A fiduciary advisor is one who puts the interests of the client first at all times. Not all advisors are fiduciaries, some wear the fiduciary hat only at certain times, others are just pretenders. 

Financial Planning and services is an intangible that deals with clients' financial hopes and priorities far into the future. It's not like buying a car or a stove now where you can touch it, size it up, and test drive it. You need a trustworthy, competent professional because "buyer beware" just doesn't fly in financial services in the same way.

Most folks are best served by a professional that's truly interested in them and fully embraces a fiduciary standard. We are an acknowledged fiduciary at all times. 

Large investment losses can be hard to take at any age, but they can be devastating in the second half of life. So our top investment priority is managing portfolio risk...but everyone claims that, so what does that actually mean? 

While we trade infrequently, we “actively” manage your asset allocation, attempting to avoid large capital losses but still capture a reasonable amount of financial upside when market conditions are appropriate. This may involve shifting among stocks and bonds, temporarily increasing cash allocation, trend-following trading, using stop-loss orders to protect the downside, or using options to hedge against losses or potentially capture gains. 

Most of the financial industry uses traditional approaches to wealth management, which are based on Modern Portfolio Theory and the Efficient Markets Hypothesis. They assume: (1) risk is defined as fluctuation in the value of your investments, (2) investors are rational, and (3) there is no such thing as an overpriced or underpriced investment. In our view, those are silly notions that have no basis in reality. 

Financial markets will always experience abnormal conditions, government and central bank policies can distort asset prices and cause financial “bubbles,” and investors are always prone to swings of fear and greed. These situations create pricing imbalances: overpriced assets to avoid and underpriced assets to consider owning.

Most accounts are opened for wealth management clients with TD Ameritrade as an independent, third-party custodian. Your investments will be held by the attending custodian and your account statements and transaction confirmations will be provided directly to you by them. There is no “Bernie Madoff opportunity for fraud” in this kind of arrangement.

While we find email is very efficient (and use it a lot), ongoing contact can be tailored to your need and the type of service involved. We reach out periodically through the year to clients with whom we have an ongoing working relationship…to keep in touch, conduct periodic check-ups and reviews, and answer questions about investments or broader financial issues.

We can meet as frequently as needed to deal with specific financial issues as they arise. And you are always welcome to call or email and expect a prompt response.

We maintain a small network of allied professionals who provide legal, tax, mortgage, aging/elder care, and other services, to whom we can refer clients or coordinate services as needed. This is a professional referral network only and we receive no compensation for such referrals. If you already have advisors in these areas, we will be happy to coordinate with them.

SecondHalf's Principal, Larry McClanahan, is also Principal of McClanahan Tax & Advisory, LLC. Clients needing tax preparation and related services may be referred there with any fees for those services paid to McClanahan Tax.

It's important to conduct a due diligence review of any financial professional or firm you are considering working with. Regulatory background for SecondHalf and Larry McClanahan may be reviewed at the following links:

• Larry McClanahan (SEC Investment Advisor Public Disclosure page)
• SecondHalf Planning & Investment, LLC (SEC Investment Advisor Public Disclosure page)
• Larry McClanahan (FINRA BrokerCheck - covers previous years when Larry was also a broker)