Contemporary Planning Alternatives

Contemporary Planning Alternatives is a fee‑only, independent registered investment adviser operated by a sole practitioner that provides discretionary portfolio management and financial planning to individuals, pension and profit‑sharing plans, trusts, estates, charitable organizations and small businesses. The firm manages roughly $30.8 million for a small client base and delivers ongoing investment supervisory services along with periodic planning deliverables such as net worth statements and regular account reviews.

The adviser employs a strategic asset‑allocation, core‑and‑satellite approach, combining income‑oriented core holdings (primarily no‑load or low‑load mutual funds and ETFs) with shorter‑term trading and hedging strategies that may use specialized or inverse ETFs, stocks and bonds; portfolios are individualized using a client suitability assessment and a written investment policy statement. Client accounts are managed on a discretionary basis, custody and execution are provided principally through a major discount custodian, and the firm commonly uses limit orders, block trades and standing letters of authorization to facilitate transactions and fee billing.

Noteworthy aspects include the firm’s use of standing letters of authorization (SLOAs) with custodians, the adviser’s practice of trading in personal accounts that can overlap with client holdings (a disclosed potential conflict), and the decision to stop offering insurance products after 2022 while maintaining comprehensive financial planning services. The firm has operated since 1996 and relies on custodian continuity and standard information‑security measures rather than a separate formal in‑house business continuity plan; it generally prefers—but does not require—accounts around $250,000.