Frequently asked questions.

You talk, we ask questions. What brought you here, what's changed recently, what decision is sitting unmade. There's nothing to prepare and no presentation waiting. At the end you'll know whether it makes sense to keep going, and so will we.

Eventually: accounts, income, cash flow, debt, benefits, insurance, tax returns, practice or business details, and estate documents if you have them. Not all at once, and not before you've decided to work together.

It depends on how much is moving. A single decision can be worked through quickly. A full picture across a practice, a family, and a tax situation takes longer, because the pieces have to be gathered before they can be compared. We'll tell you what the timeline looks like once we've seen the situation.

Not as a starting assumption. Some accounts can't move, some shouldn't, and some are fine where they are. Where a change is worth considering, we'll explain the reasoning and the tradeoffs, including taxes and any costs.

Bring the one decision. Most of them turn out to touch three or four other things, which is usually what people discover in the conversation. Whether that becomes an ongoing relationship is a separate question.

Across the industry, a few ways: a percentage of the assets they manage, a flat or hourly planning fee, commissions on certain products, or a combination. What matters is that you can see it written down. Ask any advisor for their compensation in writing, and ask what else they receive beyond what you pay them directly.

Ask us directly and we'll walk you through it before you commit to anything. Advisory fees and the services they cover are also described in RFG Advisory's Form ADV Part 2A, and Form CRS summarizes the relationship in plain language. Both are linked in the footer of every page.

A fiduciary is required to act in your best interest and to disclose conflicts of interest, rather than simply recommending something that would be considered suitable. It's a standard of care, not a product or a credential.

Advisory services are offered through investment advisory representatives of RFG Advisory, a registered investment advisor, and are provided in a fiduciary capacity. Securities are offered separately by registered representatives through Private Client Services, which is a brokerage relationship with a different standard. Form CRS explains the distinction and the conflicts that come with each, and it's worth reading before you engage anyone who is dual registered.

A third-party custodian, not Curato. Your statements come from the custodian, the account is in your name, and you can log in to it directly. Ask any advisor you're evaluating who the custodian is and how you'll be able to see your own accounts.

Ask us. The more useful question is whether the decisions you're facing match the work we do. A resident with student loans and a practice owner planning an exit are both people we can help; someone looking purely for stock picks is not.

There's no general number, and anyone who gives you one without knowing your spending, taxes, timing, and other income is guessing. The question gets answered by working backward from what you want the money to do, then testing whether the resources and timing support it.

It depends on whether you'll need the money soon, what tax rate you expect later, whether you have cash outside the account to pay the tax, and whether more income this year would affect things like Medicare premiums or ACA subsidies. The Roth conversion flowchart walks through those factors.

Timing interacts with your other income, your tax situation, a spouse's benefit, and how long you expect to need the money. It's a planning decision, not a default. When you're ready to file, the Filing for Social Security checklist covers the mechanics.

No. Your CPA files the return. We plan ahead of it: how account choices, entity decisions, contribution timing, and cash flow interact, and we coordinate so your CPA isn't seeing a decision for the first time in April.

Because a single figure, modified adjusted gross income, drives a long list of phase-outs: Roth contribution eligibility, deduction limits, Medicare surcharges, and several credits. The AGI / MAGI summary guide shows what's in it and what it affects.

Possibly, depending on your age, income, and what you're planning to do. Two guides cover the specifics: SECURE Act 2.0 for retirement account and RMD changes, and the OBBBA guide for newer provisions. Rules and figures change, so treat both as a starting point for a conversation.

So you don't spend the first three meetings explaining your world. High W-2 income with limited write-offs, training debt against a compressed earning runway, a practice buy-in, and very little free time form a pattern. Starting from that pattern means starting farther into the conversation.

Usually more than people expect. Account selection and contribution order, how the employer plan is actually being used, where taxable savings go, protection against an income interruption, and the sequence of large goals are all decisions, even without a business to deduct against.

That's a cash flow, debt, and concentration question as much as an opportunity question. What the buy-in costs, how it's financed, what it does to your liquidity and your other goals, and what the partnership economics look like afterward all belong in the same view before you sign.

We help evaluate the planning implications for you, your employees, cash flow, and taxes, and coordinate with plan and tax specialists when design or administration is involved. The comparison of common plans for small business owners is a useful place to start, and the 15 questions for plan sponsors is worth reading if you already have a plan.

There's no universal answer. It turns on what the practice actually needs, your liquidity and debt, the tax treatment, your time horizon, and how much of your net worth already sits inside the business. Those variables go side by side so the decision is made in context.

Earlier than most people do. Several things that affect a valuation, such as unresolved disputes, expenses that sit above or below market, income that swings year to year, and revenue concentrated in a few clients, are much easier to address before a buyer is looking. The sale and succession guide lists the questions worth working through first.

It's common among successful owners, and it's worth looking at deliberately rather than by accident. Planning can build liquidity and assets outside the business, examine what a downturn in it would mean for you personally, and prepare for an eventual transition.

A single year can carry income far above your normal level, which can affect far more than the tax bill itself. Deal structure, timing, charitable options, and what you do with the proceeds all interact, which is why this work belongs with your CPA and attorney in the room rather than after the fact.

Yes. We don't replace them. We frame the financial questions, keep the personal plan connected to the deal, and coordinate so the pieces don't get decided in isolation.

That question usually needs a plan before it needs a portfolio. What the proceeds have to support, over what period, with what tax treatment and what reserved for near-term commitments, comes first. Investment decisions follow from that, not the reverse.

It depends on loan type and rate, your income and career path, your employer, forgiveness eligibility, and how much cash flow you actually have. It's rarely all of one or the other. The student loan guide lays out the questions that determine the answer.

Withholding and estimated taxes, because a big change mid-year often creates a surprise. Then the employer benefits you now qualify for, your protection against an income interruption, a deliberate savings rate before lifestyle absorbs the increase, and your loan strategy under the new income.

The broad tradeoff is paying tax now versus later, so the answer leans on where your rate sits today against where you expect it to be. Eligibility itself also phases out as income rises, which is why the AGI / MAGI guide matters more in these years than people expect.

For clinicians early in a career, the largest asset is usually future income, and group coverage through an employer often replaces less of it than people assume. Whether additional coverage makes sense depends on your obligations, the definitions in the policy, and what you already have. It's worth reading your existing coverage before buying anything.

The decisions available to you now are cheaper to get right than to unwind later, and several of them close as income rises. If you're weighing a loan strategy, a contract, a buy-in, or a first large savings decision, that's a reasonable time to ask questions.

That's a legal question your attorney answers, and the right answer depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Understanding the common structures first makes that conversation shorter: the common trusts summary guide compares several side by side.

It varies by document and by why you might need it later, from tax records to HSA receipts to statements that support a Medicaid look-back. The documents to keep on file checklist covers the usual categories.

Most of it can wait. A few things shouldn't: arrangements, certified copies of the death certificate, securing property, and locating the documents. The loss of a loved one checklist is written for exactly this week, and you can bring it to us rather than working through it alone.

Yes, and it usually helps. Plans that only one person understands tend to fail at the moment they're needed most. How much detail to share, and with whom, is your call.

With information rather than decisions: what accounts and policies exist, who holds authority to act, what documents are in place, and what care costs look like in your situation. That picture determines what needs attention and what doesn't, including the effect on your own plan.

It depends on what's happening in your plan, with reviews as life, business, and markets change rather than one annual appointment. Our service calendar shows the topics we work through across the year, and there are no limits on calls or emails in between.

Your advisor relationship stays central. Behind it, a broader RFG Advisory team and platform support investment, planning, trading, and operations. It's personal advice with more depth behind it, not a handoff to a service queue.

A secure portal through our planning technology, where your accounts, balances, and plan sit in one place, on your own screen rather than in a binder you see once a year. Custodial statements continue to come from the custodian directly.

Yes, nationwide and virtually, subject to applicable registration requirements. The office is in Vestavia Hills, outside Birmingham, if you'd rather meet in person.

Your accounts are yours, held in your name at the custodian. The terms for ending an advisory relationship are set out in your agreement, and it's a fair thing to ask about before you sign one, with us or anyone else.