Financial planning covers far more than investments: cash flow, debt, insurance, taxes, and account details, looked at together rather than one piece at a time. Koinos offers three ways to work together depending on what you need, from a single decision to an ongoing relationship, and none of them require a minimum amount of assets to start.
When people hear "financial planning," most think of one thing: picking investments. Maybe a mutual fund. Maybe a retirement account. Something to do with the stock market, at least.
That's only a small part of something much bigger and more comprehensive.
What does financial planning actually include, beyond investments?
Financial planning, when done right, looks at your whole financial life at once. How much you're spending versus earning. What debt you're carrying, and at what interest rate. Whether you'd survive a job loss or a medical emergency without going into debt to cover it. How much you'll owe in taxes this year and next. Whether your accounts and beneficiaries are set up the way you want. And yes, how your investments are set up. Not to mention education planning and insurance review, among other things.
All of it together, not one piece at a time.
"Together" is the point, and it's the part most people don't think about.
Why does it help to look at your finances as one connected picture?
Say you have $10,000 in a savings account and $8,000 in credit card debt at 22% interest. An investment-only conversation skips right past that and starts talking about which fund to buy. A plan that looks at the whole picture asks a different question first: is that debt costing you more than any reasonable investment could earn you back? Almost always, yes. So the plan starts there, not with a fund pick.
Or maybe your employer offers stock as part of your compensation package, and some of it is about to vest (i.e., become available for purchase and/or sale). A narrow answer just tells you when to sell it. A plan that looks at the whole picture asks how that decision affects your taxes this year, whether it changes how much you should save in your work retirement account, and what it means for the emergency fund you were supposed to build at the same time.
One decision potentially touches several others. Treating them separately is how people end up with a good-looking investment account and a financial life that's quietly falling apart around it.
I don't think of financial planning as a product you buy once. It's closer to a habit: looking at your money as a single connected system, rather than a pile of separate accounts that don't talk to each other.
Access to that support shouldn't be reserved for people who've already built up a lot. If anything, it matters more before you have, since that's when the decisions have the most years left to compound, for better or worse.
What does this look like in practice at Koinos?
As a fee-onlyMathew is paid only by the fees clients pay him directly — never commissions for selling a product. That means there's no hidden incentive to steer you toward one investment or insurance policy over another. fiduciaryA legal and ethical duty to act in the client's best interest at all times — not just recommend something that's merely “suitable.” Not every financial professional is held to this standard. firm with no asset minimum, Koinos offers three ways to work together, depending on what you actually need.
Some people want the full picture built once: a complete written plan covering all of it, cash flow, debt, insurance, taxes, and investments, that's yours to keep. That's a one-time plan. You get one working session to build it and one meeting to walk through it, and there's no obligation to come back afterward. Some people take the plan and run with it. Others come back later for the ongoing version.
Other people have one specific question that needs a complete answer: what to do with stock that's vestingThe schedule on which stock or retirement benefits actually become yours to keep, rather than something you'd forfeit if you left., whether to take a pension as a lump sum or monthly income, how to handle a home purchase or an inheritance. That's one decision. I put the question in writing before any work starts, and you get a full written answer with the reasoning shown, not just a recommendation you have to take on faith.
And some people want an ongoing relationship. The plan is reviewed twice a year and revised annually, with a direct line to me in between for the job offer, the strange tax form, the house you've now walked through twice, and graduate school. That's ongoing planning. It's the option that keeps the plan current instead of letting it go stale the moment your life changes, which it will.
None of these require a minimum amount of assets to start. I built Koinos that way on purpose.
If you're not sure which of these fits your situation, that's a completely normal place to start. You can see the full breakdown, including fees, on the services page, or just book a free call and we can figure it out together.
