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Frequently Asked Questions

Are you a fiduciary?

Yes, we act as fiduciaries as a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ when we provide financial planning services and directly manage your investments.

As a CFP® fiduciary, we have a:

  • Duty of Loyalty:
    • We place the interests of the client above all else.
    • Avoid conflicts of interest.
  • Duty of Care:
    • We must act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence that a prudent professional would exercise in light of the Client’s goals, risk tolerance, objectives, and financial and personal circumstances.
  • Duty to Follow Client Instructions:
    • We must comply with all lawful directions of the Client.

 

What is the value of working with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®)?

A CFP® professional is a financial advisor who has demonstrated competency in a multitude of financial planning disciplines and has made a commitment to ethics and putting the needs of the client above all else. As a CFP® professional, we provide in-depth advice and support to help guide you through the process of ordering your financial life into a clear picture. This can best prepare you for a comfortable retirement.

The CFP Board put together a helpful video to also explain the power of working with a CFP® Professional:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUwTgjviBCo

 

Do you have a specialty or specific area of expertise?

We specialize in helping successful people prepare for and enjoy their retirement to the fullest. We strive to be the team of advisors whom you can rely on to help provide answers to life’s many financial questions to help provide peace of mind in retirement.

Mike is a Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM (CRPC®), a designation that distinguishes financial advisors as experts in helping clients plan for retirement including:

  • Principles and strategies when investing for retirement
  • Maximizing and making the most of Social Security
  • Identifying other sources of income for retirement
  • Navigating healthcare options
  • Making the emotional and financial transition to retirement
  • Designing optimal retirement income streams
  • Achieving tax and estate planning objectives

Every person has a different definition of a successful retirement. Our mission is to provide the financial advice and planning to empower our clients to achieve their version of a secure retirement.

 

What experience do you have?

Joseph Graziano started the firm as an advisor in 1982. Barbara joined in 1986 and Mike in 2006. Combined, we have over 50+ years of market experience. In that time, we have helped clients navigate some of the most challenging market environments including Black Monday in 1987, the Dot-com bubble bursting in 2000, the Great Recession of 2008, and more recently the COVID recession of 2020 and the incredibly difficult markets of 2022.

 

What training do you have?

All of our advisors are fully registered in multiple states and at the Federal level to provide advice on investments as well as life and health insurance.

Mike is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner (CFP®) which identifies professionals who have met the rigorous educational, experience, examination, and ethical standards established and enforced by CFP Board. This covers the many aspects of financial planning including:

  • Investment planning
  • Tax planning
  • Retirement planning
  • Estate planning
  • Insurance planning
  • Financial management
  • Education planning

Additionally, Mike is a Chartered Retirement Planning CounselorSM (CRPC®). The CRPC® enables experienced advisors, who are focused on retirement planning for individuals, define a “road map to retirement.” There is a focus on clients’ pre- and post-retirement needs, as well as issues related to asset management and estate planning.

Lastly, Mike is a Chartered Market Technician® (CMT®). Earning the CMT® demonstrates mastery of a core body of knowledge of investment risk in portfolio management using technical analysis. The CMT® marks the highest level of training within the discipline and is the preeminent designation for practitioners worldwide.

These licenses and designations have their own unique continuing education and necessitates a specified number of credits per year to maintain the license or credential. This helps us maintain a knowledge of current issues and changes that are relevant to financial planning today.

 

What services do you offer?

We offer a wide array of financial advice focusing on bringing everything together with one firm to help simplify and organize our clients’ retirements.

Below are the services we provide to our clients:

 

What type of client is a good fit for your firm?

Our focus is working with people who want financial advice about their retirement. Clients often ask for help before retirement or during retirement. As the needs of the client evolve throughout retirement, so too does our advice tailor to their unique circumstances. We have helped hundreds of families navigate through the many challenges retirement can present.

 

What is your investment philosophy?

We believe in goal-based investment management based on the unique and individual needs of every client. Your portfolio should be unique and be managed to achieve your individual goals.

To accomplish this, we implement a circular process that starts at step 1 and flows through to step 5. When life changes occur, we start back at step 1 to ensure your investments constantly align with your needs.

  • Understand:
    • We need to understand what’s important to you and how we can build a portfolio to match your goals, expectations, risk tolerance, time horizon, and financial plan.
  • Identify:
    • Identifying goals allows you to prioritize what’s most important to ensure your financial plan works to achieve your objectives.
  • Analyze:
    • By analyzing your investments, insurance, liabilities, etc., we can gain a further quantitative understanding of your individual financial situation.
  • Develop:
    • We incorporate everything we learned about you to develop an investment plan for you.
  • Implement:
    • We implement the investment plan. We strive to find the best-in-class investments for you to achieve your financial goals.
  • Monitor:
    • We constantly monitor your portfolio and update whenever necessary.

 

What is your investment process?

We manage our clients’ assets on a discretionary basis, meaning we build portfolios for them aligned with their best interests to help achieve their financial goals. We start by building a portfolio of best-in-class investments. The best-in-class investments are chosen using our proprietary screening process paired with our experience in building durable portfolios.

We regularly monitor and track investments against relevant benchmarks and similar peer investments. Should an investment no longer fit into your portfolio, we will eliminate it and screen again for the best investment in that category.

 

How often do you communicate with your clients?

We communicate on a regular basis with you. This helps ensure when your life or financial goals change, your financial plan and investments shift to align with these changes.

We also firmly believe in educating our clients on financial subjects and ensuring they are well-informed. The markets are very dynamic, and we believe informing our clients helps to put everything into perspective.

 

Do you offer a complimentary consultation?

Yes, we meet with prospective clients who want to learn more about how we can help enhance their financial lives.

 

How would I book an appointment with you?

By clicking on our scheduling link here https://calendly.com/grazianobudny or by calling our office at 720-583-6363.

We book phone, in-person, or virtual meetings that best fit your schedule and preference.

 

How do I transfer my account to you?

We will discuss the best and most efficient method to move your assets with you.

 

For Current Clients:

How do I deposit money into my account?

  • We recommend setting up an electronic link between a client’s portfolio and their bank for a faster and more secure way to move money. If you don’t have this feature set up already, please call our office and we will gladly set it up with you.
  • You can also send a check to our office made out to “National Financial Services” or abbreviated to “NFS” and mail it to:
    Graziano Budny Wealth Management
    6143 S Willow Drive, Suite 310
    Greenwood Village, CO 80111

How can I take money out of my account?

  • Direct deposit to your bank or credit union
  • Send a check from your portfolio via regular mail or overnight delivery

We can also set up a system to have money sent to you on a regular basis, such as monthly. Please call us at 720-583-6363 to develop a plan that best fits your needs.

 

How do I go paperless?

Please email team@grazianobudny.com with the request to go paperless. We will get you set up on Investor360.

If you are already on Investor360, please see the following instructions: (see PDF uploaded to the case)

 

What are Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs)?

An RMD is an IRS-mandated amount that you must withdraw from traditional IRAs or an employer-sponsored retirement account each year.

Deadlines:
For almost all RMDs, the annual deadline for each following RMD is December 31. There are a few exceptions, and we will inform you if they apply to your circumstances.

Taxes:
The IRS taxes RMDs as ordinary income. This means that withdrawals will count toward your total taxable income for the year. They will be taxed at your applicable individual federal income tax rate and may also be subject to state and local taxes.

Penalties:
Don’t miss your RMD deadline!  The IRS penalty may be severe if you fail to take your RMD on schedule —50% of the amount not taken on time.

Given the important financial planning consequences of taking RMDs, we will help provide guidance on what is best for your personal situation.

 

What are Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs)?

A QCD is a direct transfer of funds from your IRA, payable to a qualified charity. QCDs can be counted toward satisfying your required minimum distributions (RMDs) for the year, if certain rules are met:

  • You must be 70½ or older to be eligible.
  • The maximum amount that can be donated and qualify for a QCD is $100,000 per year. This applies to the sum of QCDs made to one or more charities in a calendar year. If, however, you file taxes jointly, your spouse can also make a QCD from his or her own IRA within the same tax year for up to $100,000.
  • For a QCD to count towards your current year’s RMD, the funds must come out of your IRA by your RMD deadline, generally December 31.