Services
Comprehensive Wealth Management
Compound Advisory coordinates retirement income, investment management, tax planning, Social Security, insurance review, exit planning, and wealth-building strategy into one integrated plan.
Every service below is part of one household strategy, not a menu of standalone product lines. A Roth conversion changes the Medicare premium math. A Social Security claiming date changes the withdrawal sequence. An insurance gap changes how much portfolio risk a plan can carry. Run any one of these decisions in isolation and most of the value is left on the table.
Compound Advisory is a fee-only fiduciary Registered Investment Adviser based in Annapolis, Maryland, serving clients in all 50 states virtually. Most of the households we serve are between 50 and 75, hold between $1M and $25M in investable assets, and are inside the retirement transition window — the decade where planning decisions compound into very different outcomes.
Our Compound Cultivator™ methodology structures the integration. The Compound Combine™ measures progress year over year — income readiness, tax drag, portfolio risk, insurance gaps, estate clarity. Both frameworks are CA-only, built for households inside or approaching the retirement transition.
How the Services Work Together
Households rarely hire us for a single service. The reason is structural. Retirement income planning has to coordinate with tax planning. Tax planning has to coordinate with investment management. Investments have to coordinate with Social Security timing, Medicare and IRMAA planning, and the estate work. Run any one of these in isolation and you leave most of the value on the table.
Most engagements include retirement income planning, investment management, multi-year tax planning, and Social Security and Medicare coordination as the baseline. Insurance review, exit planning, and Wealth Builder work layer on as the household's situation calls for them.
Retirement Income Planning
Retirement income planning is the job of converting a balance sheet into a paycheck that survives a 30-year horizon. The mechanics matter more than most people expect: which account each dollar comes from (taxable, traditional, or Roth), in which tax year, and in what order. Pulling from the wrong account while a low-tax window is open is a quiet six-figure mistake spread over a retirement — it never shows up on a statement, which is exactly why it gets missed.
Our Compound Cultivator™ methodology structures income in time-segmented layers: roughly 12 to 36 months of spending in cash and short-term reserves so a bad market never forces a sale, intermediate assets funding the middle years, and a diversified growth engine for the decades beyond. Each year the plan answers the same questions — how much can the household spend, where does each dollar come from, what bracket does that create, and what changes if markets cooperate or do not.
Tax Planning & Optimization
Most households get tax advice at the wrong end of the year. By April, the only moves left are the ones the IRS already allows you to make; real tax planning happens before December 31, across a 10-to-20-year window rather than one filing season. For retirees, the levers with the most weight are multi-year Roth conversion sizing, capital gain and loss harvesting, Qualified Charitable Distributions after age 70½, and asset location — placing tax-inefficient assets inside tax-deferred accounts and tax-efficient ones in taxable accounts.
Medicare is where tax planning quietly bites hardest. IRMAA — the income-related surcharge on Part B and Part D premiums — is a cliff, not a phase-in: one dollar of extra income can push both spouses into a higher premium tier for a full year. Every conversion, gain, and withdrawal we model is checked against the household's IRMAA line two years forward. We do not prepare returns; we plan around them, coordinating directly with your CPA so the filing reflects a year that was planned, not just reported.
Investment Management
The portfolio is the engine of the plan, not the destination. We build evidence-based, globally diversified portfolios with disciplined cost control, because every basis point of fees and tax drag compounds against a 30-year retirement. Client assets are held at independent custodians — Altruist and Charles Schwab — with full transparency; Compound Advisory never takes custody of client funds.
The tax-aware layer is where an integrated firm earns its keep: asset location across taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts; systematic rebalancing that harvests losses when markets hand them to you; direct indexing where position-level harvesting justifies it; and management of concentrated positions and RSUs for households still in their earning years. The discipline that matters most is behavioral — staying invested through cycles rather than timing them, because the market's best days cluster inside its worst stretches.
Social Security Timing
The Social Security claiming decision is irreversible and worth more than most portfolios' annual return: the gap between an optimal and a default claiming strategy can exceed $100,000 of lifetime income, and more for married couples once spousal and survivor benefits enter the math. Claiming early reduces the surviving spouse's benefit forever; delaying requires bridge income during the gap years and changes the tax picture along the way.
We model the full household decision — both spouses' ages, earnings histories, health expectations, other income sources, and the interaction between benefit timing, Roth conversion windows, and Medicare premiums — so the claiming date is chosen with the whole plan in view, not from a rule of thumb.
Insurance Review
Many retirees carry policies they no longer need and lack coverage for the risks that could actually unwind the plan — long-term care chief among them, at $8,000 to $12,000 per month in today's costs. Because Compound Advisory is fee-only, we sell no policies and earn nothing from any insurer; the review is analysis, not a sales funnel.
We evaluate the full picture: legacy life insurance policies (some are worth keeping for estate or charitable purposes, many are not), long-term care exposure and the traditional-versus-hybrid policy tradeoff, Medicare supplemental and Medigap choices, and umbrella liability sized to the household's actual net worth. The goal is simple — coverage that matches real risk, with no product left in the plan just because someone once earned a commission on it.
Estate & Legacy Coordination
We do not draft legal documents — that is the role of a qualified estate attorney. What we do is make sure the estate plan and the financial plan are not working against each other: beneficiary designations on 401(k)s, IRAs, and life insurance override the will, so a single outdated form can unravel an otherwise sound plan. We review those designations, model the tax consequences of inheritance under the SECURE Act's 10-year rule, and coordinate trust funding with your attorney.
For households with larger estates or business interests, the coordination extends to gifting strategy, donor-advised funds, and the sequencing of Roth conversions as a wealth-transfer tool — Roth assets pass to heirs income-tax-free. Business owners preparing for a sale get a parallel track: exit structuring decided years before the transaction, because nearly every tax strategy closes permanently the day the deal does.
Our Services
- Retirement income planning for high-net-worth families
- IRMAA-aware tax planning and Roth conversion strategy
- Tax-aware investment management
- Social Security timing and claiming strategy
- Comprehensive retirement planning
- Independent insurance review for retirees
- Exit planning for business owners
- Wealth Builder planning for peak earning years
Related Reading
- Retirement isn't an age — it's a cash-flow problem
- 10 biggest retirement planning mistakes
- The IRMAA cliff, explained
- Backdoor Roth IRAs and Roth conversions
- You're paying more in taxes than you think
- Why staying invested beats timing the market
- You're probably under-insured — even if you're rich
- Estate Planning 101
Frequently Asked Questions
How are Compound Advisory's fees structured?
Compound Advisory is fee-only. The firm charges a transparent annual advisory fee based on managed assets and earns no commissions, kickbacks, or product compensation. Planning-only engagements are quoted separately when an investment relationship is not the right fit.
Do I have to be local to Annapolis to work with you?
No. Compound Advisory is based in Annapolis, Maryland and serves clients across all 50 states through secure video meetings and cloud-based planning tools. Most client relationships are virtual.
Where would my investments be held?
Client assets are held at independent third-party custodians, including Altruist and Charles Schwab. Compound Advisory does not take custody of client assets.
Which services do most clients start with?
Most engagements begin with retirement income planning, investment management, multi-year tax planning, and Social Security and Medicare coordination as the baseline. Insurance review, estate coordination, and exit planning layer on as the household's situation calls for them.
Do you prepare tax returns?
No. Your CPA prepares the return that already happened; we plan the year that has not happened yet. Each year we deliver a multi-year tax projection — brackets, IRMAA exposure, Roth conversion capacity, and recommended year-end actions — and coordinate directly with your CPA on implementation.
How do I find out whether this is a fit?
Schedule a complimentary Retirement Clarity Assessment. It is a roughly 60-minute virtual review of your income plan, tax exposure, portfolio, Social Security timing, and estate documents. If we are not the right fit, we will say so and point you somewhere better suited.