Yes. All fee models have potential conflicts of interest. We believe our fee model strikes a balance between simplicity and conflict reduction, but that means we still have the potential to give you advice that benefits us at the detriment of you.
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Is this something that should stop you from working with us? We do not think so. Is this something you should be aware of? Absolutely.
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Halyard wants to be as transparent as possible so we will disclose when a recommendation could benefit us compared to the alternative and then we show you how our recommendation is still in your best interest. This also means that we will show you how a recommendation we are giving you may not benefit us, but we are still recommending it because it is in your best interest.
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This is very important for establishing trust between a client and their financial planner, so let me give a very practical example. Let’s say you have the ability to save $1,500/month and the two places you could allocate that money are to pay down your mortgage faster or to increase the monthly savings into your investment accounts. Increasing your investment accounts will increase our fee faster. Paying down your mortgage does not increase our fee. Does that mean paying down the mortgage is absolutely the best option? No. However, we need to make sure the strategy is most beneficial to you and your financial goals with the fee impacts in mind.<\p>