The Planners Professional Services, Inc.

The Planners Professional Services, Inc. provides broad-based financial planning and consulting to individuals, trusts, estates, pension and profit-sharing plan participants, and small business entities. The firm serves a small, primarily retail client base (37 clients) and offers written plans, hourly consultations, and investment and insurance recommendations while reporting no regulatory assets under management.

Advisory services focus on assessment, plan design, implementation and periodic review, and the firm uses fundamental, technical and cyclical analysis when forming investment recommendations. Fees are generally fixed or hourly for planning and consulting—asset-based monitoring fees are uncommon and the firm does not accept performance-based fees—and The Planners does not take discretionary trading authority over client accounts.

Distinctive aspects include the firm’s dual registration of its adviser as a registered representative with Cetera and as a licensed insurance agent, which can lead to recommendations implemented on a commission basis and creates potential conflicts of interest disclosed in the brochure. The Planners also does not vote client proxies, generally does not provide discretionary portfolio management for individuals, and operates as a solo practitioner without reportable AUM, features that differ from many independent advisory peers.