Our Difference

There are 3 things that we think makes Bright Lantern a unique value proposition.

1. We are a Fee Only adviser

Financial Planners who take commissions have a built-in conflict of interest…even with disclosure, my choice would be a fee-only planner.
– Jane Bryant Quinn, Newsweek financial journalist

Many advisers receive commissions for selling certain products to their clients. These products often have loads, high expense ratios, and/or significant surrender fees attached to them — that’s why they need commissions to sell them! We believe this creates a tremendous conflict of interest between what is best for the client and what is best for the adviser. In addition, some advisers receive referral fees for recommending other professionals like insurance agents or estate lawyers to their clients. This creates a similar conflict of interest. At Bright Lantern, we only make money through upfront, transparent fees to you. Our investment and professional recommendations are designed for one thing and one thing only: to help you achieve your goals. We know that if we exceed your expectations, you will continue to be a client and will likely recommend us to your friends and family: isn’t that the incentive system you want for your financial adviser?

2. We work hard to keep your costs low

Returns come and go…but costs go on forever.
– John Bogle, Founder of The Vanguard Group

The less you pay in fees and taxes, the more money you keep in your pocket. We consider it one of our primary duties to keep your costs as low as possible. Unlike some investment advisers, we only recommend no-load mutual funds and use index funds and ETFs to keep expense ratios and turnover well below average. For client accounts that we manage, we keep trading costs low by trading infrequently. When putting together a portfolio recommendation, we take tax implications into consideration. And while the typical investment adviser charges 1% of assets under management to manage a portfolio, our fee starts at .75% and scales down as low as .25%.

3. We’re flexible enough to meet your needs

To the man who only has a hammer, everything he encounters begins to look like a nail.
– Abraham Maslow, Professor

For many investment advisers, the only service they offer is managing their clients’ portfolios for a percentage of assets under management. We believe in giving you more options to fit your needs—one size does not fit all. If you hire Bright Lantern to give you investment advice, you have the choice of implementing the plan yourself if you are a do-it-yourselfer, or we can do it for you if you are more of a delegator. Different strokes for different folks.

Many investment advisers won’t manage your money unless you have $500,000 or even $1,000,000. We want to grow with you and will happily manage portfolios larger than $100,000, and accept smaller portfolios on a case by case basis.

We also recognize that you may have needs beyond just investment advice. We offer hourly financial planning to help you with all of your questions.