Find the Retirement Planning Relationship That Fits You
You may be deciding when to retire, working out how to use your savings, or facing a change you did not expect. You may want to know how much to spend or whether to change your investments.
Dovetail works with people who want ongoing financial planning and investment management. Most are planning to retire within the next five years or are already living in retirement. The work can begin with one decision and continue as the plan is implemented and reviewed.
A good fit depends on the work you want help with and the relationship you want. You may make decisions on your own, with a spouse, or with another trusted person.
What Usually Brings People to Dovetail?
Retirement may have moved from a future idea to a set of financial decisions. One of these questions may sound familiar:
Would working another year change enough to matter?
How much can I spend while keeping enough for later needs?
Which accounts should provide retirement income?
Could that withdrawal change my taxes or Medicare premiums?
Does a family request change anything in my own plan?
Does the plan still make sense after this change?
Who Does Dovetail Often Serve?
We work primarily with married couples and single women, including widows. These are our primary audiences, not the only people we consider. We consider your circumstances, the financial decisions ahead, and the help you want.
Clients typically come to Dovetail with $1 million or more in retirement and investment assets. This describes the people Dovetail usually serves; it is not a formal account minimum.
People planning to retire within five years
You may be comparing retirement dates or deciding how your retirement income would begin. Health coverage before Medicare may also need attention.
People living in retirement
Actual spending and withdrawals may differ from earlier estimates. A move, family responsibility, or health change may also bring new decisions. You may want help deciding what needs attention and what can stay as it is.
People deciding together or independently
You may share decisions with someone else or make them independently. Your advisor asks how you want to participate and who else should be involved. Shared decisions need room for each person’s priorities and responsibilities.
Where Does Dovetail Work With Clients?
Dovetail’s Wilmington office serves people throughout Southeastern North Carolina, including New Hanover and Brunswick counties. If you live in Leland or one of Brunswick County’s coastal communities, you can meet with our Wilmington-based team at the Wilmington office by appointment or virtually. Either way, your primary advisor leads your ongoing retirement planning and investment management relationship, guided by Human-First Financial Guidance®. Dovetail also has an office in Duluth, Georgia, and works with clients virtually across the country.
Do You Want an Ongoing Advisory Relationship?
Dovetail brings retirement planning and investment management together in one ongoing relationship. Your advisor gets to know your circumstances, analyzes the financial choices, explains recommendations, and helps carry out your decisions.
The relationship continues after the initial plan. Your advisor monitors the financial picture, reviews decisions affected by change, and helps with new decisions as they arise.
A review can focus on what changed. Decisions that still fit do not need to be reopened simply because a review is taking place.
What Makes an Ongoing Advisory Relationship Fit?
You may arrive with a specific decision and want an advisor who will stay involved as other questions arise. The ongoing relationship connects that first decision with the rest of your financial life.
Review and adaptation
Revisit the assumptions and decisions affected by a change.
Ongoing advisory relationship
Connect the decisions and make recommendations. Support implementation and monitor the plan.
What Does Fee-Only Fiduciary Advice Mean at Dovetail?
Dovetail Financial Group LLC is a registered investment adviser. Its advisory relationship includes a fiduciary duty to act in the client’s best interest.
Dovetail’s advisors are compensated through advisory fees. They do not receive commissions from investment or insurance product sales.
Those facts matter, but they do not guarantee every relationship is the right one. Fiduciary status does not mean conflicts cannot exist. You should understand the services, fees, and material conflicts before deciding.
Credentials and compensation also do not prove retirement experience or personal fit. Ask who will advise you, how recommendations will be explained, and what the ongoing relationship includes.
What May Make Dovetail Worth Considering?
- You want an advisor who connects an understanding of your life with sound financial analysis.
- You want retirement planning and investment management within one ongoing relationship.
- You want clear recommendations, including the reasons, tradeoffs, and uncertainties that matter to you.
- You want room to ask questions and disagree, with candid advice when a choice could put something important at risk.
- You want continuing guidance for new decisions and changes to your plan.
An introductory call is a chance to ask questions and decide whether to continue. You are free to compare firms, pause, or choose a different relationship.
What Kind of Advisory Relationship Are You Looking For?
Tell us what brought you here and what you want help thinking through. Your first call is with Bryant Lester, CFP®. If it makes sense to continue, Bryant will introduce you to Ross or another Dovetail advisor who may become your primary advisor.
