LifeSteps Financial

LifeSteps Financial is a privately owned advisory firm that provides investment management, integrated financial planning, short-term cash management, and bill payment and reconciliation services to individuals, families, trusts, businesses, and retirement-plan participants. The firm manages both discretionary and non-discretionary accounts and offers access to sub-advisory strategies through an SMA platform in partnership with major custodians.

The firm’s investment process emphasizes asset allocation and diversification using Modern Portfolio Theory, with tactical asset-allocation overlays and an emphasis on ETFs and cash as a strategic asset; portfolios are tailored to each client’s time horizon, tax considerations, and risk tolerance. Financial planning is commonly provided as part of advisory relationships rather than as a separately billed service, and reviews are performed on an ongoing basis with formal account reviews at least quarterly.

Noteworthy operational features include a mid-sized advisory team managing roughly $443 million across several hundred client relationships, and an uncommon operational service offering — firm-facilitated bill payment and monthly reconciliation that can create custodial responsibilities and is subject to independent surprise examinations. The firm also discloses that some principals engage in outside financial-industry and real-estate activities (including a bank directorship and licensed real-estate brokerage in personal capacities), and requires clients to custody assets with major institutional custodians.