Anyone use MD Financial "The Personal CFO for Busy Physicians"?

[CinciResident]

My sense is that I don't need these services thanks to WCI/Boggleheads/etc, but I'm still curious. For UC Residents their services are free for Residency, although I've inquired how it works after that. Curious, has anyone used them?

http://mdfinancialadvisors.com/

Best,

CR

Update: They charge an average of $100/month post residency - negotiated depending on services utilized going forward.

[The White Coat Investor]

CinciResident wrote:

My sense is that I don’t need these services thanks to WCI/Boggleheads/etc, but I’m still curious. For UC Residents their services are free for Residency, although I’ve inquired how it works after that. Curious, has anyone used them?

http://mdfinancialadvisors.com/

Best,

CR

Update: They charge an average of $100/month post residency – negotiated depending on services utilized going forward.

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Nobody has responded to you, so I thought I'd put in something you may find helpful. I don't know anybody at this firm but if I really needed to, I could probably get some info from at least one of their presidents past employers.

The price you quote is low. Have you read the ADV2? That's always a good place to start in learning about a firm.

http://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/IAPDIndvlSummary.aspx?INDVL_PK=1320580

Looks like their president is an attorney and a CFP. No other significant credentials by anyone else in the firm. Her work history is here:

Principal and Chief Compliance Officer, Vestment Financial, LLC 09/2013 to Present Registered Representative, Cetera Advisors, LLC 01/2013 to 09/2013 President, Vestment Consulting, Inc. d/b/a Vestment Advisors 03/1991 to Present Registered Representative, Multi-Financial Securities Corp. 02/2012 to 12/2012 Investment Advisor Representative, Pacific West Financial Consultants, Inc. 03/2011 to 02/2012 Registered Representative, Pacific West Securities, Inc. 03/2011 to 02/2012 Financial Advisor, Larson Financial Group, LLC 09/2010 to 03/2011 Registered Representative, Larson Financial Securities, LLC 09/2010 to 03/2011 Registered Representative, SummitAlliance Securities 05/2009 to 09/2010 Registered Representative, QA3 Financial Corp. 01/2009 to 05/2009 Investment Advior Representative, QA3 Financial LLC 01/2009 to 05/2009 Registered Representative, Financial Network Investment Corp. 07/2003 to 12/2008

Short stays at quite a few of those firms.

http://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/Common/crd_iapd_Brochure.aspx?BRCHR_VRSN_ID=332349

Fees are 1.25% on the first $250K, then 1% above that. Financial planning is done at $50-500 per hour.

It's a pretty tiny firm. Only $16M under management. Even at 1%, that's only $160K in fees and there are 10 people listed as working there on the website. Hope some of them have other sources of income. What I would take from that is that there are a lot of commissions coming in from life and disability insurance.

The primary investment management style seems to be fundamental analysis but it is pretty vague on the description. They are a different firm from MD Financial Services-one of my insurance agent advertisers. If they came to me and applied to advertise on the site, I would probably turn them down based on what I'm seeing in the ADV2.

[dragonfruit]

CinciResident wrote:

My sense is that I don’t need these services thanks to WCI/Boggleheads/etc, but I’m still curious. For UC Residents their services are free for Residency, although I’ve inquired how it works after that. Curious, has anyone used them?

http://mdfinancialadvisors.com/

Best,

CR

Update: They charge an average of $100/month post residency – negotiated depending on services utilized going forward.

Click to expand...

@CinciResident Never used them.  What do they do if you use their free services during residency but don't move forward with them afterwards?  If there are no strings attached, why not try?  I would be curious in a followup to see how their advice compares to WCI, Boglehead, etc.

[CinciResident]

Huge thanks for the research and insights into this. I'm not sure I'll use the investing advice, but it can't hurt to take advantage of some of their other services.

 

Curious though, do you think it's ethically wrong to use free services you know you almost certainly won't utilize when they're no longer free? I know the firm isn't getting comped for the services they provide to residents, they're hoping for long term relationships post residency.

It feels wrong to me, although my significant other points out the company knows the risk it's taking by offering the services.

[jfoxcpacfp]

CinciResident wrote:

Huge thanks for the research and insights into this. I’m not sure I’ll use the investing advice, but it can’t hurt to take advantage of some of their other services.

 

Curious though, do you think it’s ethically wrong to use free services you know you almost certainly won’t utilize when they’re no longer free? I know the firm isn’t getting comped for the services they provide to residents, they’re hoping for long term relationships post residency.

It feels wrong to me, although my significant other points out the company knows the risk it’s taking by offering the services.

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If that is the hook, they know that every nibble won't turn into a catch. I'm sure that risk is built into their business plan.

[The White Coat Investor]

CinciResident wrote:

Huge thanks for the research and insights into this. I’m not sure I’ll use the investing advice, but it can’t hurt to take advantage of some of their other services.

 

Curious though, do you think it’s ethically wrong to use free services you know you almost certainly won’t utilize when they’re no longer free? I know the firm isn’t getting comped for the services they provide to residents, they’re hoping for long term relationships post residency.

It feels wrong to me, although my significant other points out the company knows the risk it’s taking by offering the services.

Click to expand...

As a general rule, financial advisory firms targeting residents will make most of their income from the relationship from the commissions on life and disability insurance (especially disability.) In fact, many of these "advisors" are really just insurance agents, but afraid the residents won't go see an insurance agent, or hoping to get a few mutual fund loads thrown in on the side. The big kahuna, of course, is keeping the resident as he moves into attendinghood and then getting AUM fees (or at least ongoing mutual fund loads). And it happens a lot.

I have no problem with real financial advisors targeting residents, getting the commissions to make the early years of the relationship at least somewhat worth it, and then keeping them as long term clients. I just want doctors to be aware of how the business works. If you want advice, are getting good advice, know what price you're paying, know how it compares to the going rate, and feel the value given is greater than the price paid, then more power to the relationship. But there are a lot of doctor-advisor relationships that don't meet that criteria.

[CinciResident]

Thanks again, WCI. We own your book and are very grateful for the services you provide!

[Orthodox]

They push whole life insurance and want to manage you're money for you for the above mentioned fees.  They have an office in Providence and do the free dinner thing a few times a year.