You Have Questions. We’ve Got Answers.

No. We work with people from all walks of life. Even when  working with a medical professional, we are frequently dealing with a spouse that is not. It is not uncommon for us to work with teachers, farmers, engineers, and many others. We try to be experts at understanding the needs of medical professionals, but many of those skills are transferable. 

Our business model is based around the fact that most financial firms are looking to work with millionaires. We see an inherent flaw with that. The younger population is the group that generally needs help and the group that is less likely to have a million dollars saved and invested. We designed our flat fee to be able to serve those without any money saved. In fact, some of our clients have so much student debt their net worth is negative when they come to us. If you are over 50, we would still love to work with you. The sooner you come onboard, the sooner we can help you live the life you want to live. 

Before the COVID was ever a thing, we were learning about social distancing from the Cystic Fibrosis Community. To keep his own daughter healthy, Kade decided Storybook Financial would be as virtual as possible. The experience is basically the same whether you live on a coast or right here in Iowa City | Coralville. We spent a great deal of effort to make the entire experience seamless, so you can expect better than what you've seen from others trying video meetings for the first time in 2020. If you are local, we may meet up at a coffee shop or in home, but expect most meetings to be virtual. 

Commission generally means that the person you are working with receives a kickback for recommending or selling you a product. The are many fine individuals working on commissions, but since one product may give them a larger kickback than another there can be strong incentives to sell you a product that isn't necessarily in your best interest.  Fee-only financial planning means the advisor is compensated solely by the client and has no bias in the product they recommend. Fee-based financial advisors often work predominantly as fee-only but then receive a commission if they recommend a specific investment or more commonly a specific insurance product, so not entirely removing the potential bias. Storybook Financial is a fee-only firm and never receives a commission or kickback. 

A fiduciary is a person or institution given the power to act on behalf of another in situations that require great trust, honesty and loyalty. Fiduciaries are hired to act in your best interest and must set aside personal motives and conflicts of interest in favor of pursuing the best outcome for your unique situation. Professionals who aren't fiduciaries are often held to a lesser standard, the so-called suitability standard. This standard means that the products they sell you just have to be suitable for you, not necessarily ideal or in your best interest. As fiduciaries, we strongly recommend that you always go with the fiduciary standard.

Financial advisor is typically a blanket term used for anyone in the financial services industry. Frustratingly many financial salespersons hold themselves out as financial advisors and offer very little in true advice. We strongly recommend you do not trust advice from someone unless they are a fiduciary. Wealth advisor we find to be a touch more trust worthy than the term financial advisor. The caveat is that they advise on your wealth and typically are looking to serve ultra high net worth individuals. Financial planner is a more targeted term used for those that are practicing full service personal finance. It means they will generally look at your entire financial picture prior to making a recommendation. Advisors with Storybook Financial will all be financial planners.

Anyone can claim to be  a financial planner. It’s essential to be sure of the qualifications and credentials of any “planner” or “advisor” before you pay anything or entrust them with your financial present or future. We are Certified Financial Planners®. CFP® has been the standard of excellence for financial planners for more than 30 years. Holders of the CFP® commit to the CFP Board's ethical standards that require putting the clients interest first.

Financial planning is a step-by-step approach to meeting one's financial goals. The plan acts as a guide as you go through life's journey and helps you be in control of your income, expenses, and investments. It also seeks to protect you from financial loss through insurance, tax, and estate planning. Life planning is the process of combining money with meaning. Our EVOKE® process puts you and the people you care about first. Financial Life Planning is financial planning done right, because we take the time to get to know the person and be a real fiduciary over their plan.

Yes. While we love assisting clients by growing their investment portfolio, we understand there are many DIY investors that are not being served by those financial advisors focusing on assets first. We seek to understand who you are, what you hope to accomplish in life before we make any investment recommendations. Through the flat fee financial planning service, we will offer advice on investments, but its on you to see it through. If you choose to have us manage your investments, then you can kick back and relax knowing that the experts have it handled.