“we are licensed to advise, not to sell”

A fiduciary duty is an acceptance of responsibility to act in the best interests of another person or entity. Financial advisors can choose to have fiduciary duty to their clients…or they can choose not to. It’s an easy choice. Being a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, Michael Pensinger must adhere to a fiduciary level of care to his clients. CFP® professionals are required to act as a fiduciary at all times when providing financial advice to a client; financial advice is broadly defined. At the foundation of being a fiduciary is to be independent and to follow a fee-only compensation structure.

Independent simply means we have no products to sell you; instead, what we do is we go out to the marketplace to find the best investments to fit your financial needs. We have no ulterior motives. We are not driven by commissions or revenue sharing. Advisors at non fee-only firms, such as banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies are; they manage your portfolio based upon which products generate commissions, offer revenue-sharing or get them a bigger bonus. This is wrong. You should not be treated this way and your money should not be managed this way.

The fee-only compensation structure is far superior to the traditional broker/dealer transaction business because it directly aligns the advisor with your best interests. When an advisor receives commissions or revenue sharing from an investment product s/he is acting in direct conflict with your best interest. Thus, the advisor is placing your money into a particular investment simply because it gets him/her paid. This compensation structure is bad for the advisor and worse for you.

We care so much about our clients that we specifically designed our company to be independent and fee-only. Being independent and fee-only is truly the best way - the only way - to prove you come first to us.