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Our blog decodes the stories you see on the news into simple and straightforward concepts that are easy to digest.

financial planner office decor at Hess Financial, CFP® in Harrisonburg

July 2024 Newsletter

In July's newsletter, we asked our team about the financial implications of parenthood. Hear what they had to say about budgeting, saving, and investing for the future as a parent.
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I’ve Received an Inheritance, Now What?

Receiving an inheritance can be overwhelming during an already emotional time. In this guide, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner, Kevin Flint, outlines the key steps to manage newfound wealth.
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A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional reviewing retirement plans.

When Can I Retire? Answers From A CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional

When can I retire? It's a common question with a complex answer. Derek Hess, one of Hess Financial’s CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioners, explains how to transition into retirement smoothly.
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financial planner office decor at Hess Financial, CFP® in Harrisonburg

June 2024 Newsletter

In June's newsletter, we take a moment to highlight our team's commitment to giving back in the community and the positive impact they're making outside of work.
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Stephen Hess, CFP® CDFA® discussing plans to retire early with client.

How To Retire Early With The FIRE Movement | Hess Financial

What would happen if you started saving 50-70% of your income early in your career? Welcome to the FIRE Movement, an extreme savings strategy that stands for ‘Financial Independence, Retire Early.”
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financial planners sitting at a table discussing retirement plans.

401k(s), Roth IRAs & More: Which Retirement Plan Is Best?

Picking the right retirement plan comes down to your job, how much you earn and how you want to manage your savings. Review this quick guide to understand the basic pros and cons of the most popular plan types.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Everyone’s favorite answer: it depends! “Financial Advisor” and “Financial Planner” have become job titles and are used interchangeably by most. Traditionally speaking, a “financial advisor” is registered with FINRA to trade and provide advice on investments; a “financial planner” typically goes beyond trading/recommending investments and focuses on the impact of long-term planning related to topics like taxes, retirement, estate planning and insurance. We highly recommend reading this article on Investopedia that breaks down the answer and encourage you to always ask your professional partners about their licenses and designations.

As an independent firm, we are free to make recommendations based solely on what’s right for you, without bias or pressure to promote a particular product, strategy, or hit any kind of quota. We have the flexibility to explore various providers and ultimately find the solutions that will meet your needs the best. This, in combination with the CFP® Board’s Standards of Professional Conduct, means that we are only accountable to you when making recommendations.

Building and maintaining relationships is time consuming! We value flexibility to work with people in a wide array of different situations, so how you pay for our services will depend on how you want to engage with us. The fee for our typical relationship has two parts, an Annual Planning Fee and an Ongoing Asset Management Fee. This type of relationship gets you unlimited access to us throughout the year and allows us to be fully integrated into your financial life so we can provide support any time you need it.

Our Annual Planning Fee is based on the complexity of your situation, and our Asset Management fee is a blended schedule that decreases as your account balances grow. We go over both in detail throughout our planning process.

We talk a lot about financial planning, but the goal of any plan we create is to figure out how we can establish an investment strategy that supports your goals. That being said, we are not market timers or day traders. We focus on long–term sustainability and we are big fans of the “Bucket Strategy”. Morningstar has a great article explaining this concept on their website.

Yes! In fact, this is one of the questions we ask during our first couple of meetings. Socially Responsible Investing, often referred to as “SRI” or “ESG” (Environment, Social, Governance) has been around for a while but is becoming increasingly popular. We like to educate investors on what this actually means and how it works. If you are interested in a Socially Responsible Investing strategy, we’ll specifically talk about your interests and go from there.

Some financial advisors prefer to work with clients whose assets fall within a particular range. Our approach is to work with clients who have enough complexity to find value in our hands-on, proactive approach to planning and asset management.

On the surface, most people don’t identify themselves as complex, but financial complexity can sneak up on you. Complexity can mean a lot of things, and it is more meaningful for us to talk about in the form of a conversation, but if we had to make a list:

  • The amount of assets you have (money or property)
  • Owning or being a partner in a business.
  • Owning or being interested in rental property (or alternative investments)
  • Having multiple retirement income streams (401k, pensions, annuities, rental property, trusts)
  • Having multiple options for retirement savings through your workplace.
  • Having certain lifestyle goals or a specific vision you are working towards.
  • Interest in retiring early.
  • Inheriting money, land, or a business.
  • Having goals to leave money to family and/or charities.

Of course you can! Investment management isn’t rocket science, but it does require a lot of research and intentionality. While there are many benefits to working with a professional, we’d highlight three key advantages:

  1. Recognizing Emotions and Behaviors. When the stock market takes a tumble or when you need to make a tough decision, having a relationship with someone that knows your life and can give you an objective opinion could save you from making bad decisions.
  2. The freedom that comes with having a partner. There is an intangible benefit to having a financial partner that is always looking out for your financial well-being. It can provide a great sense of comfort to know that if something needs to be done, we will contact you and discuss it. This frees up time and head space for you to focus on other things.
  3. Continuity of Care. If you or your partner pass away, we will know how to guide and help your family through that process and beyond so that financial matters don’t have to be top of mind while they are grieving.

Yes! If you don’t live in or around Harrisonburg, Virginia, don’t let that stop you from reaching out! We can meet virtually or over the phone, we don’t have to meet in person to get started. Each of our advisors is registered in a variety of states, the most updated list for each person can be found by following the links below:

One of our values is relationships, and not just with our clients, but with our employees. We value the team approach because it creates a supportive environment for everyone in our office to thrive and it creates a better outcome for clients. It also means that you have access to multiple people that can help answer your questions quickly, you won’t have to wait hours or days for someone to call you back.

JMU 403b Retirement Plan Participants

Follow a manual added link
Log in to your American Funds 403b Account.
Log in to your Calvert (now BPAS) 403b Account.

First time logging in? Your Plan Code is Plan Code: JAMMAD4989

Make changes to your JMU 403b Deferrals.

Complete the 403(b) Salary Reduction Agreement and Return it to HR.

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