Let True Life Financial Planning help you navigate your financial future.

FAQs

General FAQs

Yes. I am bound by both the fiduciary standards of the CFP® board, and the Fiduciary Oath of the XY Planning Network. A fiduciary is a person who has to place the client’s interest ahead of his or her own. Fiduciaries must also disclose what their fees are, how they’re compensated and any other conflicts or potential conflicts of interest that might influence an individual's decision to use their services. In contrast, non-fiduciary financial advisors might receive a commission in exchange for selling you a particular investment that isn’t the best for you – and not tell you how they’ve profited from it. However, a fiduciary may work for a fund that only allows him or her to sell the fund’s proprietary products. As long as he or she discloses that to you, he or she is still a fiduciary, even if there are investments outside of that fund that are better for you. The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards issues Rules of Conduct for fiduciaries, which state, for example, that CFP®s should define what services they will provide and only offer advice in areas in which they are competent.
At TLFP, I take pride in providing transparent pricing with no hidden or hard-to-decipher fees. I base planning fees on the complexity of your case.

For financial life planning, I charge an initial setup fee between $1,000 and $5,000, depending on the complexity of your situation. Thereafter, beginning in month two, I charge a monthly retainer of 10% of your setup fee. For example, a client whose asset level and case complexity led to a $1,750 startup fee when becoming a client in May would pay $1,750 in May, followed by $175 in June, and $175 each month thereafter. This model allows me to work with you beyond simply presenting an initial financial plan because financial planning is a lifelong process. It also allows you to spread the payment for your financial planning "renewals" out over each year, instead of having to pay a large single renewal fee. You can choose to pay your financial life planning fees via credit card or direct bank account debit (ACH).

For those clients who wish to utilize the firm’s asset management services, I charge a maximum of 0.75% for accounts under $1,000,000. Accounts above $1,000,000, but less than $2,000,000 pay 0.60%, and accounts over $2,000,000 pay 0.50%. The fees quoted here are inclusive of the partners who help manage the firm’s investment accounts, so they can be considered the "all-in" fee to the client. The asset management fees are charged quarterly, and are withdrawn directly from the investment accounts by their custodians. I use more than one custodian, based on the needs of each client, so specific breakdowns of fees will be provided on a client by client basis, but what they pay doesn't change, regardless of custodian.

I do NOT receive any commissions for the sale of insurance, investment or other financial products.
Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA®), Certified Fund Specialist (CFS), Certified in Long Term Care (CLTC), Masters of Business Administration (MBA). For more details on these various designations, check out the About Tony page.
We start our client engagements with the comprehensive financial life planning process, which you can read about Here. Once we've helped our clients uncover what their True Life looks like, we proceed into more traditional, technical financial planning that covers topics such as cash flow planning, retirement planning, debt management, investment planning, risk management and insurance planning, estate planning, business planning and tax planning. In situations where a client has a unique situation that is beyond the scope of our practice, we will ask to introduce the client to a specialist in that field. We do not receive compensation for these referrals, and will only make such a referral with the consent of the client.

We also offer investment management for a fee, for those clients who wish to utilize the service.
True Life Financial Planning was specifically founded to work with clients who are seeking a different planning experience. While we're able to accept most clients, we find that we work best with families that have more than one type of income, individuals with assets outside of the stock market, and current or former business owners.
Our clients know that it's not the "investment black box" alone that will achieve their True Life, but the synergy created by aligning investments with all of the other aspects of their plan, as well as what the clients themselves contribute. We believe in market efficiency, broad diversification, structured exposure to risk, and careful management of fees and taxes. We partner with investment managers who create sophisticated portfolios built on logic, empirical evidence and highly-respected academic research. If you're looking for an investment advisor who is actively trading accounts, intra-day, we are not the right fit. We aim to benefit from being exposed to the markets, not timing them.
At clients' request, we conduct full reviews quarterly. We also have notifications in place around client accounts, and reach out to them regarding abnormal fluctuations in account value. Clients are also able to email with questions 24 hours a day, and can expect response within 24 hours.
Barring a unique situation that is beyond the scope of our practice, clients work solely with the founder of True Life Financial Planning, Tony Pampel. Outside specialists may be consulted, but only after notification and agreement of the client.
Check out why we think TLFP is different over at the About the Firm page.

About Tony

I've spent over a decade in this industry, serving as a financial advisor to families and business owners for seven of those years. The last two years before founding True Life Financial Planning were spent as the Director of Financial Planning in a local firm, and helped construct and deliver over 70 plans each year.
I am. I received my certification in March, 2011. I believe that the CFP® certification should serve as a bare minimum to entry for individuals who are truly dedicated to serving as comprehensive financial planners.
Before you dig into the list of my other designations, let me say something about why I have a few. I believe that, in order to provide the utmost quality to clients, a financial advisor must be continually learning throughout their career. My designations are more than a collection of letters after my name. They're evidence of my ongoing commitment to becoming a better advisor for my clients.

CPWA® - Certified Private Wealth Advisor - High-net-worth individuals have unique needs that can’t be properly addressed by an advisor with a basic financial planning background. The Certified Private Wealth Advisor® (CPWA®) certification program is an advanced credential created specifically for wealth managers who work with these clients, focusing on life cycle of wealth: accumulation, preservation, and distribution. Candidates who earn the certification learn to identify and analyze challenges high-net-worth individuals face, and understand how to develop specific strategies to minimize taxes, monetize and protect assets, maximize growth, and transfer wealth.

CFS® - The Certified Fund Speciliast® program is a 135-hour, graduate level course covering exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, real estate investment trusts (REITS), tax concerns, risk and portfolio analysis, and portfolio allocation based on Modern Portfolio Theory. This designation helps me guide clients to the investment portfolio that is the best fit for their needs.

CLTC - The "Certified in Long-Term Care" (CLTC) designation was created in 1999. It focuses on the discipline of extended care planning. It provides professionals the critical tools necessary to discuss the subject of longevity and its consequences on their client's family and finances. Students learn how to mitigate these consequences by developing a plan to protect their clients and their families. With clients living longer lives every year, the largest financial threat for many is the cost of long-term medical care. While I do not sell any long-term care products, helping clients customize a contingency plan is part-and-parcel of comprehensive planning.

MBA - I completed an MBA in entrepreneurial finance from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2008. I come from an entire family of entrepreneurs, and I have always had a special place in my heart for working with business owners. While it's true that no one knows your business better than you do, my combination of academic knowledge and a background in real life experience have been helping business owners take their ideas to the next level for years.

Before moving to Dallas with my wife, I spent my entire life on the water. My formative years were spent playing in the surf in Gulf Shores, Alabama where I grew up. I've been sailing, surfing and scuba diving since before I can remember. Part of my own True Life plan is to construct a business that allows me to enjoy those things again, and to help my children experience the same joys that I have. My logo is representative of the guidance that I can provide you. You’re the captain; let me help navigate. The logo and site design are both intentional reminders of why I built this business in the first place: to help clients find their authentic self, to help them live their own True Life.
 

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