Our Team
Our team consists of experienced professionals with a “hands on” approach to financial guidance. You will find our team members knowledgeable and discover that we truly care about making your dreams a reality. As your financial professionals, we will do everything in our power to keep you focused on where you want to go, advise you on how to get there and continually remind you of the importance of maintaining a disciplined approach to achieving your dreams and goals.
We are looking forward to using our experience to help you pursue your financial goals. Income taxes can have a major impact on the funds available to meet goals. Our background in taxation and financial planning allows us the opportunity to understand and plan for the impact of income taxes on a financial plan.
Gerri A. Harrison CFP® EA
I have been working in the financial planning and tax preparation fields since graduating from Binghamton University in 1983. I started out preparing taxes part-time while my husband, Lynn and I raised our son, Michael. Gradually I went from working part-time to full-time year-round doing tax preparation and planning. During those early years I took the Enrolled Agent (EA) examination. This test administered by the Internal Revenue Service allows me to represent clients before the IRS in tax matters. The required annual continuing education credits keep me up-to-date with the ever-changing tax laws. My area of concentration for taxes is now personal, estate and trust taxes for our financial planning clients.
As a woman and a business owner I understand the complications of trying to balance work and family life. I want to empower women to have the confidence to play a significant role in the financial lives of their family. Since we often outlive our spouses or may be a single woman throughout our life, it is important to understand how to manage the family finances. As parents, we are educating our children in how to manage their future financial lives. I want to help you feel up to that task by helping you understand financial concepts. I love reading or listening to books, podcasts or webinars regarding financial concepts to find new means of improving our clients’ financial lives.
The complications of my childhood motivated me to work hard and created an independent work ethic that has served me well in running my business. It also taught me the importance of education. This leads me to donate both time and dollars in supporting Mom’s House. Mom’s House is a local not-for-profit who provides child care while their parents are attending school.
In 2001 I received the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) certification giving me a well-rounded education in many aspects of financial planning. Today, I work with clients in investing their assets as part of an overall strategy of managing their financial well-being. I enjoy the challenge of coordinating retirement needs with other monetary needs that require attention. Oftentimes I feel like a “professional nudge” as we work to get estate and trust documents in order, to make sure there is appropriate insurance coverage, to help manage cash flow and debt concerns – all with a continual eye on investments and tax considerations.
I work one-on-one with clients to help them get their financial lives in order. I also very much enjoy teaching and collaborating on financial literacy issues. I appreciate my ability to breakdown complicated financial concepts in a way that most can understand during workshops and seminars as well as client planning meetings. We have great discussions at our book club meetings, discussion groups, workshops and all the events that we hold throughout the year. I am honored to call many of my clients friends and enjoy our time together.
Our Strategic Relationships
As you work with Planning with Purpose you will hear many different names that we work with which can be confusing. It can be difficult to know who is who.
This is our broker/dealer. LPL Financial’s main role is to supervise us. They monitor our activities for compliance with FINRA rules and regulations. They will review investments that are being made and evaluate them for suitability and appropriateness based on a client’s age, risk tolerance, net worth and other pertinent factors.
LPL Financial is also a resource for us if we have questions regarding a client. They have experts in many fields that can assist as needed. LPL Financial is a great sounding board for working through a complex issue with a client. They provide educational opportunities to learn about new information within the industry and opportunities to learn more about managing our financial planning practice. We at Planning with Purpose attend their annual conference and participate in educational opportunities.
These are the primary places where Planning with Purpose goes to invest managed money. AssetMark and SEI have many different money managers that we work with to make the investment choices, to monitor investments and help us manage your investments. Each money manager or strategist has a philosophy about investing. You, as the client and we work together to determine which money manager’s strategy may be appropriate for you. We may choose to work with multiple money managers and get one consolidated statement. We may choose to work with only one money manager if we believe they can meet your needs.
Money managers are the individual or team that chooses the actual investment – which may be mutual funds, stocks, ETFs, bonds or alternative investments that money is going to be invested in. Each manager must stay within the limitations of their investment strategy to ensure that investors are getting the types of investments that they want to invest in.
Assetmark and SEI provide consolidated quarterly reports for investments held. They provide educational opportunities and can assist with money manager selection for the more complex cases.
Assetmark and SEI provide us with educational opportunities through conferences, webinars and annual meetings. They also has experts available to assist us with trust needs, strategy implementation, and charitable opportunities.
AssetMark Trust, SEI Trust Company and LPL Brokerage
These are clearinghouses and custodians for assets held through Planning with Purpose. These institutions do not make the investment decisions. They settle the transactions placed by a money manager or a financial planner. Your monthly or quarterly statements are provided by these custodians. Each maintains a website that you can use to monitor your investments.