A Financial Advisor for Women, Led by One
Old Fort Wealth Management is owned by Melanie Radcliff, CPA/PFS, and a substantial share of this practice is built around women managing significant assets, often for the first time on their own. You will be spoken to directly, every meeting.
Two Transitions That Change Everything at Once
Where the planning becomes urgent and specific
Most women who come to us are capable, informed and in the middle of something. These two situations carry the most decisions with the shortest fuses, and each has its own page.
The decisions with the longest reach happen before the decree is signed, which is when after-tax analysis of a proposed settlement matters most.
Divorce Financial Planning
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A clear order of operations for the first weeks and months, including survivor benefits, inherited accounts and the filing status change nobody warns you about.
Widowhood Financial Planning
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Why the Planning Genuinely Differs
Structural realities, not sentiment
Women in the United States live longer on average, which means a retirement that has to fund more years from the same assets. Caregiving interruptions, whether for children or aging parents, tend to reduce both lifetime earnings and the years of retirement contributions and Social Security credits behind them. Lifetime income disparities compound those gaps rather than offsetting them. And through divorce, widowhood or simply a longer life, a woman can end up the sole decision-maker for a household's finances, often at the least convenient moment to be learning the system. A financial advisor for women in Fort Smith, AR should be planning around those realities specifically rather than applying a general template and hoping it fits.
Questions Worth Asking Any Advisor
Including a few most firms never address
Is there an asset minimum?
We do not publish one, because the work depends more on what your situation involves than on a balance. The introductory meeting is where we both determine whether it makes sense.
Can I meet with you without my spouse?
Yes, and many clients do. Some prefer to get oriented on their own before a joint conversation, and that is entirely reasonable.
What should I bring to a first meeting?
Your most recent tax return and current account statements are enough to have a real conversation. If you are not sure what accounts exist, come anyway. Sorting that out is part of the work.
I have never handled the investments. Where do I start?
You start by finding out what you have, which is exactly what the first meeting is for. Not knowing yet is the ordinary starting point rather than an embarrassing one, and we go at whatever pace suits you.
Is it acceptable to interview more than one advisor?
It is advisable. This is a long relationship involving significant money, and meeting with several firms is a reasonable way to find the one you can talk to comfortably.
Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.
