Who We Help
Our fiduciary, fee-only team is committed to helping people live great lives, free from financial worry. We serve as financial advisors to individuals, families and many police officers, firefighters and municipal employees. We have established decades-long, multi-generational relationships with many of our clients.
Years in Business:
GIPS® Compliance:
Account minimums:
Location:
Our Full Service Commitment
As one of the few GIPS® compliant firms that manage money for individuals, many people come to us for investment management. However, we offer far more than that.
Arroyo offers a full service solution to individuals and families at all stages of life. That means that along with managing your investments, we help with:
organizing your entire financial life and minimizing any vulnerabilities or blind spots.
helping you get clear on your goals and what you want in the future.
creating an action plan to achieve your goals and ideal future.
comprehensive retirement planning, so you can secure your future.
determining when and how you should file for social security for best results.
managing your retirement accounts including 401(k), 403(b), 457, IRA, or Roth IRAs.
assistance with legacy wealth planning or charitable giving plans.
everything in between, including health savings accounts (HSAs), college funding, debt management, estate planning, tax planning, and analysis of your insurance needs
Financial Advisors to Police Officers, Fire Fighters and Municipal Employees
In addition to serving a diverse group of clients, we also specialize in helping current or former police officers, firefighters and municipal employees.
We have former California police officers and firemen on our staff, so we speak your language. We use our first-hand knowledge, combined with our decades of experience in financial planning, to help you plan for the future you want:
We work with you to determine the best way to take advantage of the savings options and retirement plans available to you.
We’ll help you develop a retirement income plan that incorporates your pension, deferred compensation plan and any of your other income sources or benefits.
We’ll help analyze the tax consequences of receiving various benefits and retirement income.
We’ll help you create a comprehensive plan to ensure you and your family’s financial security, even if there were to be cuts to benefits.
We’ll integrate all of this into a comprehensive financial plan that creates a roadmap to get you from where you are now, to where you want to be.
We’ll provide full service investment management to help support your financial goals.
We’ll be available to help with any other financial decisions you or your family members may face…all included in our single, all-inclusive fee.
Whether you’re just getting started, or already retired, we understand your needs. So we can get to work quickly with you.
Client Story
The Challenge
Our clients, she in her forties and he in his early fifties, came to us after 2008. Both had successful careers and good incomes. With two kids in school and a busy life, they had a lot of competing demands on their money. They didn’t feel fully prepared for sending the kids to college or for their retirement and it made them feel disorganized and stressed.
When they came to us, they had been working with a local Los Angeles broker, thinking that picking a well-known brand name was a safe way to find the best financial advisor. After several years of working with him, they felt they were not getting anything close to a reasonable return on their money. Their savings just seemed to fluctuate with the market. After 2008, they watched their net worth take a hit and were dismayed that their losses were no less significant than those of their friends who did not have the help of a professional.
They were referred to Arroyo from a friend who noted Arroyo was an independent financial advisor. We explained that unlike their previous broker, Arroyo is a Registered Investment Advisor. So as a fiduciary, we are required to put their interests first at all times. Instead of steering them into proprietary mutual funds and insurance products like their previous broker did, we don’t sell any products. We explained that we simply provide financial advice for a fee.
Arroyo’s Strategy
As with all new clients, we spent a lot of time up front asking questions. This process was important, as it helped us figure out their goals, their dreams, their responsibilities and other vital information. From these discussions, we found out they would like to send both kids to a good college and retire in their 60s with enough money to maintain their current home and travel frequently.
After getting to know them, we started the full financial planning process. This took a few months and was done by our CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals. While an investment in time, it helped them identify what they wanted their life to look like, then we created a specific road map to get them there.
As part of the planning process, we looked at:
Their assets including their stock and bond holdings, retirement accounts, real estate and business interests.
Their liabilities, including mortgages, student loans, other consumer debt, auto loans, etc.
Their ability to tolerate risk –how much risk could they afford to take in the market?
Their risk preferences, what was their comfort level with risk?
Their retirement – when each of them would like to retire, where they would live, what they would do, etc. and what it would cost?
Their taxes—how could we save money or generate more income with less risk?
Their estate—how do they want their assets distributed when they are gone and how can we do that in the most tax-efficient manner?
With all of these inputs, we worked to create a master plan. For some areas, like estate planning, we created smaller ‘action plans’ that we worked on over a few months, to get that particular area on track. For example, with estate planning, we had them outline how they wanted their assets to be distributed—what would that look like? Then we worked with our clients and their tax professional to determine that a trust would help them achieve their goals. Later, we helped them find an estate attorney to draw everything up.
We took a close look at their assets—including all of their investment accounts. This included their retirement accounts held with their employers. We worked with them to identify the proper investment strategy and once that was agreed upon, we invested their money in our portfolios that use low-cost mutual funds.
The End Result
The clients’ financial situation is now well-organized, so it’s a source of optimism instead of stress. But things don’t remain the same, so the frequent check-ins help accommodate their changing goals. They always have a road map on how to get to the next stage, and with our quarterly meetings and check in calls, we help keep them accountable to their own financial goals.
Additionally, we always look for new opportunities to strengthen client financial situations. For example, when he switched jobs, we worked with them to start a new Health Savings Account to help them save for medical needs in retirement.
