Six reviews, each labelled and dated

The six reviews

1. 01

   What matteredThe quoted fee was the invoiced fee

   C01–C08

   We came in two years from retirement with three workplace plans, an old annuity and one question: whether we could stop working at sixty-two. Eleanor Marsh ran the numbers under several market scenarios, told us plainly which ones worked and which did not, and made no promises about the rest. The scope and the fee were written down before any of the work started, and the invoice matched the quote.

2. 02

   What matteredA quarterly meeting set once and kept

   C01–C04

   We moved to the ongoing arrangement after years of looking at statements and not understanding them. The first meeting was about what we already held rather than what we ought to buy: two brokerage accounts, a pension and cash sitting idle. Daniel Okafor set one meeting date each quarter and has kept every one. Nine months on, we know what we own and why we own it.

3. 03

   What matteredTold the larger service was not needed yet

   C07–C12

   What I noticed first is that the fee on the website was the fee I paid. I had asked about the full planning review and was told directly that my situation did not need it yet, and that a portfolio review would answer the question I actually had. Priya Raman's report showed what each fund cost me every year in dollars. That is not the answer a firm gives when it is selling.

4. 04

   What matteredA misread pension option found on paper

   C01–C06

   The session opened with a question I had not thought to ask: whether I understood the survivor option on my pension. We went through the choices on paper with the figures in front of us, and the answer turned out to rest on one clause I had misread. I left with a one-page note of the options and their trade-offs, not a sales pitch. The room is plain and quiet, which helped.

5. 05

   What matteredEvery assumption was written down

   C09–C12

   I used the contact form on a Sunday evening expecting nothing before the following week, and had a reply on Monday morning that answered my question instead of asking me to call. When the plan arrived, every figure I had been unsure about carried a note of the assumption behind it, and the risks were stated as plainly as the numbers. Nothing in it was dressed up as a certainty.

6. 06

   What matteredOne outdated beneficiary form corrected

   C01–C12

   After my husband died I mainly wanted somebody to tell me which of our accounts still named him. Thomas Reyes listed every account and policy with me, and we found one retirement account that still named a beneficiary from twenty years ago. The corrections went through our own attorney, exactly as the firm said they would. The inventory was written out for me and I have kept it.