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Frequently Asked Questions

We believe in providing unbiased, objective advice and implementation based solely on your situation. We are not salespeople. We look after your best interests and provide guidance based on an honest assessment of your needs and goals.

Our advisors have a limited number of ongoing clients to ensure that we maintain the highest service standards.

We don’t just talk about ideas and recommendations: WE GET STUFF DONE.

We work with individuals from all walks of life and various personal/professional backgrounds.

In general, our most satisfied clients tend to agree with the following bulletpoints:

  • You understand that money can be a powerful tool in creating your most abundant, contentful, and optimized life. This is unique to you, there is no playbook or algorithm.
  • You recognize that all the returns in life, whether in wealth, health, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest. Happiness is built by habits.
  • You play long-term games with long-term people. You make a conscious effort to surround yourself with those that help you be the best version of you—the best parent, partner, professional, etc.

No.  We use this first discussion to get to know each other and to see whether or not we can be of service for your unique needs. We will chat about your finances and goals from a 30,000 foot view, discover areas of opportunity, and discuss best next steps for moving forward together.

No. As advisors that charge flat fees (i.e. not a fee based on a % of your assets), your amount of money and overall net worth is NOT a deciding factor for working together. For starters, our Financial Wellness Review  is intended for individuals/families of all financial means.

Considering that many high-earning professionals also happen to carry large student loan balances, it is not uncommon for us to work with professionals that have a NEGATIVE net worth.

CLIENTS! As a firm that is modeled on putting our clients’ interests ahead of our own, we give the same guidance to a stranger as we would to our dearest best friend (assuming the two had identical circumstances, of course). We are beholden to our clients and not driven by any underlying/undisclosed sales quotas, commissions, or kickbacks.

Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the firms in the financial services and insurance industries operate on a platform where the advice they give only needs to meet a “suitability” standard – NOT a fiduciary standard. The suitability standard does not require advisors to put their clients’ best interests before their own, nor must they avoid conflicts of interest (both of these implications translate to more of your money ending up in the advisor’s pocket).

For starters, it’s worth noting that due to regulatory standards, all advisors are required to act as a fiduciary in your retirement accounts (i.e. 401k, IRA, 403b) and if serving as a trustee of a trust. However, this fiduciary standard does not extend to taxable accounts, real estate transactions, debt management, or any of the other financial planning areas.

To know whether your advisor is truly putting your interests ahead of theirs, we recommend requesting a letter from your advisor that explicitly states that the advisor will always put your financial interests above their own and those of their firm. If the advisor is unable or unwilling to sign this, you have your answer.

Two reasons.

  • While we’re all familiar with the primary dimensions of health (mental/physical/emotional), we think your financial health, or your wHealth, should be viewed as the fourth leg of this stool. It is regularly noted that money is the leading stressor for Americans. At wHealth Advisors, we believe that if you can offload the burden of your finances to a trained professional, that 1) you’ll be relieved of this stress 2) you’ll unlock bandwidth to focus on YOUR career and 3) you may even improve the other (perhaps neglected) dimensions of your health! We’re not the health experts but we know that stress reduction = GOOD.
  • We have a specific offering for medical professionals (inspired by co-founder Dennis’ wife, Arabelle McNamara DMD). The fee-only platform is uniquely suited for the medical professional with early years consisting of little/no income who is also burdened with mountains of student debt. From our experience, the medical community is, unequivocally, the most underserved community of high-earning professionals for all things finance/insurance related. Like medical professionals, we entered our profession to have an impact and to help others in a meaningful way.

Yes. The majority of our clients are in the NJ/NY/CT/PA area however we do engage in remote/virtual engagements (both for Financial Wellness Reviews and Ongoing Financial Planning).

Directly from our clients. You receive a quarterly invoice with our bill and we try to make the payments as painless and tax-efficient as possible. We receive no referral fees, commissions, or kickbacks.

Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®): Although many professionals may call themselves “financial planners,” CFP® professionals have completed extensive training and experience requirements and are held to rigorous ethical standards. They understand the complexities of the changing financial climate and know how to make recommendations in your best interest. Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CFP® (with plaque design) and CFP®(with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.

Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®): The Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) designation represents a thorough knowledge of and ability to apply the fiduciary Practices. Through fi360’s AIF Training programs, AIF designees learn the Practices and the legal and best practice framework they are built upon. AIF designees have a reputation in the industry for the ability to implement a prudent process into their own investment practices as well as being able to assist others in implementing proper policies and procedures.

We think regularly about how to protect your data. All wHealth employees and contractors avoid sending sensitive information in emails and encourage clients to similarly abstain. We do not rely on encryption in emails because we believe that using an online portal to transmit and receive sensitive information and documents is more secure.

We operate almost exclusively with web-based software and the data that we store locally is temporary. We use dual-factor authentication when available. Our hardware is protected with strong passwords and our office has the highest grade firewall (Netgate with pfSense Software) with an intrusion detection system.

Let us know if you have any questions about the security of our web-based software and we would be happy to share their security policies.