About Us
For almost 40 years Lewis Financial Management, LLC, has been providing clients with Comprehensive Financial Planning. We pride ourselves on being far more than just “money managers.” We believe in TOTAL financial planning and helping our clients along the path to achieving their goals. Coordinating all aspects of your financial life can be a daunting task.
At Lewis Financial Management, we will work with you to build, not just your investment portfolio, but a plan for every stage of your financial life.
Lewis Financial Management (LFM) provides you with your own personal Certified Financial Planner ™ (Douglas J. Lewis and Deborah R. Lewis), advising you as you move toward your financial independence and a satisfying quality of life. Many so-called “financial advisors” today offer one simple service: investment management. At LFM, we provide Comprehensive Financial Planning, which includes not only Investment management, but also Income management, Tax planning, Retirement planning and Estate planning. We believe working with LFM can help you find on-going comfort that comes from a continuous relationship, throughout every stage of your financial life, with a trusted advisor.
The Lewis Family has been helping individuals for almost 40 years, by appointments and through their live call-in radio show “Money Matters with the Lewis Family,” which airs every Saturday & Sunday at 5 p.m. on News Radio 680 WPTF.
Team
Douglas J. Lewis, CFP®
A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Doug was educated at Washington & Lee University, Washington & Lee University School of Law, Columbia University, University of Texas, Eastern Washington University, and The College for Financial Planning in Denver.
Doug entered the field of securities and investments in 1980 being trained on Wall Street. Through the years he was an investment specialist for the brokerage firms of Bache Halsey Stuart Shields (later Prudential Bache) and Dean Witter Reynolds. Since 1982, he has been practicing comprehensive financial planning according to the standards set by the CFP Board.
He received his CFP® certification from the College for Financial Planning in 1983. Currently he is a member of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Triangle FPA. As a Certified Financial Planner ™ practitioner, he abides by the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics which defines professional responsibility and financial planning practice standards. He is a member of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, The Better Business Bureau, The North Carolina Planned Giving Council, and The Partnership for Philanthropic Planning.
Through the years, Doug conducted many seminars and workshops, was featured in USA Today’s “Financial Hotline,” and wrote articles for various local business publications. For a few years, his television series, “The Money Puzzle” appeared frequently on PBS television. Since 1990, he and Linda have answered tax, investment, retirement, cash flow and estate questions on their live call-in radio program, “Money Matters with the Lewis Family” every Saturday & Sunday evening from 5pm – 6pm on AM 680 WPTF.
Doug and Linda are both registered representatives of The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc, a securities brokerage firm. If Doug implements any securities transactions for you, it would be through The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc.
Doug and Linda live in Raleigh, North Carolina. At present, Doug is licensed in the following states:
- Arkansas
- California
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Missouri
- Nevada
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Texas
- Virginia
Linda P. Lewis
Linda was educated at Gonzaga University and received a B.S. in Speech Pathology as well as a M. S. in Speech Pathology at Eastern Washington University. She was licensed in securities in 1996, and has been an Investment Advisor Representative (IAR) of Lewis Financial Management, LLC., a registered investment advisory firm, registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
She also serves as a co-host of “Money Matters with the Lewis Family” and as Marketing director for the firm for over 20 years.
Doug and Linda are both registered representatives of The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc, a securities brokerage firm. If Doug implements any securities transactions for you, it would be through The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc.
Doug and Linda live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Linda is licensed in North Carolina as a registered Representative. Furthermore, Lewis Financial Management, LLC, is a registered advisor and Linda is a registered investment advisor representative with advisory clients in North Carolina and a number of other states.
Deborah R. Lewis CFP®
Deborah grew up in the financial industry, having seen her parents start Lewis Financial Management in 1982. Today, she is an integral part of the Lewis team.
As a high school student she became North Carolina’s youngest stock broker, and thus began her career in the finance industry. Deborah spent about 10 years working at LFM before seeking outside experience. She then worked for other broker dealers, financial planners and trust departments in banks to gain that experience, but came back home to LFM to get closer to the end investor.
Today, Deborah is LFM’s second Certified Financial Planner ™ professional, alongside her father, Doug. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. Deborah is a registered representative of The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc., a securities brokerage firm. If Deborah implements any securities transactions for you, it would be through The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc.
At present, Deborah is licensed in North Carolina and Rhode Island as a registered Representative. Furthermore, Lewis Financial Management, LLC, is a registered investment advisor and Deborah is a registered investment advisor representative with advisory clients in North Carolina and a number of other states.
Radio
Answering Financial Questions For Over 25 Years
“Money Matters with the Lewis Family”
Tune in to News Radio 680AM WPTF on Saturdays & Sundays at 5:00pm–6:00pm
Listen Now
How We Are Different
Lewis Financial is different from other firms because of three major reasons.
Comprehensive Financial Planning
At LFM, we offer so much more than the typical money manager. We give Total Financial Advice, to cover any financial situation that you may have. Everyone is different, and that’s why we don’t try to fit our clients into ready-made investment boxes. We will discover which situations, from Cash Flow to Estate Planning, you want us to address, and design a completely customized Financial Plan for each client. From there your advisor, a Certified Financial Planner ™ (Douglas J. Lewis or Deborah R. Lewis), will help you along the path to Financial Independence.
Is your so-called financial “advisor” providing you with customized advice? Or, is your “financial advisor” simply managing your investments? What we provide is on-going advice. We are not for everyone, but we are for people who want ADVICE.
MONTHLY (Not Quarterly) Reports
All investment managers send out quarterly reports, meaning you only hear from them about 4 times per year. At LFM, you will receive 12 Reports: a different report each month of the year. You will still receive a Portfolio Review of your investments each quarter (January, April, July, and October) but in February and September an updated Financial Statement, in March and August a Financial Independence Feasibility Analysis, in May and November a Tax Projection, and in June and December a Cash Flow projection report.
Do you currently receive monthly reports from your advisor or just quarterly? Do you get on-going projections of your income taxes for the current year? Do you get a picture of the cash-flow from your Portfolio that includes your Social Security income and a detailed list of your living expenses? Maybe you need Comprehensive Financial Planning!
Relationship History
True Financial Planning does not stop once your money is invested. It is a continuous relationship with you and your advisor throughout all the stages of your financial life, from the accumulation stage to the Retirement stage to the Final stage where you are concerned with passing your excess wealth to future generations and beyond. At LFM, we keep a running record of your relationship with us. We will never discontinue our correspondence with you. We will send you notes (what we call Scenario Notes) from every meeting and every phone call. We do this, not only for record keeping, but because we realize that you are looking for a Financial Planning Firm that continues to care about your financial well being, month by month and year by year, throughout all the stages of your life.
Keeping Track of Our Relationship and Your Needs
LFM has a standing policy that no client will ever be sent to voicemail. Your calls and concerns are important to us and we will stop whatever we are doing to take your call, or sit with you when you visit our office. We make ourselves available to ensure that your questions and concerns are addressed immediately.
Your comfort level is paramount to us. Call us today to schedule your initial consultation at 919-872-7000.
Services
LFM offers two types of Financial Planning services, which include the following:
Financial Advisory Consultations (Available on an Hourly Basis)
Every relationship at LFM begins with an Initial Financial Advisory Consultation. In this meeting, you can request advice on any issues or financial situations you may be facing. These may include everything from cash management to investment advice, from retirement planning to divorce, from investment planning to wills and trusts. Following this initial meeting, you may choose to move to a Comprehensive level of service for a flat fee or continue to receive advice in Consultations on an hourly basis.
You may decide that your financial needs require more attention than occasional consultations. For this reason, LFM provides Comprehensive Financial Planning that utilizes the highest standards set forth by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. (CFP Board). The process of providing a Comprehensive Financial Plan involves several detailed steps.
During the initial stage of the process, we will gather all the details on your financial situation from the various documents you provide to fully understand the issues you may be facing. This data is used to build a sophisticated database that centralizes all of the relevant information about your financial life. It is an invaluable tool in tracking your plan.
From there, while working with you, we’ll set goals and prioritize your objectives, both in the near term and the long term. Next, we’ll review any trouble spots and review your concerns. When all your questions have been answered, we can then deliver a written financial plan that contains all the solutions that will help to achieve your financial goals. Once the plan is made, it is put into practice by purchasing investment products to complete a portfolio, along with executing any other strategies such as Will, Trusts, and Tax strategies that may be required.
But the relationship doesn’t end there. You will, perhaps most importantly, continue to receive advice, counseling,management and reporting from the LFM team throughout every stage of your financial future.
LFM’s Comprehensive Financial Planning service is offered on a fixed-fee basis, (i.e., non-hourly), is subject to minimum asset requirements and has three basic components: database construction, the financial plan document, and on-going financial planning.
Questions
1. How do I make an appointment?
Call 919-872-7000, email us at drLewis@lfmAdvisor.com, or fill out the form below. Request our introductory packet.
2. What should I do to prepare for my initial meeting?
LIST your questions or write them in a notebook.
SEND the necessary information for your appointment:
- Current Investment or Brokerage Account statements,bank statements/CDs/money market accounts
- Current Personal and/or Corporate Tax Returns
- Current Living Expenses
- Projected Income for this year/Pay Stubs
- Quarterly Estimates for your Taxes
3. What are your fees?
At LFM, we offer two kinds of fee schedules:
Hourly: Client meetings are on an hourly basis.
Flat-Fee: Clients may go forward on a flat fee that is quoted during the Introductory meeting. With flat-fee Financial Planning, clients can receive unlimited consultations without any hourly charges.
The initial meeting is charged hourly. Charges for subsequent meetings are determined by your individual situation and what services you are seeking.
- There are no minimums for hourly fee Financial Planning,
- Flat-Fee Comprehensive Financial Planning. Minimum is $1,500,000.
Call our office at 919-872-7000 and we’ll be happy to provide more information.
4. What is the range of fees for Comprehensive Financial Planning?
“Comprehensive Financial Planning” fees are quoted during the second meeting, and our fees are generally below our competitors with no fee higher than 0.75% (.0075).
5. What will I receive for Comprehensive Financial Planning?
A. Database
The heart of Comprehensive Financial Planning as practiced by LFM is the construction and maintenance of a sophisticated database integrating all aspects of the client’s financial life. This database tracks and analyzes the client’s historical investment data and allows the CFP® practitioner to do financial independence feasibility, estate, and income tax forecasting. At LFM, we do not use a “canned” software package to produce “snapshot” views of your financial situation, designed to sell you some investment or insurance products. Your database is customized for you, is designed to be interactive with all your financial information, and is updated daily. All recommendations in the Financial Plan document are based upon individualized analyses and reports generated from your own database.
B. Written Financial Plan
The financial plan document is the “roadmap” of the Financial Planning process and contains 13 sections:
| Personal Data | |
| Goals/Objectives | |
| Cash Flow Analysis | |
| Tax Analysis | |
| Insurance Analysis | |
| Investment Analysis | |
| Implementation Schedule
Financial Independence Estate Analysis Recommendations |
This document is about 100 pages long and is composed of individualized analyses, and all recommendations are personalized and written by your CFP® professional. There are no pre-written or computer-generated recommendations.
C. On-going Financial Planning (Continuous and Regular Supervisory Management Services)
Every month you will receive a report from us. Of course, you will receive quarterly analyses of your investment portfolios. In addition, in the remaining eight months, you will receive income tax projections, cash-flow analyses, financial independence feasibility projections, estate projections, and Financial Statements.
6. What is the difference between a Financial Planner and a Money Manager? Which one are you?
All Financial Planners are Money Managers, but not all Money Managers are Financial Planners. And all Financial Planners are not Certified Financial Planners. Many individuals today who call themselves Financial Planners are, in fact, just Money Managers. A Money Manager has you sign over a Limited Power of Attorney giving him/her DISCRETION to buy and sell securities on your behalf. They do not consult with you before each purchase or sale because you have given them DISCRETION act on your behalf. You do not have the right to tell them not to buy or sell.
At Lewis Financial Management, we do not feel you should ever give DISCRETION or control to anyone. We believe you are looking for an adviser who will give you advice and let you agree or disagree with that advice. We feel a true Certified Financial Planner, who is practicing Financial Planning, on the other hand, gives you on-going advice not only on your investment portfolio but also on your Financial Independence Feasibility or Retirement Feasibility, on your Estate Issues, on your Income Taxes, your Cash Flow, etc.
At Lewis Financial Management, LLC, we practice Total Financial Planning by developing and maintaining the sophisticated database that integrates your income, expenses, assets, liabilities, transactions and much more. Then we stay with you month after month as your Adviser for your entire journey.
7. What if I only want periodic checkups and do not want Comprehensive Financial Planning?
Clients may prefer to continue with Hourly Financial Planning and can schedule appointments for Annual Reviews or other Financial Planning issues whenever they choose. These meetings are a minimum of two hours.
Contact
LEWIS FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, LLC
1611 East Millbrook Road | Raleigh, NC 27609
Phone: 919-872-7000 | Toll Free: 877-872-7001
Email: drLewis@lfmAdvisor.com
Securities offered through The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory Services offered through Lewis Financial Management LLC which is not affiliated with The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc.
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP ®, Certified Financial Planner ™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.