What We Do

Ascend Financial Advisors, Inc. ("Ascend") provides fee-only financial planning and investment management services to individuals, families and small businesses. As attorneys and financial advisors we are uniquely qualified to provide a broad range of advice to our clients. This allows clients to make the most informed decisions possible. Fee-Only means Ascend is compensated solely by fees paid by our clients, as we do not accept commissions or compensation from any non-client source. Unlike financial advisors who act as both advisor and commissioned sales person, we can remain completely objective in the advice we give our clients. 

Ascend assists clients in setting financial goals and implements a plan to achieve their objectives. The process is dynamic in nature, mirroring the evolving impact of financial issues. Ascend offers either comprehensive or focused planning, depending on the needs of the client, in conjunction with our investment management services. Importantly, Ascend's role with our clients' other professional advisers is to serve as a catalyst in accomplishing desired objectives. Areas of concentration include: 

• Retirement Planning - establish retirement goals and objectives. Project future retirement needs. Review taxation issues and develop a funding strategy. 
  
  
• Estate Planning - review of client's current plans and examine strategies which will protect assets, minimize or eliminate estate taxes, and provide for future health care protection. As attorneys we can also prepare estate planning documents which implement your objectives. 
  
  
• Risk Management - review of the client's insurance programs and coordination with their insurance professional(s). 
  
  
• Cash Management - review of the client's sources and uses of funds for plan design. 
  
  
• Tax Planning and Coordination - a forecast of pertinent income and other taxes, and coordination with the client's tax preparer; key to implementation of this area includes integration with Ascend's investment management services. 
  
  
• Stock Option Analysis - Incentive and Non-Qualified diversification strategies and equity collars. 
  
  
• Post-Divorce Planning - review of pension plan rights and employee benefit rights. Coordinate preparation of Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) and Estate Planning Documents. Review of the client's support and /or cash flow needs. 
  
  
• College Funding - ongoing consulting services for other matters pertinent to the client's financial plan development and progress. 
  
  
• Consulting - ongoing consulting services for other matters pertinent to the client's financial plan development and progress. 
  

Ascend is a registered investment advisor with the State of California. Ascend is a balanced, global portfolio manager using no-load mutual funds and exchange traded funds. Rather than focus exclusively on a single asset class (equities, fixed income, etc.), we inclusively use multiple asset classes when building portfolios for clients. BALANCED means we diversify across asset types with different risk v. reward profiles. GLOBAL means assets span the investment world's borders to take advantage of attractive investment opportunities wherever they present themselves. We use a logical, disciplined 7-step process to construct investment portfolios. Steps in our investment process include: 

• Know Thy Client - Set an investment policy. 
  
  
• Take The Temperature - Assess capital markets and assign asset class targets. 
  
  
• Pick The Players - Select the appropriate mutual/exchange traded funds. 
  
  
• Get Going - Implement the investment plan. 
  
  
• Times Are A 'Changing - Monitor and respond to changed markets and client status. 
  
  
• Buy Low, Sell High - Re-balance portfolios. 
  
  
• How'd I Do? - Measure and present investment performance to the client.