Goals first, plan second, investments third. As fee-only fiduciary financial planners, every recommendation reflects your goals, your tax situation, and your timeline. No commissions. No conflicts of interest. Just financial advice aligned with your best interest.
Fee-only investment management means advice, portfolio construction, and ongoing coordination compensated exclusively by the fees our clients pay. No commissions. No proprietary products. No revenue sharing. We build portfolios around the financial plan rather than around a product shelf, and we coordinate every position with your tax situation, your retirement timeline, and the rest of your financial life. FamilyVest serves clients in Destin, FL, along the Emerald Coast, and across the country.
Fee-Only Fiduciary
No commissions. No financial products to sell. No conflicts of interest. Your interests only.
CFA & CFP Credentials
Held to the highest standards in investment analysis and certified financial planner practice.
Transparent Fee Structure
One advisory fee based on assets under management. No hidden charges. No transaction costs.
Fee-only financial advisors earn compensation solely from the fees their clients pay. There are no commissions on mutual funds, annuities, life insurance, or other investment products. No revenue sharing from brokerage platforms. No incentive to recommend one financial product over another. This structure eliminates the conflicts of interest that are built into the fee-based advisor and commission-based brokerage models.
Fee-based advisors, by contrast, may charge an advisory fee and also earn commissions from selling financial products. That dual compensation creates conflicts of interest that are difficult for clients to detect. A fee-based advisor recommending an annuity may be acting in your interest, or may be collecting a commission. You cannot always tell the difference.
FamilyVest operates as a fee-only fiduciary under Farther Finance Advisors, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. The fiduciary standard requires us to act in our client's best interest at all times. This is a legal obligation, not a marketing claim. We hold no proprietary investment products, earn no referral fees, and accept no commissions of any kind. Every piece of financial advice we deliver is free from the compensation conflicts that compromise the brokerage and fee-based models.
Our fee structure is straightforward: a single percentage-of-assets advisory fee based on your assets under management. No flat fee minimums, no hourly rate billing, no retainer surprises. Unlike layered AUM fees at some firms, one fee covers investment management, financial planning, retirement planning, and ongoing coordination. You always know what you pay and why.
The Farther Unified Managed Account holds all strategies in a single structure with coordinated management across every position. This is investment management designed for your complete financial plan, not a collection of disconnected accounts.
Globally diversified model portfolios across equity, fixed income, and multi-asset allocations. ETF-based core holdings averaging 0.06% expense ratio, with individually held bond SMAs for income customization. Macro-informed tactical tilts and threshold-based daily rebalancing keep your portfolio aligned without the drag of high-cost mutual funds or packaged investment products.
Separately managed accounts owning individual stocks. Security-level tax-loss harvesting, factor-based construction using DFA methodology, and custom screens without sacrificing diversification. Because the portfolio holds underlying securities rather than a pooled fund wrapper, it is designed to surface more tax-loss-harvesting opportunities through daily monitoring. Results depend on market conditions, portfolio construction, and client-specific tax circumstances.
Access to private equity, private credit, and real assets through vetted managers. Minimums from $10,000 across 100+ funds, with quarterly liquidity options. Alternatives are integrated directly within the UMA alongside your core portfolio, not siloed in separate accounts.
Tax drag is one of the most controllable costs in investing. We manage it in coordination with your full financial picture: asset location across account types, tax-loss harvesting at the security level, tax-free income optimization, and tax-efficient portfolio transitions. Investment decisions connect back to your retirement planning, estate coordination, business exit strategy, Social Security timing, and insurance review. Every client starts with a financial plan that builds the Investment Policy Statement, the document that governs how your portfolio is managed.
Your wealth management relationship stays at FamilyVest. Portfolio execution, trading, and reporting run through Farther, one of the fastest-growing registered investment advisor platforms in the country.
$15B+
Assets under management1
100+
Wealth managers nationwide2
5,000+
Client households served2
#1
Financial services, 2025 Inc. 50003
The Investment Policy Statement is the written document that governs how the portfolio is managed. It documents the return objective, the tolerance for loss, the time horizon, the liquidity needs, and the constraints specific to your situation. The IPS is the anchor we return to when markets get noisy. It is reviewed and updated when the financial plan changes materially, not when the market moves. For households with complex circumstances, including concentrated positions, restricted stock, trust assets, or special needs beneficiaries, the IPS also documents the coordination requirements that keep the portfolio aligned with the broader plan.
Allocation between equities, fixed income, and other asset classes is the single largest driver of long-run portfolio behavior. We set allocation based on the plan's funding requirements, the household's capacity to bear risk, and the time horizon of the cash-flow needs. For clients within or approaching retirement, we also define a glide path that gradually adjusts allocation as the funding profile of the plan changes. The glide path is written into the IPS. It is not reactive to market conditions. It is a pre-committed schedule tied to life-stage and plan milestones.
Two households can hold the same asset allocation and arrive at very different after-tax outcomes depending on which assets sit in which accounts. Tax-inefficient holdings generally belong in tax-deferred or tax-free accounts. Tax-efficient holdings generally belong in taxable accounts. Roth accounts, because they grow tax-free and pass tax-free to heirs, often deserve the highest-expected-return positions. Asset location is coordinated across the household, across both spouses' accounts, and across multiple account types. It is re-evaluated as contributions, distributions, and Roth conversions change the balance among accounts.
Tax-aware management includes systematic tax-loss harvesting in taxable accounts, deferral of gain realization when possible, awareness of holding-period thresholds, and coordination of portfolio activity with the household's broader tax picture. We coordinate with your CPA rather than operate in isolation from them. In high-income years, that may mean suppressing gain realization; in lower-income years, it may mean accelerating it. For clients with significant capital gain exposure, transition planning and gain budgeting are built into the annual review cycle.
Portfolios drift as markets move. Rebalancing brings the portfolio back to its target allocation on a threshold basis rather than a calendar basis, so trading is driven by drift rather than by dates on a schedule. The IPS also serves as the guardrail during market stress. When a client is tempted to change course at exactly the wrong moment, the pre-committed policy is the reference point. Our job is to help clients stay connected to the plan they wrote when they were thinking clearly, not to react to the plan they might rewrite in a moment of anxiety.
New clients rarely arrive with a clean sheet. They arrive with legacy positions, embedded gains, concentrated stock, orphaned 401(k)s, and accounts at multiple custodians. The transition to a coordinated portfolio generally runs 12 to 24 months and is planned rather than executed in a single event. We map existing positions, identify which hold, which transition, and which unwind across tax years. Embedded gain is a real constraint. The goal is to arrive at the target portfolio with the smallest tax cost the plan allows, not to reset everything on day one.
Yes. FamilyVest operates through Farther Finance Advisors, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. We are legally held to the fiduciary standard, meaning we must act in your best interest at all times. We are fee-only, meaning we earn no commissions, no referral fees, and hold no proprietary financial products.
We charge a single advisory fee based on a percentage of assets under management. There are no hidden charges, no transaction costs, and no performance fees. Unlike firms that use a flat fee, hourly rate, or retainer model, our AUM fee structure aligns our compensation directly with your portfolio's growth. Your fee covers investment management, financial planning, and ongoing coordination across your financial life.
Fee-only financial planners are compensated exclusively by the fees their clients pay. Fee-based advisors may charge a fee and also earn commissions from selling investment products like annuities, life insurance, or mutual funds. Those commissions create conflicts of interest. At FamilyVest, we are fee-only. We do not sell financial products and we do not accept commissions from any source.
We work with clients who have investable assets generally starting at $500,000, though we evaluate each relationship individually. The strategies available within the Unified Managed Account, including alternatives, have their own minimums starting as low as $10,000.
Todd Sensing holds the CFA charter, CFP (Certified Financial Planner) certification, CEPA (Certified Exit Planning Advisor) designation, and ChSNC (Chartered Special Needs Consultant) credential. The CFA charter requires passing three rigorous exams covering investment analysis, portfolio management, and ethics. The CFP certification is the standard for comprehensive financial planning practice.
It starts with a conversation. We discuss your goals, current situation, and what you need from a financial advisor. If there is a fit, we build your Investment Policy Statement, transition your portfolio with tax efficiency in mind, and begin coordinated management. Schedule an introductory call.
Most financial professionals select investments and call it planning. We build the financial plan first, then construct the portfolio to serve it. The Unified Managed Account coordinates multiple strategies with daily tax management, and every investment decision connects to your tax situation, retirement planning timeline, estate plan, and overall goals. This is wealth management built around a plan, not a product pitch.
Yes. We work directly with your existing advisors. Tax planning, estate structure, and business strategy all affect how your portfolio should be managed. We coordinate with your CPA, estate attorney, and any other financial professional involved in your situation so nothing falls through the gaps.
Discipline, diversification, and the discipline to avoid emotional decision-making.
Understanding behavioral biases and how they affect investment decisions and long-term wealth.
Recognizing fear and greed-driven decisions and staying committed to your plan.
Constructing portfolios that grow faster than inflation and preserve purchasing power.
The first conversation is a working session, not a pitch. We want to understand your current portfolio, your plan, and the decisions in front of you.
Not every household is a fit for our practice, and not every advisor is a fit for every household. We tell you honestly if we think another resource would serve you better.
That may include drafting the IPS, mapping current holdings against the target allocation, identifying asset-location opportunities, and planning the transition across tax years.
We are fee-only fiduciaries. Our compensation comes from clients we work with, not products we sell. The first conversation stands on its own.
Start with a conversation about your goals, your current setup, and where the gaps are.
FamilyVest operates under Farther Finance Advisors, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser (RIA). This page is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Alternative investments involve additional risks including illiquidity and concentration risk. Advisory services offered through Farther Finance Advisors, LLC.
1 $15B+ assets under management. Source: Farther Finance Advisors, LLC proprietary data, as of October 2025. AUM figure is subject to change and may include assets in transition. Regulatory assets under management as reported on SEC Form ADV may differ. See farther.com for current figures.
2 100+ wealth managers and 5,000+ client households. Source: Farther Finance Advisors, LLC, as reported on farther.com and in company press releases, as of 2025.
3 Farther ranked #8 overall and #1 among financial services firms on the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America, published August 2025. Ranking is based on three-year revenue growth from 2021 to 2024 and reflects historical performance during that period. It does not indicate current growth rate or future results. Inc. Magazine is not affiliated with Farther or FamilyVest. See inc.com/inc5000.