternatives
As David Creekmore, president of Lifetime Financial, puts it, "Fee-only eliminates the huge distortive incentive of product sale commissions, but it's hardly free from conflicts of interest." In other words, this model may provide clarity in terms of costs; however, the absence of commissions doesn't guarantee the best financial advice.
Whether you're searching for your first financial advisor or your next one, let's explore the fee-only model and the alternatives so you can be better prepared to choose a financial advisor who fits your financial needs.
MarketWatch: Don’t know whether to file taxes early or wait? 5 questions to help you sort it out
David Creekmore, president of Lifetime Financial in Takoma Park, Md., was aware of this possible scenario when he recently urged one client not to send in her return yet.
Filing as head of household, the client changed to a better-paying job in 2020, Creekmore explained. “She really wanted to get it off her chest. It’s not uncommon for people to feel like taxation is a stressful process,” said Creekmore, who thinks he persuaded her to pause.
Creekmore doesn’t have a set rule on waiting or going — except that if someone’s needlessly racking up debt and getting financially pinched in the hope for more money, that’s the wrong approach.
InvestmentNews: Bitcoin bears: Majority of financial advisers still cautious of crypto
David Creekmore, principal and president at Lifetime Financial, said he advises his middle-class clients strongly against crypto because “smart investors don’t speculate.” If investors are too bullish on digital assets, he might even let them go as clients, he said.
“Bitcoin has not been around long enough as an asset class to know its expected returns, dispersion of returns and correlation to other assets,” Creekmore said. “As a fiduciary adviser, I am not upholding my promise to clients if I invest their portfolio in a speculative asset.”
MSN: Bitcoin is Coming to 401(k) Plans This Summer. Experts Have Mixed Opinions.
David Creekmore, the founder of Lifetime Financial, is skeptical of Bitcoin as an investment and doubts many employers will permit their employees to invest in Bitcoin, even once Fidelity makes the cryptocurrency available as an investment option.
“I'm not a fan of crypto in retirement portfolios. We don't know how it behaves as an asset class, volatility, correlations, and the distribution of expected returns. A small amount (5%) is fine if it helps the client stay the course,” says Creekmore. “The real hurdles are the federal standards that apply to 401(k) plans and the companies that offer them. The fiduciary obligations are higher than most investment offerings and most, I think, won't offer crypto soon or ever,” says Creekmore.
Medium: Talking Financial Planning, Family and Takoma Park
David Creekmore is President of Lifetime Financial. He previously worked for a variety of nonprofits and is a longtime Takoma Park resident.
Financial Planning: Best books for financial advisors in 2021
“…The key is letting go of milestone expectations and focusing on more (clinically supported) activities like gratitude, mindfulness, social interactions and connecting with higher causes.”
