Palo Alto Financial Planner | Cognizant Wealth Advisors

Building Prosperous Lives

Welcome to Cognizant Wealth Advisors

Cognizant Wealth Advisors is an independent fee only (no commission) fiduciary financial planning and investment firm helping individuals and families build prosperous lives through sound financial decision-making. Let us help you live the best life you can with the money you have. Our close, personalized guidance will help you attain financial independence and retirement peace of mind. For those who want the freedom to focus on what’s really important in your life, we save you time in making the investment and other financial decisions to support your lifestyle goals. We also act as an objective sounding board to help you figure out what matters and what does not. Making the right choices today will lead to financial security in the future.

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Services We Offer

Our clients don’t just get simple answers to easy questions but rather comprehensive advice spanning many financial topics.

Financial Planning

– Goal identification and prioritization
– Simplification of complex decision-making
– Savings allocation strategies
– Account consolidation
– Improved financial outcomes

Investment Planning

– Diversification balancing growth & protection
– Asset allocation and location strategies
– Public and non-publicly traded funds
– Asset class rebalancing
– Alternative investments

Tax Planning

– Lifetime tax optimization
– Tax-loss harvesting
– AMT planning
– Roth conversions &advanced tax strategies
– UBTI in IRAs

Retirement Planning

– Required minimum distributions (RMDs)
– Tax optimized income withdrawal strategies
– Pension, 403(b), and 401(k) rollovers
– Good and bad annuities
– Optimal Social Security & Medicare claiming strategies

Education Planning

– 529s and other education savings plans
– Investment strategies for education funds
– FAFSA and expected family contribution (EFT)
– Gifting for education strategies
– Planning for multiple children

Risk Management

– Property & casualty (home & auto) insurance
– Healthcare & Medicare plans
– Disability and long term care planning
– Liability protection (umbrella insurance)
– Fundamental life insurance coverage needs

Stock Options Planning

– Restricted stock options (RSUs) & ESPP
– Incentive (ISO) and non-qualified (NQ) stock options
– Concentration risk vs. capital gains tax optimization
– 83(b) elections for pre-public company stock
– 10b5-1 plans for company executives

Estate Planning

– Basic wills and trusts
– DPOAs / Advance health care directives / Living wills
– Tax-optimized gifting strategies
– Best vehicles for legacy planning
– Estate tax vs. capital gains tax optimization

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If you don’t plan your future, life will do it for you.

Considering changing jobs? Going through a divorce? Inheriting money? Receiving company stock or options? All these situations require making numerous choices that can have a huge impact on your future. If you’re looking for an objective, unbiased advisor to make complex financial decisions easy to understand and to act upon, please contact us today to schedule a free consultation.

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Latest News

New Changes To The Student Aid Process

If you have college-age children you’re probably familiar with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and provisions. There were some pretty major changes made as part of[…]

Why Is Investing So Challenging These Days?

It wasn’t that long ago that people expected a common 60/40 investment portfolio (that is, 60% stocks and 40% bonds) to return close to 10% without a lot of volatility.[…]

Is Trying To Time The Market Worth It? Part 2

A couple of months ago I wrote about the consequences of investing at stock market highs. Or rather the lack of consequences. See https://www.cognizantwealth.com/2020/10/20/is-trying-to-time-the-market-worth-it/. Here’s some additional data demonstrating why[…]

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