Retiring with Confidence Begins with Why...then How

We believe by providing education and guidance we inspire our clients to make great decisions helping them to retire with confidence.

It’s not surprising that Nick Hopwood, CFP®, President and Founder of Peak Wealth Management and Vice President, Jim Pilat, AIF® consistently emphasize the need to be purposeful about life. In their youth, each of the financial advisors/wealth managers saw first-hand the tragedies that can occur when a family’s financial health is left to chance, or worse, handled unwisely.

“Retiring with confidence doesn’t just happen on its own, even if you’ve been fortunate enough to have a significant nest egg. Too often, retirees lack meaningful purpose in their life because they haven’t prepared themselves for engaging in life when they are no longer working,” explains Hopwood whose innovative thinking has resulted in a comprehensive approach that covers all aspects of retirement.

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Hopwood and Pilat utilize a series of tools pioneered by Peak Wealth Management, such as Blueprinting to understand what’s most important to the client, Peak Income 360 Formula to generate passive income, and UMAX which is their gateway to accessing over 100 institutional strategists. “The first, most critical step, is Blueprinting, which helps identify what is most important to you,” explains Hopwood whose designation as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM reflects his education and experience in financial planning as well as stringent requirements for integrity.

Meaningful Lifestyles, Fueling Passions

During the critical Blueprinting process, the Peak team helps clients understand their “why.” When their goals are determined by their most cherished values, clients become more motivated to commit to a plan.

“Only after the clients know their ‘why’ do we begin to make a financial plan,” says Pilat who is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary. “Our strategies address the challenges of reliable lifetime income by widely diversifying their income streams. In addition to optimizing Social Security, clients following our Peak Income 360 Formula would consider building a portfolio which includes dividend-paying investments, rental real estate, tax-free income from municipal bonds, and possibly other solutions. Practical steps also include paying off your mortgage before retirement and finding opportunities to make earnings from part-time consulting during retirement.”

Further diversifying each client’s portfolio is the opportunity to use institutional investment strategies. “Until recently, these strategies have been available only to large institutions with multiple millions to manage,” explains Hopwood. “Through our partnership with TD Ameritrade Institutional, our clients have access to more than 100 institutional strategists on our UMAX Platform.

Hopwood initially developed Blueprinting, Peak Income 360 Formula, and UMAX Platform for himself and his family, but believes all clients can benefit as well. “We won’t recommend anything we wouldn’t recommend for ourselves,”says Hopwood.

How do Peak clients like these strategies? The company is rapidly growing through client referrals and reports about $2M in new assets under management each month. Preparing for even more demand, Peak has tripled the size of its office and is hiring new advisors. The number of new clients accepted is strategically limited to allow a true boutique-style level of service.

“Our goal has always been to help our clients retire with confidence,” adds Hopwood. “As fiduciaries, who are legally bound to act solely on our clients’ behalf, we guide our clients through our thoughtful process. When clients walk out the door, they know exactly where they stand relative to their goals. They have confidence and peace of mind they are not going to run out of money in retirement. And if they are not on track today, they know exactly which changes are needed to get back on track, so they can retire with confidence.”

This content was provided by Financial Service Directory. Kiplinger is not affiliated with and does not endorse the company or products mentioned above.