Tom C. Nelson, PhD, CFP(R) Personal Financial Consultant

The firm provides fee-only, hourly financial planning and investment advice primarily to individual clients, and will also work with trusts, estates, charitable organizations and small-business entities as needed. It operates on a strictly consultative basis and does not manage, custody, or trade client assets or sell commission products.

The adviser follows CFP Board financial planning practice standards, offering services such as cash-flow forecasting, scenario analysis, retirement and tax planning, asset-allocation guidance, and investment recommendations typically limited to low-cost index mutual funds and ETFs. Engagements are project-based and educational in nature, with implementation and ongoing monitoring generally outside the scope of services so clients can choose to manage their own portfolios.

Distinctive features include a very small, solo-practitioner practice (about 25 clients) led by a long-standing CFP professional with a doctoral academic background in finance and experience developing university financial planning programs, which shapes an education-oriented consulting approach. Compared with most independent advisers that commonly manage client assets and charge percentage-of-AUM fees, this firm’s model is uncommon in that it provides only hourly planning consultations and asserts no discretionary authority, custody, or performance-based compensation.