Objective, unbiased financial advice
 
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Welcome! - I'm Ian Rea, Founder of Slate Peak Financial Services, LLC

First off, why “Slate Peak”?  I named my firm after a mountain near my childhood home in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.  Slate Peak is the location of the highest fire lookout in the state, as well as the state’s highest road (the picture above was taken from that road).  In addition to liking the metaphor of getting a big-picture view from above, Slate Peak was always a place of serenity for me.  As I strive to bring financial harmony and peace of mind to my clients I thought it would be good to have that as a constant reminder of the things that really matter. 

You can learn more about me here.

I founded Slate Peak Financial Services on the idea that people deserve honesty, integrity and transparency from their financial advisor.  I am paid directly by my clients and do not accept money from any other source. This allows me to act entirely in your best interest without worrying about selling products or earning commissions.

The personal finance world is full of unethical sales practices and conflicts of interest and I aim to create something better.

Our Services

Comprehensive, Personal Advice

 

FINANCIAL PLANNING

“Being organized takes time, effort and money, but not as much as being disorganized”

Have you taken the time to get your financial life totally organized?  Are you confident that you’re maximizing the return on your savings and minimizing the costs of your debts?  Do you have all the right insurance to protect yourself and your loved ones from the unexpected?  Are you taking full advantage of your benefits at work?  Are you saving the right amount to reach your goals?

If you’re not sure that you can answer “yes” to the kinds of questions above, perhaps I can help.

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INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

In addition to helping you develop and implement a financial plan, I can also take over the day-to-day work of managing your savings and investments.

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Objective, Unbiased Help with Your Money

I work as a fee-only “fiduciary” advisor.  What does that mean?  Here’s an analogy.

Imagine that there were two ways to buy a car:

  • Method 1: You buy whatever car the salesman says you need for whatever price he tells you. The salesman's services are “free” (though he makes a nice commission since you'll generally overpay) and your only cost is the price of the car. This is how most people get financial advice. (Does that sound like a ridiculous way to buy something? I agree, and so does comedian John Oliver as he explains in entertaining fashion in this video.)

  • Method 2: You hire a “fiduciary” who is legally required to act in your best interest and gets paid only by you. He or she works with you to choose the best car for your needs, then searches the country to find you the best wholesale price. You pay both the (probably much cheaper) cost of the car, plus a small service fee. This fiduciary approach is how the very wealthy have always demanded their financial advice. While it's not "free", it's usually much less expensive than Method 1.

However, in the past, this kind of true fiduciary advice has only been available to an already wealthy elite, while the rest of America has been forced to rely on advisors driven mainly by commissions, conflicts of interest and a need to sell overpriced financial products. But that’s beginning to change!

Over the last few years, a movement has begun to spring up.  Financial advisors are dropping the big Wall Street names and choosing to work for themselves as fiduciaries for people who are not already incredibly rich.   You can read more about that in this story from the New York Times.

Because I run a small business and don’t have much overhead, I’m able to act as a fiduciary to the kind of clients that the big firms are only willing to serve on commission or through generic, one-size-fits-all approaches.  Will I get as rich as I might have working for the guys running the expensive TV ads?  Who knows?  But I do know that it’s a lot more satisfying to provide objective, unbiased financial advice that I know is always in my clients’ best interest.