Our Process

Personalized, structured, transparent

Three generations of a family walking together along a pebble shoreline

Planning your future for clarity

At Monument, every recommendation is personalized, evidence-based, and aligned with your values and objectives.

Stage 1

Understanding Your Needs

When we meet, our job is to listen to you. We want to understand your life priorities, retirement aspirations and financial history. We’ll also review your existing documents and coordinate with other advisors.

Stage 1 in practice

Understanding Your Needs

An introductory conversation with no preparation required
The Dangers, Opportunities & Strengths exercise, completed separately by each spouse
A review of statements, tax returns, estate documents and insurance
Coordination with any attorney or accountant you already work with

Stage 2

Developing Your Master Plan

Your personalized Master Plan takes into account far more than investment allocations and tax efficiencies. It’s the blueprint that brings your rational and emotional needs together.

Stage 2 in practice

Developing Your Master Plan

Sustainable spending modeled across a wide range of market environments
A withdrawal sequence coordinated with bracket management
Estate documents checked against beneficiary designations
An allocation matched to what the plan actually requires

Stage 3

Implementation & Staying True

Once in place, your Master Plan begins to anticipate and adapt as life unfolds. You’ll continue to build peace of mind with your iterative and actionable 360-degree plan.

Stage 3 in practice

Implementation & Staying True

Formal reviews at least twice a year
Proactive outreach during market shifts and tax planning windows
An agreed spending range, with the limits at which we would revisit it
Direct access to your advisor whenever a question comes up

Inside the first stage

The two exercises we start with

Before any modeling happens, we need to know what you actually want — and with couples, whether you want the same things. These two exercises surface that faster than a questionnaire.

Dangers, Opportunities & Strengths

Each spouse completes it independently, before we meet together. Doing it separately matters — completed side by side, one person’s answers tend to shape the other’s. It clarifies the risks worth addressing, the opportunities worth pursuing, and the strengths already working in your favor.

The Success Vision question

“If we were having this discussion three years from today, and you were looking back to today, what would need to have happened for you to feel happy about your progress?”

It sounds simple. In practice it surfaces priorities that a goals worksheet never reaches.

Let’s start our conversation

Today is your first step toward the tomorrow you want.

Schedule a time to discuss whether our approach is the right fit for you.

Schedule a Conversation Or call 978-369-7705