Become a Client

How to become a client

1. Tell us about yourself

   Start with the intake form, or schedule a virtual or in-person onboarding meeting if you’d like to meet with us. We’ll learn about your household, goals, current accounts, and what you’d like help with.

2. Review and sign the management agreement

   Reviewing and signing the Comprehensive Portfolio Management Agreement is the first formal step in beginning the advisory relationship. We can arrange for you to sign electronically or review and sign the agreement in person at our office.

3. Establish your investment strategy and open your accounts

   We’ll work with you to document your investment objectives, risk tolerance, target allocation, and liquidity needs in your Suitability and Investment Policy Statement (IPS). We’ll prepare the IPS and appropriate Schwab account-opening paperwork for your review and signature, and guide you through Schwab’s account-opening process. As part of opening your accounts, Schwab will verify your identity, typically through a brief text message with a few identity questions.

4. Transfer or add funds

   Moving your accounts to Schwab is simpler than most people expect. Changing custodians does not, by itself, create a taxable event. In most cases, your investments move from one institution to another without being sold. We handle the paperwork. Your part is straightforward.

   For brokerage accounts and IRAs, you sign a Transfer of Assets form that authorizes Schwab to request your investments directly from your current firm. You don’t need to contact your old institution yourself in most cases.

   For 401(k) and other employer retirement plans, the process works differently because it is not a like-for-like transfer. Your former plan typically issues a check for deposit into your new Rollover IRA at Schwab. If the check is made payable to Schwab for your benefit, it is still a direct rollover, even if it is mailed to you, and we help you deposit it promptly. A check made payable to you personally is treated differently: the plan generally withholds 20% for federal taxes, and the full amount must be deposited within 60 days to avoid tax. We’ll help you avoid that route whenever possible.

   We prepare all transfer documents, submit the authorized requests, coordinate with your current custodian, and follow every transfer through to completion. We’ll keep you informed throughout. See below for more on taxes and transfers.

5. Complete the transition

   Once your assets have arrived, we reconcile what came in, confirm positions and balances, and check cost-basis information for any taxable accounts. We then implement the investment strategy documented in your IPS.

   We schedule an implementation meeting with every client. This is where we sit down together, show you exactly what came in and where it stands, confirm the investment strategy is in place, and walk through what your financial picture looks like going forward. Not all clients log into Schwab or the VWG portal regularly. This meeting is how we make sure you can see your accounts, understand what you own, and feel confident that everything is in order.

These are estimates after the accounts, authorizations, and instructions are ready. We’ll keep you updated if anything else is needed.

Investments are transferred in-kind where eligible, meaning they move as-is rather than being sold first. If a position cannot transfer in-kind, we will discuss your options with you before any sale occurs.

A corresponding account means the account type at your current firm matches the receiving account at Schwab. A Traditional IRA transfers to a Traditional IRA, and a taxable brokerage account transfers to a taxable brokerage account.

Review the documents

You’ll also receive the Form ADV Part 2A and 2B and Privacy Policy.