Frequently Asked Questions

Many people have broad ideas about their retirement yet struggle with the details of what they want that future to look like. A financial planning “Roadmap,” starting with an understanding of your current circumstances, helps you articulate a vision of what you truly want to achieve, particularly through life transitions. This collaborative process provides clarity about your goals and ambitions, the specific steps required to achieve them, and what is financially possible, supported by continuous monitoring of your progress toward those goals.

The result is peace of mind that you are on the right track.

When you come to us for guidance on your financial affairs, our first step is to understand what you want to accomplish and why. The “why” is important, because we often find initial goals may not be based on actual circumstances.

While we have the technical tools and analytical skills to help you implement financial plans and investment strategies, of equal import is our commitment to helping you define what a fulfilled life is for you and supporting you in making it happen. Understanding who you are and what you want to accomplish is the start of that journey towards fulfillment. We are with you on that journey and always take great satisfaction when our clients achieve what they set out to do.

We believe our advice, coaching, and brainstorming helps you gain clarity on what is most important to you, leading to informed decisions about your future. The planning process is not about forecasting the future but about creating a framework for decision-making as circumstances change. You will be better prepared to act from the clarity gained in the process, while the testing and modeling of your circumstances will give you confidence about what is possible.

We communicate with clients regularly through our blogs, webinars, quarterly performance reports, and whenever there is an opportunity for us to inform or connect our clients to resources, from market conditions to future trends. We also encourage and welcome our clients to reach out to us at any time with questions or concerns.

It is our mission to serve as an advocate and sounding board for you, offering objective and ongoing support as you strive toward each milestone of your life’s journey. In addition to reviewing your plan and accounts directly with your advisor, you would also have access to our online client portal, where you may check portfolio composition, transactions, and performance anytime.

You can pay your invoice by credit card or check. For payment by check, please make your check payable to Wolf Group Capital Advisors and send to the following address: Wolf Group Capital Advisors, 12701 Fair Lakes Circle, Suite 220, Fairfax, VA 22033.

Credit Card Payments

We embrace a disciplined approach to risk management, built on a strong belief in maintaining well-diversified portfolios. Diversification helps to manage portfolio risk effectively. We also believe in minimizing volatility and preserving capital for our clients.

Our focus is on generating healthy risk-adjusted returns for our clients through superior asset allocation and security selection. This involves choosing the right combination of securities (e.g., equity, fixed income, and alternative assets) with the characteristics (e.g., growth, value, sector, and market size) consistent with each client’s risk tolerance and return expectations.

As a Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm our investment choices are flexible and straightforward. Because of our considerable access to the broad investment universe, we invest in any combination of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, or private investments that we see as appropriate, given our clients’ situation and based on our research and assessment of market fundamentals. As fiduciaries, our clients can feel assured that any security purchased in their account was seen as being in their best interest and having the highest rate of return for the acceptable level of risk.

WGCA has decades of experience addressing complex tax issues. We strive to provide strong after-tax returns, including optimization of asset location for our clients’ holdings and tax-loss harvesting trading strategies. We do not consider tax consequences to be the primary driver of our investment decisions. Rather, opportunities to generate excess returns are prioritized over opportunities to minimize taxes. We strive to design, implement, and maintain a diversified portfolio that is consistent with each client’s financial situation, risk tolerance, and long-term goals.

Depending on individual client preference we usually meet with our clients at least 1-2 times a year, either in person, over the phone, or video conference. We call this annual check-in process a Discovery Meeting and use the opportunity to discuss investment strategies and portfolio performance. More importantly, these annual meetings allow us to re-discover/ re-evaluate clients’ main financial worries, their ultimate financial goals, and other ways that we can provide peace of mind for our clients.

The goal of financial planning is to envision what a fulfilling life would look like for you and your family in the future and develop actionable steps for you to get there. This involves a comprehensive analysis of your current financial situation, including areas such as cashflow management, investments, tax, estate, and insurance. From there, we can model how various actions such as savings rates, spending levels, investment allocations, or other major financial decisions affect the trajectory of your financial future.

These projections are what we refer to as a Financial Roadmap. It is a dynamic plan that provides a baseline which can help you make informed decisions now and in the future. The beauty of the planning process is that it does not seek to guarantee a specific result, but instead helps you gain control over your overall financial situation.

There is an old proverb that says: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” We look at planning for your retirement – or any life transition – in the same manner. If you have not started to plan for your future, now is the best time to begin looking at your personal situation.

Whether you are soon looking beyond your working years, are in mid-career, or have just graduated from college, there are steps you can take to improve your financial situation. No matter what stage of life, planning topics such as cashflow management, asset allocation, tax planning, college planning, estate planning, and insurance planning are essential to achieve financial freedom.

The short answer is, “as soon as you can.” There is no one perfect way to save for college. Each family has different circumstances that can affect what the best strategy is for each specific child. There are different vehicles, such as 529 savings accounts, UTMA accounts, or taxable savings accounts to begin saving.

Our experience shows that those who successfully funded their child’s college expenses began early, saved on a consistent monthly basis, and effectively managed the funds in a tax efficient investment strategy that aligned with their child’s college timeline. College planning is an essential part of any financial plan, and we would be happy to develop the most efficient strategy for you and your family.