Frequently Asked
Questions
These FAQs address some of the common inquiries you may have about our services and what it’s like to work with Seva Wealth Management.
General FAQs
Yes, we have a fiduciary responsibility with all of our advisory clients, accounts, financial planning services, and recommendations. Fiduciary advisors have a legal and ethical obligation to act in their client’s best interest, prioritize their clients’ needs above their own, and avoid conflicts of interest whenever possible. This means that we act in good faith, provide full disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest, and recommend advice or products that are the best for you, not just suitable or appropriate.
Yes. Dr. Lisa McCann will be your dedicated point of contact. She will take the time to understand your unique goals and financial situation, build a strong relationship with you, and build a personalized, comprehensive financial plan that suits your unique needs.
You will have direct access to Dr. McCann via email ([email protected]), text, and phone (720-985-8930), and through virtual or in-person meetings, so you can get the guidance you need on financial matters and answers to your questions whenever you need them. Dr. McCann will proactively monitor your financial plan, meet with you regularly to amend it as needed, and help you navigate financial decisions with confidence.
Yes! Your personalized, comprehensive financial plan will be based on your particular goals and situation, and the progress you have already made toward meeting these goals. We will develop your plan through extensive discussions and developing a strong relationship with each other over time. We will monitor and update your plan regularly as your situation changes and you make progress toward your goals.
We will most often meet virtually, but we can also meet in person if you are in Colorado and prefer to come to our Centennial office. We will also communicate by email ([email protected]), text, and phone (720-985-8930).
We are likely to have several meetings when we first start the personalized, comprehensive financial planning process, in order to get to know you well, determine your shorter- and longer-term goals, collect the data needed to draw up your personalized, comprehensive financial plan, present your plan, and take the steps to implement your plan once you have agreed to take the recommended actions.
Once the initial planning process is complete, we will continue to meet 2-4 times a year, in order to implement the various aspects of your plan, respond to any important changes in your financial situation, check your progress in meeting your goals, and make any adjustments needed to your comprehensive plan. We will additionally have communications by email, text, and phone as needed.
We follow the Colorado Division of Securities cybersecurity requirements for registered investment advisory firms, which include, among other things: Authentication requirements for accessing email and software programs, regular password updates, regularly updating antivirus software, secure encryption for transmitting documents, and annual risk assessments.
Please see also our Privacy Policy.
As a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), we act as a fiduciary, legally bound to always prioritize your best interests and put your needs above my own, and we take a fee for managing your assets. A Broker-Dealer, by contrast, is licensed to sell securities and operates under a “suitability standard,” recommending investments that are suitable for the client, but not necessarily the best option, and often earning commissions on the purchase or sale of securities. As an RIA, we are regulated by the Colorado Division of Securities, whereas a Broker-Dealer is regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency (FINRA).
How can I get started?
FAQs About Financial Planning
Independent, fiduciary, comprehensive financial planning:
- Starts with identifying the shorter- and longer-term goals that are important to you
- Involves analyzing your what you OWE and what you OWN (your assets and liabilities) to determine your current net worth and what progress you are already making toward meeting these goals
- Also involves analyzing what you EARN and where it GOES (your income, expenditures, and cash flows), and where you have or could find savings that you can apply toward the achievement of your goals.
Once your goals and your ability and willingness to save have been determined, we identify the best strategies for investing these savings to reach your goals. These strategies could include:
- Shorter and longer-term investments in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, and other investment vehicles
- Tax planning
- Insurance products – disability, life, and long-term care
- Annuities
- Estate planning
Each person’s or family’s comprehensive financial plan will be unique.
For business owners, additional strategies could include:
- Retirement plans for owners and employees
- Buy-sell agreements
- Key person insurance
- Disability insurance
- Company-owned life insurance (COLI)
Yes. To help you achieve your financial goals, a comprehensive approach is needed that takes into account your wider financial situation and how any investments we help you manage, and/or any insurance products or annuities we help you find, will fit into this larger picture and contribute to achieving your goals. As such, we do personalized, comprehensive financial planning for all clients before making any recommendations for investments, annuities, or insurance products.
You can get a head start on this planning process and test out the initial steps on your own, as well as get a preliminary read on your personal financial situation, by creating a free Seva Wealth Management account using Right Capital Express (LM will provide link when available) and securely entering your data.
If you decide to engage in comprehensive financial planning with Seva Wealth Management after starting the process in Right Capital, we will build on the information you have already provided, saving us much time in our meetings and allowing us to focus on higher-level conversations about your goals and how to reach them.
Let’s see if we are a good fit for working together.
FAQs About Services
Seva Wealth Management is committed to helping you grow and protect your wealth. Based on the independent, fiduciary, and comprehensive financial planning process we do with you, we develop investment strategies that align with your unique, personal financial goals and risk tolerance, and your specific needs.
We offer a wide range of independent, fiduciary investment advisory services, tailored to meet your particular situation. These may include, but are not limited to, retirement and legacy planning, shorter-term goal planning, personalized investment planning and advice, portfolio management, risk management, 401(k) advising and management, and advising on how to manage and diversify your employee Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).
We regularly monitor and adjust your portfolio to ensure that it continues to be aligned with your objectives and changing personal situation, and based on changing market trends and conditions.
Yes, you can start investing with any amount, and grow your assets under our direction, in the context of your personalized, comprehensive financial plan that takes into account your shorter-and longer-term goals and all aspects of your financial life. Our clients are individuals, families, business owners, and nonprofit leaders with a wide range of incomes, net worth, and assets currently available to invest. Your personalized, comprehensive financial plan will often involve multiple elements, not all of which you may be able to implement immediately, so we will guide you to the most important steps to take now, and how to phase in the additional steps as you are able.
We will get to know you well, develop a long-term relationship with you, and continue to help you as your ability to invest toward your goals increases. We will also be there to assist when you experience important windows for expanding and diversifying your investments, such as when leaving or changing a job or retiring, when you can elect to move your company 401(k) or organizational 403(b) or 457(b) plans to a Traditional or Roth IRA that we could manage for you. When we take over the management of these assets, you will have many more options for investing, growing, and protecting your funds than you had with your company or organization.
We can also help when you come into a sudden influx of funds, such as when inheriting from your loved ones or selling a business, and you need assistance to protect, invest, and grow these funds.
Yes! We help you understand how much you need to save for retirement, based on what you have already saved, your current and projected income and expenses, and various types of projected retirement income, such as social security, pensions, and any annuities you may already have in place. We look at your entire financial situation and help you to find additional savings that you could apply toward your retirement investments and secure the type of life you would like to have in retirement.
We advise you on what types of retirement accounts to use, such as Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, Traditional 401(k)s, Roth 401(k) s, and various types of retirement accounts that are available for business owners and self-employed people. We advise you how to invest money within these retirement accounts, and about the most tax-efficient strategies, both for accumulating your retirement assets while you are still working, and withdrawing them once you are in retirement.
Yes. In the context of the personalized, comprehensive financial planning we do for you, we may help you to find disability, term life insurance, whole life insurance, long-term care insurance, and annuities, when these products are deemed to be in your best interest and an important component of your personalized, comprehensive financial plan.
If you are a business owner, we may offer insurance products such as buy-sell agreements, key person insurance, and disability insurance, to protect your business from the sudden loss of an owner or a critical employee due to death or disability.
If you are in need of health insurance, Medicare insurance, or insurance products to protect your home, vehicle, or other property, we will refer you to trusted professionals who can help you find the best and most suitable products for you.
Helping you to navigate complex financial situations and make important financial decisions requires specialized training and expertise, as well as a trusted relationship that we will build over time.
Dr. Lisa McCann holds the Series 7, 63 and 65 licenses from FINRA* and NASAA**, and licenses to sell insurance products, annuities, and variable life and annuity products in Colorado and other states. She has also attained the Registered Financial Consultant (RFC®) designation, and is enrolled in a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) program and working to attain that designation.
Dr. McCann has taken numerous extended training courses in long-term investing, value and fundamental investing, stock trading, technical analysis and charting, and trading options, futures, forex, and options on futures, and worked as a professional investor and trader for five years before becoming a wealth advisor.
Prior to becoming a wealth advisor, she completed a PhD in Public Affairs, a Masters Degree in Business and Public Administration, a Masters Degree in Social Anthropology, and a BA in Political Science.
Dr. McCann’s background as a licensed investment professional can be found on FINRA’s Brokercheck.
See her full bio here (link to Lisa McCann’s About section)
*FINRA is the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency. The Series 7 is the General Securities Representative Exam, a FINRA exam.
**NASAA is the North American Securities Administrators Association. The Series 63 is the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Exam and the Series 65 is the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Exam. Both are NASAA exams.
How can I get started?
FAQs About Fees and Account Information
Seva Wealth Management is a multi-custodian, Registered Investment Advisor. When you grant us discretionary authority to manage your investment assets, we do so without taking custody of these assets. We take responsibility for the investment and trading decisions in your accounts, which are held with one of our designated custodians, Charles Schwab or Altruist. Based on the comprehensive plan we develop for you and your particular investment needs, we will recommend placing your funds either at Schwab or Altruist.
We get paid in several ways:
Advisory Fees for Assets Under Management: We charge advisory fees on the assets we manage for you in the context of your personalized, comprehensive financial plan. These advisory fees are an annualized percentage of the total household assets you have under management with us. They start at 1.25% for assets under management (AUM) under $500K and are tiered down for larger accounts. For example, for $1 Million in AUM, the fee is 1%, and at $5 Million in AUM, the fee is 0.60%. See the detailed scale of investment advisory fees under Services and Pricing (link to pricing info/page).
Commissions or Advisory Fees on Insurance Products and Annuities. We may recommend insurance products and annuities if they are in your best interest and contribute materially to your personalized, comprehensive financial plan and achieving your financial goals. When we recommend and connect you to such products, we could be paid either through commissions or advisory fees, depending on the policy type.
For commissionable products, commissions are set by the insurance companies, included in the cost of your insurance, and paid directly by the insurance company. For fee-based products, which are mainly for variable life insurance products and variable annuities, we are paid an ongoing fee for managing the assets in the policy. These fees are regulated by the insurance companies, and are deducted from your insurance or annuity accounts, similarly to how investment advisory fees are deducted from your investment accounts.
Investment advisory fees are deducted each quarter from investment accounts managed by Seva Wealth Management. Advisory fees for fee-based life insurance and fee-based annuities are deducted periodically from your insurance and annuity accounts. You do not pay for commissions on insurance products and commission-based annuities, as these are paid directly by the insurance company.
Seva Wealth Management actively manages, but does not maintain custody of, your funds and securities. Custody is maintained at one of our two custodians, Charles Schwab and Altruist, depending on where your account was established.
In the event of a significant business disruption such as Dr. Lisa McCann’s death or incapacitation, she will cease to provide advisory services and cease to charge advisory fees, and you will be responsible for contacting Schwab (877) 687-4085 or Altruist (888) 510-4660 to make arrangements for the continuing management of your account(s).
For Schwab accounts, you may either move your accounts to a retail account that you manage yourself, or find a new firm and another advisor to work with, who may keep the funds at Schwab or help you to move them to another custodian. For Altruist accounts, and given that Altruist does not offer retail, self-managed accounts, you will need to find a new firm and advisor to work with, who may keep the accounts at Altruist or help you to move them to another custodian.
Let’s see if there’s a good fit!
FAQs for Business Owners
Yes, please reach out via Contact Us.
Yes, Roth plans are available for most retirement plan types, such as 401(k)s, Solo 401(k)s, and SIMPLE IRAs. with some exceptions, such as Defined Benefit Plans.
Yes, these services will be defined by our plan and advisor engagement agreement.
Explore planning for your business or organization today