OUR SERVICES
In an industry crowded with mediocrity and clouded by conflicting interests, our firm stands apart.
Cambridge Capital Management is a fee-only investment management firm offering advisory services that are completely objective and never misguided by proprietary kickbacks.
YOUR NEEDS
Let Cambridge Capital Help Plan Your Retirement
Our wealth management firm serves a variety of clients. Whatever your financial goals and intentions, we can create a plan specifically tailored to meet your needs.
Current Retirees
For our clients who have reached retirement age, we offer wealth management strategies to help you maintain a comfortable cash flow now and for the future. We evaluate your needs and listen to your goals to help create a plan that fits your lifestyle. We can provide you with guidance to properly account for all of your income streams such as assets, pensions and social security so that you can make the most educated financial decisions.
At Cambridge Capital Management, we do not take a one-size-fits-all approach to wealth management. Instead, we intently listen to your goals and objectively identify your needs to help create a plan that works best for you.
We can provide you with guidance to properly account for all of your income streams such as assets, pensions and social security so that you can make the most educated financial decisions.
Come in and sit down with our team so that we can create a comprehensive plan to help you maintain a comfortable cash flow now and for the future.
Retirement on the Horizon
If you plan to retire soon, there are many things to consider before you start converting your retirement assets into livable income. We can help you evaluate your current expenses and advise you on the best plan of action for managing your assets now to help you reach your lifestyle and financial goals in retirement.
Our team of advisors will help evaluate your current retirement assets and advise you on the most effective ways to convert those assets into livable income. We will conduct an in-depth projected cash flow analysis and provide you with objective strategies to help you reach your retirement goals.
Remember, as a fee-only firm, Cambridge Capital Management is committed to always looking out for your best interests and never conflicted by ulterior motives.
The Emerging Affluent
Many of our clients are still years from retiring, but want to actively plan for their financial future. If you are in the process of building your nest egg, our firm can help guide you with intelligent money management strategies and intuitive planning ideas. We will help create a personalized financial plan that takes into consideration your goals for growth in addition to your tolerance for risk.
Our team at Cambridge Capital Management is here to help you make smart investment decisions now so that your money can continue to work for you as you continue to work.
Our wealth management strategies are completely customized based on your personal financial goals and your individual risk tolerance. We want to spend time with you, talking about your vision for the future and helping you create a tangible plan for achieving your goals.
Business Owners
We realize that for most business owners, the business is their greatest asset. At Cambridge Capital Management, our knowledge, experience and resources allow us to sort through the complexities of your financial affairs to maximize your business’s potential. Along with your CPA and Attorney, our wealth managers can advise you on minimizing your tax liabilities, succession planning, executive compensation strategies and more.
If you are a business owner looking for an experienced financial firm to help guide your employees, Cambridge Capital Management also offers several options for employee retirement plan consulting.
- Employee Enrollment Meetings
We can lead or help co-present at enrollment meetings to encourage plan participation and help employees choose appropriate deferral rates and investment elections. We can also provide online or printed educational materials for your employees. - Participant Education
We can provide a broad range of targeted online or printed investment education materials that address the varied needs of participants with different financial goals, life-stage issues, and levels of investment knowledge. - Participant Advisory Services
We can work directly with participants to help them evaluate their retirement savings goals and implement appropriate contribution amounts and investments available in the plan.
People in Transition
Unexpected changes in life can often catapult financial issues, either by presenting you with sudden prosperity, or with unintended struggle. If you are going through a divorce, have recently lost a loved one or otherwise experienced some financial windfall, developing a plan is extremely important. You will be faced with decisions that will have a significant and lasting impact on your future financial wellbeing.
Our financial advisors are here to help you sort through your affairs, identify any problems or issues, and prioritize the decisions that must be made at a pace that is comfortable for you. In these times, it is important to have a trusted partner who is familiar with such situations.
OUR DIFFERENCE
At Cambridge Capital Management, our firm stands apart from the competition by offering customized, Fee-Only services executed through a strategic process.
We are earnestly committed to upholding an exceptional fiduciary standard to provide our clients with honest, objective financial advice.
Why Choose a Fee-Only Financial Firm?
Fee-Only financial planners are different from most advisors because they are paid directly by their clients. This unique independent status allows them to remain direct and unbiased in their advice.
Other firms may have the ability to charge clients a fee for acting as their adviser while also receiving commissions on the products they sell to their clients. In our opinion, this creates the potential for corrupted motivation of the advisor, because the adviser has an incentive to sell products in the best interest of their firm, not their client.
At Cambridge Capital Management, LLC, we receive no benefit from brokerage firms, commissions, finder's fees, or products of any kind. This allows us to focus strictly on developing and implementing disciplined investment and financial planning strategies for you, without interference by any conflicting self-interests.
Our Process
We understand that today's consumers have access to endless resources for obtaining financial advice-the internet, magazines, investment clubs, talk shows and word-of-mouth. Knowing what information is relevant, how to analyze it, and how to turn it into wise financial decisions, however, requires more than occasional research and generalized guidance.
At Cambridge Capital Management, LLC, we take a comprehensive approach to financial planning, providing an array of customized financial services to each client. With our process, clients benefit from coordinated investments and strategic financial planning.
To establish a long-term, mutually rewarding relationship with our clients, we adhere to the following process for pinpointing the best possible financial solutions:
- Establishing the Relationship
Our client relationships typically begin with phone calls and in-person meetings. During this time we learn about your needs and make sure you thoroughly understand what we can offer you. We will make a commitment only when we agree that the relationship can be mutually beneficial. - Gathering Necessary Information
We will gather the information from you needed to better understand your specific needs and objectives through meetings, discussions, and our investment policy questionnaire. - Integration of Key Wealth Management Elements
We will review general financial issues, such as cash-flow needs, tax situation, retirement planning, estate planning, and other considerations specific to your situation. This will ensure that our investment strategy meets all of your personal financial goals. - Development of Your Investment Strategy
Together we will develop an appropriate investment strategy for your portfolio. This will include an asset allocation based on our understanding of your risk tolerance, time horizon, and tax situation. We will continually evaluate the appropriateness of this strategy as your situation evolves. - Portfolio Transition Strategy
We will transition your current holdings into our new strategy through a mutually agreed upon process, while minimizing any tax ramifications. We will help you to consolidate your current investment accounts, coordinate asset transfers, and monitor the movement process to ensure everything takes place as agreed upon. - Portfolio Implementation and Ongoing Management
Once your assets have been consolidated and relocated, we will monitor and adjust your portfolio as needed using our discretionary authority. Any changes will be based on our manager's due diligence and tactical asset allocation decisions. - Portfolio Reporting and Reviews
You will receive a monthly statement from your custodian for each of your accounts. Additionally, you will receive a quarterly statement from us depicting your portfolio's holdings and performance versus various asset class benchmarks. You will also receive our quarterly newsletter at that time which discusses market reviews written by the principal of our firm and informative concept pieces. We are always available to meet with our clients to review their portfolio and answer any questions that may arise.
The RIA Fiduciary Standard
Federal law requires that Registered Investment Advisers (RIA) be held to a Fiduciary Standard. This means an advisor must act solely in the best interest of the client; even if that interest is in conflict with the adviser's own financial interest. Investment Advisers must disclose any conflict to the client prior to and throughout a business engagement. In addition, Investment Advisers must adopt a Code of Ethics and fully disclose how they are compensated.
Unfortunately, not all "financial advisers" are federally or state-registered Investment Advisers (RIA). Many financial advisers are considered "Broker-Dealers" by the SEC. They are held to a lower standard of diligence on behalf of their clients. While they are required to be "fair and suitable" in their recommendations, they have no legal obligation to put your interests ahead of their own personal interests.
Cambridge Capital Management, LLC is committed to upholding the RIA Fiduciary Standard. Putting our clients' best interests first is neither a financial nor legal burden on us; it is a logical extension of the relationship we build with each client.
Professional Affiliations
Beyond our financial planning services, Cambridge Capital Management, LLC also maintains valuable professional affiliations to help further benefit our clients.
Charles Schwab & Company, Inc.
Our clients can have peace of mind knowing that Charles Schwab & Company, Inc. acts as our qualified custodian. As one of the largest financial institutions in the world, Schwab safely guards our clients’ assets while providing convenient online access, daily account valuations and streamlined monthly statements for easy review.
NAPFA
Cambridge Capital Management, LLC is a registered member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), the country's leading professional association of Fee-Only financial advisors. This membership qualifies us as being one of the few financial firms to meet the highest standards for professional competency, client-focused financial planning, and Fee-Only compensation.
OUR SOLUTIONS
At Cambridge Capital Management, we are focused on providing clients with comprehensive investment and wealth management services. Through our wide range of financial planning solutions, we can help you identify and capitalize on your unique financial opportunities.
Start Planning Today!
Retirement Planning
Our retirement process begins by encouraging you to envision your retirement lifestyle.
What age would you like to retire?
Where would you like to live?
What activities do you want to do in retirement?
Once you have an idea of what retirement looks like for you, it's time for us to develop a plan to make that vision a reality. Together we will look at your current assets and project where those assets could be in the future. Should your vision be bigger than your current means, we'll show you what changes can be made now to help you get on track to reaching those goals in retirement.
A primary focus when putting together your retirement plan will be to minimize the taxation of your retirement assets. While working, you have many different retirement saving options like your employer-sponsored plan, Roth IRA, taxable savings, etc. Each option will be taxed differently upon distribution in retirement. We will use the types of accounts above to develop a savings strategy for you that will both manage your tax liability now and in retirement.
Once retirement begins, we will help you transition your savings strategy into a spending strategy that will best utilize and preserve your assets while giving you spending flexibility in retirement.
Investment Management
1. Portfolio Design
Designing an investment portfolio involves creating a policy to fit your needs based on various factors (investment goals, risk tolerance, and time horizon), choosing investments that match your policy, and implementing the design.
We begin by asking you some basic investment questions. For example, why are you investing? Perhaps you would like to buy a house, or maybe you want to retire early. Next, we need to know how comfortable you are with investing. Are you a cautious investor, or are you willing to take risks? Then, we take into account your time horizon for investing. Are you saving for your toddler's college education or to retire in a few years? Finally, we determine what types of investments will best help us work toward your goals. In other words, what is the proper asset allocation for your particular situation? Your answers to these questions can be a starting point for constructing an investment policy and mapping out a portfolio design.
2. Investment Selection
Once we've determined your financial goals and how your time horizon, risk tolerance, and liquidity needs affect them, it's time to think about how your investments might help you achieve those goals. When considering any investment, we think about what it offers in terms of three key investment goals:
- Growth: In investing terms, growth (also known as capital appreciation) is an increase in the value of an investment; in other words, you can sell it for more than you paid for it. Your capital is the money you put into an investment initially. If you buy a stock that costs $10 a share and eventually sell the stock for $12 a share, that extra $2 represents capital appreciation, or growth.
- Income: Some investments make periodic payments of interest or dividends. Those payments represent investment income, which can be spent or reinvested. For retirees, income obviously is a key investment goal, but it can be important for other reasons as well. For example, income payments can help offset the impact of the ups and downs of a growth-oriented investment.
- Stability: This is sometimes known as capital preservation or protection of principal. An investment that focuses on stability concentrates less on increasing the value of that investment and more on trying to ensure that it doesn't lose value. If you plan to spend a certain amount of money soon and want to make sure the money is there when you need it, stability might be your primary investment goal.
With each individual investment, there is a relationship between growth, income, and stability. The more an investment offers in one of those areas, the more you may have to trade off in terms of the other two. The key to setting investment goals is to tailor each investment to what you want it to do for you. You may choose to have a single investment goal for a given financial goal, as in the example of making stability a priority for short-term money. Or you may prefer to combine several investments to achieve a balance among stability, income, and growth so that you maximize your overall returns at a level of risk that you're comfortable with and that suits your financial goal.
3. Portfolio Management
Once we have settled on a policy that reflects your attitudes about investing and a portfolio design that will help you pursue your goals, the next step is managing your investments. This is the subsequent selection of investments (the actual buying and selling) in keeping with the overall portfolio design.
Managing a portfolio is one of the most important steps in the investment process. Properly managing an investment portfolio requires knowing not only what investments to purchase, but also when to buy and sell them. In addition, managing a portfolio requires constant monitoring of performance, along with rebalancing and making adjustments as needed.
Risk Protection
Personal risk protection is an essential component of any comprehensive financial plan. For most people purchasing insurance is one of the most cost effective ways to minimize risk, but unfortunately, advice about insurance products is often skewed by the personal motivations of those who sell it.
For this reason, it may not be in your best interest to take advice only from an insurance salesperson who will be earning a commission on the products they sell. In our experience, the size of the potential commissions, especially for life insurance, often cloud objectivity.
At Cambridge Capital Management, LLC, we do not sell insurance and we do not accept any commissions. Instead, we view risk protection as a part of your overall financial plan and will analyze your options with 100% objectivity. We are highly educated and knowledgeable about insurance products so that we can help you identify and secure appropriate coverage.
We assess the need for life insurance if you have a spouse and/or dependents who rely on your earning ability. We make sure you understand your needs for disability insurance or a long-term care policy.
We also look at your liability exposure and suggest appropriate auto, home, professional, and umbrella insurance coverage. The goal of our risk protection process is to make sure that you have adequate insurance to protect you against loss from the usual and unusual risks to which you may be exposed.
Estate Planning
At your death, you leave behind the people that you love and all your worldly goods. Without advance planning, you have no say about who gets what, and more of your property may go to others, like the federal government, instead of your loved ones. If you care about (1) how and to whom your property is distributed, and (2) ensuring that your property is preserved for your loved ones, you need to know more about estate planning.
Creating a successful estate plan takes specific goals. Key estate planning objectives can include minimizing taxes, avoiding probate, retaining control over property, protecting assets, and protecting against incapacity. There are a number of devices that can be employed to accomplish these goals; among them are gifts, wills, trusts (living or irrevocable), joint ownership arrangements, and beneficiary designations.
Working closely with your attorney, the work we do now will help organize your affairs. This will help to make the transition easier for those you leave behind.
Tax Planning
Investment planning can be important for several reasons. However, any discussion of investment planning is incomplete without a thorough understanding of the applicable income tax ramifications.
Tax planning can help you reduce the tax cost of your investments. Once we have created an investment plan to work toward your various financial goals, we will take advantage of the tax rules to ensure that you maximize the after-tax return on your investments. In other words, our goal is to select tax-favorable investments that are consistent with your overall investment plan.
Tax planning involves maximizing the after-tax return on your investments. This is beneficial because the wealth that remains after you pay your taxes is ultimately more important to you than the value of your investments. It's the after-tax payout that enables you to finance a home, a child's education, a vacation, or your retirement. We will help you make the best possible investment decisions to create a portfolio that maximizes your after-tax wealth.
Education Planning
At Cambridge Capital Management, we work with our clients to structure traditional and non-traditional education funding plans. Education costs have been increasing at a rate much greater than that of general inflation. Because of this, the need for expert financial guidance is more relevant today than ever before. New tools and resources, such as Section 529 plans, must be evaluated against other methods of saving for college. We will consult with you about your funding goals and help create a plan by providing you with expert advice on tax advantages and growth potential through various investment options.
Charitable Planning
Charitable giving is an important part of our country’s socioeconomic structure as the activities of religious and charitable organizations touch many lives, fulfilling needs that may not otherwise be met through public programs. As your individual wealth increases, you may wish to include charitable components in your estate plan. We can help you strategize your annual giving, whether you are seeking tax benefits or purely want to fulfill personal motivations for giving.
