Fee-Only Financial Planner in The Woodlands, TX
Tiverton Wealth provides flat-fee financial planning within a fiduciary advisory relationship for pre-retirees and retirees in The Woodlands — one coordinated plan across income, insurance, tax, investments, retirement and estate, with tax efficiency considered at every step.
No cost, no obligation. Just a conversation about where you are and where you’d like to go.
Planning Is the Work. The Portfolio Comes After.
Tiverton Wealth is built around planning work: establishing when you can stop working, how much you can reasonably spend, which account to draw from first, and what any of it does to your tax bill five and fifteen years from now. The investment strategy follows from that plan rather than standing in for it.
A fee-only planner is compensated solely by the clients they serve. Tiverton Wealth receives no commissions, sales loads, referral fees or revenue sharing from any third party, and charges a flat planning fee rather than a percentage of assets, so the cost of advice is tied to the complexity of your situation rather than the size of your account.
The firm’s office is in The Woodlands, and most clients live within a short drive of it. Meetings happen in person or by video, whichever suits the week.
- The Woodlands, TX
- Conroe, TX
- Spring, TX
- Klein, TX
- Tomball, TX
- Cypress, TX
- Houston, TX
The Six Pillars of Your Financial Plan
A plan is not a portfolio and it is not a binder. Every engagement is built around six connected pillars, because a decision in one almost always moves something in another. Claiming Social Security early is a retirement decision, an income decision and a tax decision at the same time.
1. Income
Turning a lifetime of saving into a paycheck. Which accounts to draw from and in what order, what a sustainable withdrawal looks like for your situation, and how that shifts as Social Security, pensions and required distributions come online at different ages.
2. Insurance
Life, disability, long-term care, property and liability coverage measured against what you need now, including coverage you may still be paying for and no longer require. Tiverton does not sell insurance products and receives no commissions, referral fees, revenue sharing, or other compensation from insurance agents, brokerages, or carriers.
3. Tax
Tax planning runs through every other pillar rather than sitting beside it. Bracket management, conversion windows, charitable strategies and Medicare surcharge thresholds get reviewed while the year is still open and something can be done about them.
4. Investments
A portfolio built to fund the plan, not the other way around. Allocation, cost, which assets sit in taxable versus tax-deferred versus Roth accounts, concentrated positions with embedded gains, and rebalancing discipline through conditions no one can forecast.
5. Retirement
The date itself and everything attached to it. Social Security claiming, pension elections, health coverage between an early retirement and Medicare, and stress testing the plan against a long life, an early market decline or a change in circumstances.
6. Estate Planning
Making sure what you have built transfers the way you intend. Beneficiary designations, account titling, the ten-year rule on inherited retirement accounts, and coordination with your attorney so the documents and the accounts agree with each other.
A Tax-Planning Window That Can Be Easy to Overlook
The years between the end of full-time earnings and the start of required minimum distributions are often the most flexible tax years of a person’s life, and among the easiest to let pass unused. Earned income has slowed or stopped, Social Security may not have started, and withdrawals are still discretionary. Decisions made in that window can shape taxable income for decades afterward. Depending on your circumstances, planning during it may include:
- Partial Roth conversions Evaluating whether converting a portion of a traditional IRA while you are in a lower marginal bracket may be worthwhile, and how much to convert in any given year.
- Withdrawal sequencing Deciding the order in which taxable, tax-deferred and Roth accounts get drawn down, rather than defaulting to whichever is easiest to reach.
- Social Security timing Coordinating when benefits begin with the rest of your taxable income, since claiming early can crowd out room you might otherwise have used.
- Medicare IRMAA thresholds Watching the income levels that trigger Medicare surcharges, which look back two years, so a one-off spike does not surprise you later.
- Charitable giving structure For households that already give, reviewing whether qualified charitable distributions or a donor-advised fund may be a more efficient route than writing checks.
- What your heirs inherit Planning around the ten-year distribution rule so a large pre-tax balance does not land on the next generation during their own highest-earning years.
Tax planning is integrated into Tiverton Wealth’s financial planning process. Tiverton Tax, LLC, a separate affiliated entity under common ownership, provides the comprehensive tax analysis included with the Initial Planning Engagement and prepares annual income tax returns for clients who maintain an Ongoing Subscription, under a separate tax engagement agreement. Clients are not required to use Tiverton Tax, LLC and may use another tax professional of their choosing. Planning fees are published on the How We Get Paid page.
An Independent Firm in The Woodlands
Tiverton Wealth is an independent, fee-only investment adviser with a single office in The Woodlands. Clients across Montgomery and Harris counties are welcome to meet in person, and many choose video calls simply because they are easier to schedule.
2001 Timberloch Place, Suite 500
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Phone: 281-865-8858
Email: alex@tivertonwealth.com
Fee-Only Financial Planner FAQs
What is the difference between a fee-only and a fee-based financial planner?
The two terms sound alike and mean different things. A fee-only planner is paid only by the clients they serve and accepts no commissions or third-party compensation. A fee-based planner may charge a fee and also earn commissions on products they sell. Tiverton Wealth is fee-only, and sells no insurance, annuity or investment products for commission.
Is a financial planner different from a financial advisor?
Neither title is legally protected, so the labels alone tell you very little. In practice, planning describes the broader work — income, insurance, tax, investments, retirement and estate considered together — while advisory work often centres on managing a portfolio. What matters more than the title is how the person is paid, whether they act as a fiduciary, and what their credentials require of them.
How does flat-fee financial planning work?
Rather than charging a percentage of the assets under management, Tiverton Wealth charges a flat planning fee based on the complexity of your situation. You know the cost before you engage, and it does not rise simply because a portfolio grew. The full structure is published on the How We Get Paid page.
What are the six pillars of financial planning?
Tiverton Wealth organises every plan around income, insurance, tax, investments, retirement and estate planning. Addressing them together rather than one at a time is what keeps a decision in one area from quietly creating a problem in another — a Roth conversion, for example, is simultaneously a tax decision, an income decision and an estate decision.
Can you help with my tax return as well as my financial plan?
Tax planning is integrated into Tiverton Wealth’s financial planning process. Tiverton Tax, LLC, a separate affiliated entity under common ownership, provides the comprehensive tax analysis included with the Initial Planning Engagement and prepares annual income tax returns for clients who maintain an Ongoing Subscription, under a separate tax engagement agreement. Clients are not required to use Tiverton Tax, LLC and may use another tax professional of their choosing.
Do I need a minimum portfolio size to work with a fee-only planner?
Many firms that charge a percentage of assets set an account minimum, because a smaller portfolio does not generate enough revenue to support the relationship. A flat fee based on planning complexity works differently, which can make the arrangement workable for households that would not meet those minimums. The discovery call is the quickest way to find out whether it fits your situation.
This page is provided by Tiverton Wealth, LLC for general educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute personalized investment, tax, or legal advice, and should not be relied upon as a substitute for advice from a qualified professional familiar with your specific circumstances. Tiverton Wealth, LLC is a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor providing services only in jurisdictions where it is properly registered or exempt from registration. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, and no strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please consult with a qualified financial, tax, or legal professional before making decisions based on this content.
Let’s Talk About Your Plan
One conversation is usually enough to tell whether Tiverton Wealth’s flat-fee planning approach may be a good fit for your situation.
Schedule A Call with Alex