Financial Second Opinion · Tucson, Arizona
Someone Built Your Plan. Has Anyone Checked It Since?
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What we look at
Six questions nobody was assigned to ask
We are not reviewing your investment performance or second-guessing your advisor’s judgment. We are checking whether the pieces of your plan contradict each other — which is the one thing that falls between everybody’s job description.
Do your documents and your accounts agree?
Beneficiary designations override your will. Account titling overrides your intentions. When the paperwork contradicts the plan, the paperwork wins — and almost nobody re-reads it after the trust is signed.
Is your trust actually funded?
A trust that owns nothing does nothing. Documents get drafted, executed, and filed — and then the assets never get retitled into them. It is the single most common gap we find.
Who owns your life insurance?
A policy you own personally is counted inside your taxable estate. The money meant to pay the estate tax can enlarge it. Ownership is an estate question that gets decided on an insurance application.
Is your buy-sell agreement funded?
An unfunded buy-sell is a promise, not a plan. If the agreement says the surviving owners buy your share, something has to put the cash in their hands on the worst day of the year.
Does your withdrawal order make sense?
Which account you draw from first changes your tax bracket, your Medicare premiums two years out, and what your heirs eventually inherit. Most people default to whatever is easiest.
Was any of this built under old tax law?
Plans built under previous rules can quietly stop doing what they were designed to do. The SECURE Act alone changed how inherited retirement accounts work. Nobody sends a notice when your plan goes stale.
We review coordination, not investment performance. Anything requiring legal or tax advice goes to your attorney or CPA — and we will tell you which is which.
What you get
A straight answer, in writing
No presentation, no proposal, no follow-up sequence. You get a clear read on what you already have and what we found — in a form you can hand to your attorney or your CPA.
Before we meet
Send what you have, or bring it. Trust documents, beneficiary forms, insurance policies, buy-sell agreements, recent statements. Whatever exists. If you are not sure what matters, send more rather than less — sorting that out is our job, not yours.
The conversation
One session, usually ninety minutes, at your kitchen table or your office. We go through what we found: where the pieces agree, where they contradict, and what the contradiction actually costs if nothing changes. You ask questions. We answer them plainly.
What you keep
A written summary of the findings, organized by which professional handles what. Some items go to your attorney. Some to your CPA. Some are ours if you want them to be. You own the document either way, and you are free to take it anywhere.
The honest part
There is no obligation and nothing to sign. If everything checks out, we will tell you that and you will have spent an afternoon confirming your plan is sound. If it doesn’t, you will know exactly what to fix and who should fix it.
When a second look is worth it
Four moments worth checking
Plans don’t go stale on a schedule. They go stale when something changes and nobody revisits the paperwork. These are the moments that most often leave a gap.
Your plan is more than five years old
Tax law moved. Your business grew or shrank. Someone was born, married, or divorced. The plan was right for the situation it was built for — the question is whether that situation still exists.
Different people built different pieces
An attorney drafted the trust. An agent sold the policy. A broker opened the accounts. Each did their part correctly, and none of them saw the others’ work. This is where contradictions live.
Something significant just changed
A sale, an inheritance, a diagnosis, a death in the family. Big changes make old assumptions obsolete faster than anything else, and they usually arrive when nobody has the bandwidth to review paperwork.
You have a feeling something’s off
You can’t point to it, but the plan doesn’t quite add up when you think about it. That instinct is usually worth following. Often it turns out to be nothing — and knowing that is worth the afternoon too.
Second opinion questions
Frequently asked questions
Bring what you already have
Find out what nobody has checked
Send your documents or bring them. We read what you have, tell you where the pieces disagree, and put the findings in writing. You keep your advisor, your attorney, and your CPA — and you keep the document, wherever you decide to take it.
Schedule a ConsultationNo fee · No obligation · Tucson, Arizona