Why Dovetail Financial Exists
Retirement changes the questions people bring to financial planning.
A paycheck may be ending. A tax choice may affect more than this year’s return. A family or health question may change what should stay available.
Dovetail exists for those moments, when the numbers matter and the life around the numbers matters too.
Through Human-First Financial Guidance®, we begin with the person. Then we connect the financial decisions around the life the money is meant to support.
The Firm
Dovetail Financial works with people nearing or living in retirement from its offices in Wilmington, NC, and Duluth, GA, and with clients in other states.
The firm has served households from the same Wilmington location for more than 20 years.
Many people come to Dovetail when retirement is getting closer, retirement has already begun, or one decision is starting to affect another part of life.
Our work is to help them see what the decision touches, what should be reviewed, and what may need to stay available as life changes.
Leadership
Ross Marino is the founder and CEO of Dovetail Financial and the creator of Human-First Financial Guidance®.
For more than 30 years, his work has focused on helping people make financial decisions during periods of change, especially as retirement gets closer or unfolds.
He taught Retirement Planning and Employee Benefits in the CFP® curriculum at UNC Wilmington and is the co-author of Shaping Change: How to Respond When Life Disrupts Your Retirement Plan.
His work has been recognized by InvestmentNews, WealthManagement.com, and ThinkAdvisor, which named him the 2024 LUMINARIES Thought Leader of the Year in the RIA category.
That background shapes how Dovetail works today: start with the person, make the decision easier to understand, and connect the financial pieces around the life they are meant to support.
Collaborative Approach
Some retirement questions involve more than the advisor and the client.
When a decision may affect tax filing, estate documents, healthcare choices, or another professional area, Dovetail can coordinate with the appropriate professional.
The point is not coordination for its own sake. It is to help the people involved work from the same picture before one choice creates a problem somewhere else.
Professional Standards
Dovetail Financial Group LLC is a fee-only Registered Investment Adviser that operates under a fiduciary standard of care.
Our Human-First Advisors™ provide fee-only financial planning and are compensated through advisory fees, not commissions from investment or insurance product sales.
That means advice is provided with an obligation to act in the client’s best interest. It also means recommendations should be explained in the context of the retirement decisions they are meant to support.
The focus is not on isolated recommendations. It is helping people understand what a decision touches, what may need review, and what should stay connected over time.
A Thoughtful Next Step
Seeing whether Dovetail is the right fit starts with a conversation.
We will talk about your situation, what is changing, and whether the way we work fits what you are looking for.
