A Geneva Financial Advisor Who Meets You in Person

Because the biggest retirement decisions are personal, and personal decisions are easier to get right across a table than over a call-center line. A local advisor learns your actual life — your house, your family, your worries — and is there in person when markets get scary or a big decision lands. In an era when most firms are pushing you toward an app or an 800-number, we think your money deserves a real relationship.

Because trust is built face to face, and retirement planning is a multi-decade relationship — not a transaction. We deliberately stay local so we can meet at our office or your kitchen table, know our clients as neighbors, and be genuinely reachable. Plenty of firms are racing to be virtual; we’d rather be the advisor you can actually sit down with.

Because the shift from saving for retirement to living off your money is the hardest, highest-stakes financial transition most people face — and it’s a different skill than growing a 401(k). We focus on the 50–75 household preparing for or living in retirement, so the questions you’re asking are the ones we answer all day: when to claim Social Security, how much you can safely spend, and how to draw income tax-efficiently.

Because taxes are one of the biggest controllable costs in retirement, and an investment plan that ignores them leaves real money on the table. We plan, prepare, and file taxes so the strategy and the tax return actually match — Roth conversions, withdrawal sequencing, and charitable giving timed to lower your lifetime tax bill, not just this year’s. Most advisors give loose tax “advice” and stay hands-off; we don’t.

It’s the most common frustration we hear: your advisor hands you an allocation once a year but has never shown you a Social Security claiming strategy, an income-withdrawal plan, a Roth conversion roadmap, or a tax plan. Often it’s because they’re built to manage investments, not to do comprehensive retirement planning — it may be outside their training or their firm’s model. A real retirement plan answers “what do I actually do, and when?” — and that’s the whole job here.

Yes — Heritage Wealth is a fee-based fiduciary registered investment adviser, which means we’re obligated to act in your best interest. No commissions for pushing products, no hidden incentives.

We bill only on the first $2M we manage — above that, you’re not charged more. Most plans don’t get materially more complex past that point, so we don’t think it’s fair to keep charging more just because you’ve saved more.

Yes — we meet Geneva clients in person regularly, at our office or at your kitchen table. The drive is ours to make. Being local enough to sit down together is the whole idea, and Geneva is well within the area we serve face to face.

No — Illinois fully exempts Social Security, pensions, and 401(k)/IRA withdrawals from its 4.95% state income tax, which makes it one of the friendlier states for retirees. Worth planning around: high Kane County property taxes and an Illinois estate tax that starts well below the federal exemption — two things a lot of advisors never raise.

It can. An older or historic home often comes with higher upkeep, property-tax considerations, and questions about whether and when to downsize — all of which belong in a real retirement plan, alongside your investments. We help you fold the house, not just the portfolio, into the picture.

No — we serve clients across Geneva and the surrounding Kane and DuPage County suburbs, in person at our office or your home. Geneva and the Tri-Cities are part of the area we know and serve regularly.