Client Services Agreement
Client Agreement for Hourly Financial Planning and Investment Advisory Services.[...]
Regulation and Compliance
Castling Financial Planning, Ltd. is an affordable, hourly as needed, fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm.
We provide conflict free analysis and advice. We do not sell financial products. Our focus is on a prospective client's goals and potential, not their initial account balance. Therefore, no minimum asset value is required. Services are customized to the needs of each client.
We're here to help all of our clients and their unique needs related to their retirement and financial help. No future is too big or too small for us, our goal is to simply help create a positive future for all of our clients.
About Us
The most important thing is to define your goals
Experience & Education
I'm dedicated to being happy in my retirement.
What Really Matters
Relevant Reading
Retiring comfortably to me includes the ability to travel. A lot.
You can easily decide if your future includes traveling all across the world, or if it's just simply retiring somewhere where the weather is perfect all year round. But, having those goals in mind now can help you achieve the financial security you'll need when it's time.
CastlingFP Search Tool
Would you like a worry free future?
Wouldn't we all? Finally, you can have the future you want without the worry of what tomorrow is going to hold for you financially. Castling Financial Planning, Ltd. is dedicated to helping you achieve all of your future hopes and dreams with ease and comfort.
Castling Financial Planning, Ltd.
CastlingFP's Investment Adviser Principal and Chief Compliance Officer is Henry F. Glodny.
Mr. Glodny has over thirty years of personal investment experience. This also includes experience in the use of quantitative techniques and information technology, as used in investment analysis.
Successfully achieved the passing standard (on the first attempt) for the CFP® Certification
examination, established by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, in
November, 2016, Mr. Glodny is currently working towards the Certified Financial Planner CFP® Professional designation by completing the remainder of the work experience requirement, at
CastlingFP.
Graduated in 2016 from the CFP® Professional Education Program at the College for
Financial Planning.
Chartered Retirement Plans SpecialistSM, 2014, designation earned from the College for
Financial Planning.
Series 65 Investment Adviser Law Exam, Passed, 2007.
De Paul University, Certificate in Financial Planning, 2006.
Roosevelt University, Master of Science in Information Systems, 1990.
University of Illinois at Chicago, Master of Business Administration, 1984.
University of Illinois at Chicago, Bachelor of Science in Engineering Management, 1982.
Frequently Asked Questions
Castling Financial Planning, Ltd., referred to as “CastlingFP”, is registered with the State of Illinois as an Investment Adviser.
What investment services and advice can you provide me?
CastlingFP is an affordable, hourly as needed, fee-only financial planning and investment advisory firm. CastlingFP does not sell financial products and maintains complete independence from product sellers, including broker dealers. CastlingFP does not charge asset management fees, maintain custody of client assets, nor discretion over client accounts (the client gets the final decision). Therefore, we do not actually execute financial transactions, but provide as detailed a level of instruction set as each client may need. Instead, we stick to being a pure adviser who maintains complete independence and objectivity over all aspects of a client's finances. No minimum asset value is required to begin to work with us. Instead, we value your potential and where you would like your finances to take you. Our services are customized to the needs of every client, with about half of our time spent on providing investment advice and the other half performing other financial planning activities for clients. Since CastlingFP is hourly based, clients are in the driver's seat in controlling how much or how little assistance they receive and pay for. As a result, monitoring and frequency of reviews are completely up to each client. CastlingFP serves mainly middle class folks, in both income and net worth. However, this includes both those starting out in their careers, as well as retired multi-millionaires (high net worth).
Given my financial situation, should I choose an investment advisory service? Why or why not?
CastlingFP's clients choose us mainly due to any one of the following reasons: they want detailed advice that is free of conflicts of interest, while still maintaining control of their assets; they are do-it-yourselfers who simply want an occasional professional review; or they are the frustrated former clients of advisers who either pushed products for a commission or pulled assets for a percentage (asset based fees).
How will you choose investments to recommend to me?
CastlingFP focuses on doing analysis, since we never sell products. After quantifying your goals and objectives, we evaluate your three dimension of risk tolerance (willingness, ability and need, to take risk), to seek out the appropriate balance. We apply a proprietary asset allocation database built on rolling period analysis, to match your time frame to consistently performing asset allocations. Then we build each investment portfolio in a custom fashion, using both what you may already own or have at your disposal, such as an employer sponsored retirement plan, while additionally recommending high quality and low cost investment vehicles, all available directly to you without sales charges or commissions.
What is your relevant experience, including your licenses, education and other qualifications? What do these qualifications mean?
CastlingFP's investment adviser representative and principal, Henry F. Glodny, passed the Series 65 Investment Adviser exam back in 2007. He completed his financial planning education at both De Paul University and the College for Financial Planning. He was successful on the first attempt, at passing the Certified Financial Planner®examination, back in 2016. He is currently finishing the experience requirement for the CFP® Board, while working at CastlingFP. The firm has been licensed as a registered investment adviser since 2009. Henry has also been a Chartered Retirement Plan Specialist (CRPS®) since 2014. Henry is most proud of the fact that he has exactly zero years of sales experience, but over 30 years of investment experience. One measure of any adviser is whether they can live from their own (professional) investing, as well as whether they “eat their own cooking” (recommend the same investments that they themselves invest in). This has always been the case with CastlingFP.
What fees will I pay?
CastlingFP is hourly based, currently starting at $75 per billable hour. However, a twenty hour block is only $995. Remote services (limited to email, telephone and the Internet) can be purchased in three hour blocks for $129. CastlingFP does not accept prepayment of fees in excess of $500 per client and six or more months in advance, but does accept a small deposit from clients at the beginning of each engagement and, thereafter, bills clients as fees are incurred. Longtime clients may have been “grandfathered” into even lower rates. It is important to keep in mind that all investment products charge their own operating/management expenses and that CastlingFP never receives payment from any third party. Transaction based and account maintenance fees may also exist, depending upon the service provider/broker/platform. CastlingFP acts in a fiduciary manner to eliminate or at least minimize these fees, by recommending investment products that may be purchased directly, without incurring sales charges or commissions. Keep in mind that there are fees and costs that you will pay, whether you make or lose money on your investments. Fees and costs will reduce any amount of money you make on your investments over time. Please make sure you understand what fees and costs you are paying.
Help me understand how these fees and costs might affect my investments. If I give you $10,000 to invest, how much will go to fees and costs, and how much will be invested for me?
CastlingFP is hourly based and does not charge any asset based fees or take custody of client assets. Therefore, all $10,000 would be invested, by you directly. However, CastlingFP will charge its advisory fee based upon the time expended working on your behalf. These charges will always be billed separately to you and will never be deducted from your account balances.
What are your legal obligations to me when acting as my investment adviser? How else does your firm make money and what conflicts of interest do you have?
When CastlingFP acts as your investment adviser, we have to act in your best interests and not put our interests ahead of yours. This is not merely talk, since less than 1% of all investment advisers are hourly based to begin with. We have eliminated virtually all conflicts of interest, based upon our business model. Since CastlingFP is hourly based, the only potential conflict of interest deals with time.
How might your conflicts of interest affect me, and how will you address them?
We deal with this conflict by providing a full faith estimate of the scope of a client engagement, upfront. If we estimate “X hours”, you are billed for no more than that, regardless of how long beyond that amount, it may have actually taken us to complete the work (so long as the scope of that work remains the same). We also leave the frequency of monitoring and followup to the individual client. You are never pressured into more work being done on your behalf or for more meetings taking place than you would like.
How do your financial professionals make money?
CastlingFP receives all revenue directly from our clients and never accepts any cash or non-cash compensation from third parties. Additionally, there are never any commissions or asset management fees charged by CastlingFP. Compensation is strictly based upon the time and complexity required to meet a client's needs and not on products or dependent upon the recommendations that are made.
Do you or your financial professionals have legal or disciplinary history?
No. Neither CastlingFP, nor its investment adviser representative, Henry F. Glodny, have ever had any legal or disciplinary history. Furthermore, CastlingFP has never requested, applied for or received any form of bailout or government stimulus/PPP. Henry F. Glodny has never filed for bankruptcy, had a judgment or lien filed against him or experienced financial difficulties. Investor.gov/CRS can be used to further research all your financial professionals. For updates and to request further information (such as future updates to Form CRS), please contact CastlingFP by telephone at 224.353.8567, or by email at: CastlingFP@YourIndependentAdviser.com.
Who is my primary contact person? Is he or she a representative of an investment adviser or a broker-dealer? Who can I talk to if I have concerns about how this person is treating me?
CastlingFP's investment adviser representative, Henry F. Glodny, is the primary contact person. He maintains no other affiliations in the financial services industry (which can cause conflicts of interest). Since he is also part owner of the firm, you should share any questions or concerns you may have, directly with him. There is no corporate bureaucracy to navigate and that is why we are YourIndependentAdviser.com.
Disclosures and Disclaimer
- All investments involve risk, including risk of loss of principal.
- Castling Financial Planning, Ltd. does not provide any investment or financial advice without performing analysis of a client's situation and goals. Anything less is, at best, a sales presentation.
- Castling Financial Planning, Ltd. is an hourly, fee-only financial planning practice and investment adviser, registered in the State of Illinois.
- Castling Financial Planning, Ltd. operates elsewhere, where permitted by state law, based upon the National De Minimus provision to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
- Castling Financial Planning, Ltd. believes strongly in the concept of independent, fact based advice, which is not tainted by conflicts of interest. As a result, we do not sell any financial products, nor seek affiliations with any broker/dealers or other financial product providers.
- Castling Financial Planning, Ltd. is not in the business of providing legal or tax advice. Please consult with your attorney or qualified tax professional, for legal and tax advice specific to your personal situation.
- Castling Financial Planning, Ltd. is not responsible for events beyond its control, such as wars, strikes, natural disasters, terrorist acts and market fluctuations.
- This disclaimer does not seek to waive, limit or minimize any rights a consumer may have under applicable state or federal laws.
Copyright © Castling Financial Planning, Ltd.