Engagement · Retainer schedule

Annual retainers, fee-only. No products. No commissions.

We earn from one revenue line: client retainers paid in equal quarterly installments. We accept no commissions, fund placement fees, or referral incentives from any third-party manager, insurance carrier, or product issuer. Ever.

Four engagement tiers

Four tiers, indexed to complexity.

Tier is determined by household complexity, not assets under your wealth manager. A $7M founder with concentrated stock and a pending exit may sit in Tier III; a $40M household with simple public-stock holdings and no active business may sit in Tier I.

Tier I

Foundational

$5M — $15M / Simple structure
$48k
per year · quarterly retainer
  • Annual 7-year projection model
  • Quarterly variance review meeting
  • Annual CPA hand-off package
  • Q4 year-end checklist
  • 2 partner meetings per year
  • Email turnaround under 48 hrs
Inquire about Tier I
Tier II

Standard

$10M — $40M / Multi-state, entities
$96k
per year · quarterly retainer
  • All of Tier I
  • Quarterly entity health check
  • Annual entity org chart refresh
  • Quarterly multi-state nexus update
  • 4 partner meetings per year
  • Pre-event consults for liquidity events
Inquire about Tier II
Tier IV

UHNW & Family

$80M+ / Multi-gen / international
$240k+
per year · bespoke quote
  • All of Tiers I–III
  • Family-meeting facilitation
  • G2/G3 financial-literacy program
  • Cross-border & treaty work included
  • Private foundation administration
  • Outside-counsel coordination
  • SOC 2 audit access & annual report
Inquire about Tier IV
What's included by tier

Itemized service inclusion by tier.

Each pillar has a clear inclusion mark by tier. If a service is gray-italic, it’s available a la carte at standard hourly rates ($475–$650/hr depending on advisor seniority).

Service line
Tier I
Tier II
Tier III
Tier IV
7-year projection modelPillar I
Quarterly variance reviewsPillar I
2/yr
Entity org chart & restructuringPillar II
a la carte
SLAT / GRAT / IDGT designPillar III
a la carte
a la carte
QSBS qualification opinionPillar IV
a la carte
+$15k
R&D credit & cost-segPillar IV
a la carte
+$22k
Cross-border & treaty workPillar V
a la carte
+$28k
+$18k
DAF / CLT / CRUT structuringPillar VI
a la carte
a la carte
Family-meeting facilitationUHNW only
a la carte
SOC 2 access & audit reportTrust infrastructure
request
Three things we don’t do

Three lines we do not cross.

The fee-only model only works if certain revenue is permanently off the table. These are the three lines we will not cross, regardless of the engagement size or the prospective economics.

i.

No commissions

We do not accept commissions, kickbacks, fund-placement fees, or referral incentives from any wealth manager, insurance carrier, fund GP, or product issuer. Period.

ii.

No products

We do not sell life insurance, annuities, structured products, mutual funds, or any in-house investment vehicle. We have no proprietary funds, separate accounts, or strategy products.

iii.

No aggressive shelters

We do not market or design transactions that meet the IRS definition of a listed transaction or a transaction of interest. Our work would survive a public reading at a Tax Court trial.

Family-office referral program

For relationships that outgrow us.

Roughly 8% of our active book eventually transitions to a single-family or multi-family office. We have built relationships with three of those firms specifically to make the hand-off graceful, with shared workpapers and continuity of strategy.

The referral program in three pieces

If your situation is approaching the threshold where a dedicated single-family office makes sense, we will introduce you to one of three vetted firms and remain on call as your strategic-tax counsel for the first 24 months of the transition.

No referral fee changes hands in either direction. The program exists because we would rather lose the retainer than fail the client.

i.
Vetted introduction

Direct intro to managing principal at one of three referral-partner family offices.

ii.
24-mo continuity

Remain on call as strategic-tax counsel during the family-office transition.

iii.
Shared workpapers

All projection models, entity charts, and trust documents transfer cleanly.

iv.
No referral fees

No money changes hands in either direction. Ever.

Engagement inquiry

Tier indexed to complexity, never to assets.

Request a strategy session and we’ll quote you the right tier, in writing, before you leave the call. The first hour is free.

Request strategy session