Whether you are managing military ties to nearby bases, transitioning into retirement along the Emerald Coast, or planning for your family's next chapter, you need an advisor who understands Destin's unique dynamics. We are here.
Destin is a place of convergence. Retired military officers and senior federal employees from Eglin and Hurlburt Field. Retirees reshaping their lifestyle. Successful business owners in the tourism, construction, and professional services sectors. Families with second homes and seasonal income patterns. Each situation is distinct, and a generic financial playbook does not serve any of them well.
Many Destin families work with advisors in larger metros or rely on big-box financial firms that treat them like a client number. They are missing something critical: an advisor embedded in the community who understands your actual life, not a template version of it.
We are based here. For retired military and federal professionals, that means coordinating FERS annuities, TSP withdrawal sequencing, and survivor benefit elections into a single integrated plan. For retirees, it means navigating the transition from career income to investment income with a tax-aware drawdown strategy. For business owners, it means managing the cash flow complexity of seasonal businesses and the tax implications of second-home ownership.
Our office is at Destin Commons. We meet in person, know the local tax landscape, and understand the rhythm of the Emerald Coast. That proximity matters. It means we catch things that remote advisors miss, and we show up for our clients the way we would want advisors to show up for us.
Your financial life has more moving parts than a single portfolio can address. Every recommendation we make connects to your full picture: benefits, taxes, estate, insurance, and investments working together.
When can you step back from work? How do pensions, FERS, Social Security, and investment income sequence together? We build a coordinated plan for year one and every year after.
See our retirement planning approach →A coordinated portfolio aligned to your timeline, tax situation, and risk tolerance. We manage transitions carefully and align everything to your goals, not benchmarks.
Explore our investment management →College funding, estate coordination, insurance alignment, cash flow mapping. Everything connected to one strategy, reviewed regularly, and adjusted as life changes.
See our planning approach →ABLE accounts, special needs trusts, Medicaid coordination, guardianship alternatives. If your family includes a member with a disability, we bring personal experience and deep expertise.
See our special needs planning →FERS optimization, TSP allocation strategy, survivor benefit analysis, TRICARE-to-Medicare transitions. We understand the military financial path because we work with it every day.
Explore our military family planning →Succession planning, exit strategy, tax-efficient sale structures, and integrating business wealth into your personal financial plan. Built for Destin's business community.
See our business exit planning →
Most advisory firms start with your portfolio and work backward. We start with your goals and work forward. What does financial security look like for your family? What decisions are keeping you up at night? What has changed since the last time someone looked at your full picture?
Our process has four phases: listen, build the plan, deliver coordinated recommendations, and manage everything ongoing. Seven steps in total, each one tied back to the goals you set in the first conversation. Your investments serve your plan. Your plan serves your life.
Todd Sensing, CFA, CFP®, CEPA®, ChSNC®, leads FamilyVest with over 25 years of experience across institutional portfolio management, fixed-income hedging, and private wealth advisory. He has managed a $120M equity REIT portfolio, built hedging strategies across $10B+ in fixed-income assets, and founded an investment fund. That institutional background informs every client relationship. But it is the personal side that defines it.
Todd is a father of two sons with autism. That experience drives his deep commitment to special needs financial planning and shapes the way he approaches every family: with the understanding that financial complexity is often personal complexity, and that the best advice comes from someone who has navigated both.
FamilyVest operates through Farther, combining the personal relationship of an independent advisor with the technology, compliance infrastructure, and custodial access of an institutional platform. You get someone who knows your name, your family, and the details of your situation. You also get a platform that manages your investments with institutional-grade tools, reporting, and security.
We are 100% fee-only. We sell no insurance or commission products and earn no commissions or product-sales compensation. That is how it should work.
Our office is at Destin Commons, in the heart of the Destin corridor. We work with families here and across the Emerald Coast, from Niceville and Fort Walton Beach to Miramar Beach and 30A. We understand the local landscape because we are part of it.
Whether you are a retired officer weighing your next chapter, a career federal employee managing a complex FERS package, a business owner navigating seasonal cash flows, or a family who relocated to the Emerald Coast and wants a plan that reflects your new life, we bring the depth and the local knowledge to get it right. We also serve families navigating special needs planning, approaching retirement, and exiting businesses across the Gulf Coast and nationwide.
NAPFA recommends asking these questions before hiring an advisor. Here are our answers.
Over 25 years in financial planning and portfolio management. That includes consulting community banks on asset-liability structure and risk management, hedging over $10 billion in fixed-income portfolios, and founding Aardvark Advisors in 2007 to manage a $120 million equity REIT portfolio. My experience across fixed income, equity, and real estate gives me a well-rounded perspective that informs every client relationship.
I hold four professional designations. I am a CFA Charterholder, which fewer than 1 in 5 candidates achieve. The Financial Times calls the CFA Charter the gold standard for financial professionals. I am also a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®), and a Chartered Special Needs Consultant (ChSNC®). Each designation requires rigorous coursework, examinations, and ongoing continuing education.
FamilyVest is a comprehensive fee-only planning firm. During our planning process, we cover all facets of your financial life: estate planning, insurance reviews, income tax strategies, investment management, retirement planning, and special needs coordination. We get to know your goals and build a solution designed to help you achieve them. See our full planning approach.
We tailor strategies to meet the needs of each client specifically. We are not bound to any product or method. We construct portfolios that maximize the probability of long-term success while reducing ongoing volatility. Our emphasis is on controlling the things we can and preparing for the various probabilities of the outcomes we cannot. Learn more about our approach.
My practice ranges from single individuals and married families to those focused on wealth maximization and estate planning. I also specialize in planning for families with special needs. As a father of two sons on the autism spectrum, I bring a different level of understanding to the process. This combination of professional experience and personal experience gives me a unique ability to help families make the most of their future.
Clients of FamilyVest work directly with Todd Sensing. We bring in outside experts when appropriate. For example, when working on insurance planning, we engage fee-only actuaries with specific experience related to your situation. We do the analysis to help you get the right product at the right price.
We are a fee-only practice. Fees are asset-based per our published schedule; fixed-fee planning engagements are available for special situations. We earn no commissions or product-sales compensation.
Our AUM fee schedule: 1.00% on the first $2M | 0.85% on $2-4M | 0.50% on $4-10M | Negotiable above $10M | Advisory-only: 0.25%. Fixed-fee planning engagements are available for special situations. Our fee schedule is summarized above and available on request; Farther's Form ADV Part 2A contains full disclosure.
Never. Todd Sensing and the FamilyVest practice are compensated solely by client fees. We earn no commissions or product-sales compensation.
No. You can verify my regulatory record on FINRA BrokerCheck and the SEC Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database.
Destin is a convergence point. A retired Air Force colonel with a FERS annuity and a TSP balance is a different planning problem from a charter boat operator managing a seasonal business, from a Kelly Plantation retiree who relocated from the Midwest, from a tourism-industry business owner planning an exit. We have worked with each of them, and the planning is built around the details — not a template.
Retired Air Force officers, civilian federal employees, and contractors tied to the Eglin and Hurlburt mission. Planning often coordinates a military or FERS pension, TSP rollover decisions, survivor benefit elections, and the transition from TRICARE to Medicare. See our veterans and military family planning.
Residents of Destin's established residential communities — often relocated retirees transitioning out of careers in healthcare, law, manufacturing, or executive leadership. Planning centers on converting a career balance sheet into a sustainable retirement income plan with estate updates for Florida law.
Business owners whose revenue arrives in a concentrated seasonal window. Cash-flow smoothing, tax-year timing of large outlays, retirement plan design for owner-operators, and eventual business exit planning all sit on the same planning table.
Physicians, attorneys, and dental or veterinary practice owners in the greater Destin market. Planning combines cash-balance plan design, practice-entity structure, real estate consolidation, and long-horizon wealth-transfer strategy.
Families in Destin and across the Emerald Coast building a lifetime plan around a dependent with a disability. ABLE accounts, special needs trust structuring, SSI and Medicaid coordination, and sibling planning. See our special needs planning approach.
Families whose Destin property sits alongside a primary residence elsewhere. Planning includes Florida residency analysis, multi-state estate coordination, property titling, rental-income treatment, and alignment with the 30A corridor where many of these families also own.
Let us look at where you stand and where you want to go. If we are the right fit, we will tell you how we can help. If we are not, we will tell you that too. No pressure. No sales pitch. Just a straightforward conversation about your financial life.