Carlton Advisors, LLC

Carlton Advisors provides goal-focused financial planning and non-discretionary investment advisory services to individuals, families, trusts, estates, and small businesses. Its planning work includes cash flow and debt structure, asset allocation and investment advice, retirement and estate planning, employee benefits, special-needs and elder-care planning, family business succession, and other client-specific topics.

The firm emphasizes strategic, globally diversified asset allocation using a core-and-satellite approach, favoring passive index and ETF exposures in the core while recommending active managers in satellite allocations where appropriate. Advice is delivered on a non-discretionary basis through written plans, periodic reviews and implementation recommendations, and the firm collaborates with clients’ other professionals while clients retain custody and execution responsibility.

Distinct from many peers, Carlton Advisors does not manage or custody client assets and does not charge percentage-of-assets-under-management fees; it is compensated through hourly and fixed fees, including annual retainer arrangements in some engagements, and operates on a fee-only basis. The firm also frequently undertakes specialized work—such as stock option planning, defined-benefit plan allocation guidance, trust reviews, and “second opinion” portfolio assessments—while leaving trading authority and implementation to clients or their chosen custodians.