Our core values are investing smarter and safer to help you reach your individual goals. As an independent, fee-only advisor, our sole allegiance is to our clients. We proudly operate as fiduciaries, providing objective analysis. We do not accept any commissions or loads, so any would be commissions built in the investment flow through as savings to the client.
Unique Investing Solutions
Fiduciary Responsibility
Maintain the highest standard of care through the requirement of acting for the sole benefit and interest of the client.
Custom Investment Portfolios
We utilize a combination of passive and active strategies with an allocation to alternatives to minimize short term risk while maximizing long-term potential, all while lowering client fees.
Personal Interaction
We meet with all of our clients in person on a quarterly basis. You will never speak with a machine at Client 1st.
Our Advisors
Craig Philips
Craig Philips
CEO/Managing Partner
Craig Phillips, CEO/Managing Partner, co-founded Client 1st Advisory Group as a premier Wealth Management firm whose unique Consultative Client Management (CCM) process enables the firm to deliver a consistent, high quality experience to each client.
Michelle Mabry
President/Managing Partner
Michelle Mabry is President and Managing Partner of Client 1st Advisory Group. She holds the CFP® certification and is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary®. She has been working with clients to help them achieve their financial goals and dreams since 1989.
Dave Stieh
ManagingPartner/COO
Dave has over a decade of experience in the financial services industry. This along with his experience with Individual and Corporate tax preparation enables Dave to bring a higher level of financial planning skills to his clients.
Shaun Fedder
Managing Partner
Shaun Fedder is an Advisor and Managing Partner of Client 1st Advisory Group with over 15 years of experience in the financial service industry. A native of South Bend, Indiana, he earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from Indiana University, and is a graduate of Cannon Trust School.
Accumulation planning addresses an individual’s investment needs, asset allocation, and the suitability of different types of securities in light of your goals and risk tolerance.
Asset allocation is used to distribute your investable assets among a variety of investment categories. This process will:
Reduce overall investment risk
Create more reliable investment forecasts
Improve the risk/return tradeoff of your portfolio
Accumulation planning also involves the choice of securities for your investment portfolio.
Business planning focuses on issues specific to business owners and shareholders. For most business owners, the business is their most significant asset, and the financial success of that business has an immediate impact on the economic security of the family. Without proper planning, you may have difficulty tapping the value of your business to support your retirement, or your family may lose the value of your business at your death.
Our process coordinates the management of your business throughout its life cycle with:
Retirement planning involves evaluating your current financial standing and creating an accumulation strategy that will help to ensure a desired retirement lifestyle. Because an individual’s retirement years can span decades, retirement planning generally dominates other financial goals. A successful plan put into place during the wealth-building lifespan should address ways to maximize growth and tax-efficient distributions, as well as how to leave retirement assets to the next generation.
Risk management is intended to minimize financial and other losses potentially associated with risks to your assets, business, or health. Some examples of risk are personal and professional liability, business ownership, and catastrophic illness or disability. Your first line of defense is to identify your sources of risk and then to either avoid or minimize the major exposures. Your last line of defense is insurance.
Asset protection planning manages risks to your wealth. Lawsuits, accidents, property damage, and other financial risks are facts of everyday life and asset protection planning looks to transfer the risk of these events through:
Tax planning considers the tax implications of individual, investment, or business decisions, usually with the goal of minimizing tax liability. While decisions are rarely made solely on their tax impact, you should have a working knowledge of the income or estate tax issues and costs involved.
A major goal of tax planning is minimizing federal income tax liability. This can be achieved by:
Reducing taxable income through income deferral or shifting