Planning for retirement is harder than it used to be.
Juggling retirement planning with aging parents and college costs? Book a free 15-minute call with a CFP® professional. We’ll listen and offer real guidance—no sales pitch, no obligation.
We won’t pitch you on managing your money.
How to start with a CFP® professional.
Three steps. No ongoing commitment required.
| Step 1: Discovery Call | Step 2: Initial Assessment | Step 3: Ongoing Services | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $295 to $590 | Varies by service |
| Duration | 15 minutes | About 1 to 2 weeks | Ongoing or annual |
| Who you talk to | CFP® professional | CFP® professional | Your CFP® professional, with the team as backup |
| What you get | Best-fit assessment recommendation | Second Opinion ($295) or Am I on Track ($590) service with a planning deliverable to keep regardless. | Ongoing financial guidance |
| Ongoing Commitment required | None | None | None |
The chart above walks through our process: a free discovery call, personalized assessment delivering a practical report to keep, and any ongoing services you think make sense for you. Already know you want investment management, membership, or another service? Skip the assessment and tell us during the call.
Most people start with one of two assessments, either a Second Opinion or “Am I on Track?" review.
While Second Opinion ($295) is a portfolio review, "Am I on Track?" ($590) is a retirement-readiness assessment that includes the latter plus a Social Security strategy, readiness score, cash flow analysis, and more.
Option #1
Second Opinion
Ideal for
DIY investors who want an objective second look at their portfolio or those already working with an advisor but seeking an unbiased professional review
Price
$295
What you get
A CFP® professional will review your portfolio's risks, returns, and what it's costing you in investment fees—delivered as a personalized report to keep.
Timeline
About one week
Option #2
“Am I on Track?”
Ideal for
People wanting a clear, confident answer to the question retirement keeps raising: Am I actually on track to enjoy the retirement I want?
Price
$590
What you get
You’ll receive everything in Second Opinion plus a Social Security claiming strategy, personalized 0–100 retirement readiness score, and complete retirement roadmap tailored to your goals.
Timeline
About two weeks
The Second Opinion assessment includes:
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Our investment analysis identifies your risk score and compares your current investment allocation with your ideal one, arming you with the knowledge necessary to make changes accordingly.
The “Am I on Track?” assessment includes an investment portfolio analysis, plus:
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We’ll determine your optimal Social Security filing date, helping you maximize your benefits and retire with greater confidence.
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We’ll conduct a thorough analysis to assess whether you’re on track to meet your financial goals, examining how money moves in and out of your accounts and providing personalized income projections and clear, actionable recommendations so you can move confidently toward a comfortable retirement.
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We’ll provide a clear, easy-to-understand score showing exactly how likely you are to reach your retirement goals so you can finally know (not guess) whether you’re A-OK.
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We’ll identify gaps or missed opportunities in your tax return and offer advice on tax-smart investing, wealth-building strategies, and how to maximize charitable giving.
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This document provides a visual snapshot of your net worth and acts as a baseline to track your progress moving forward.
We work with the generation expected to fund retirement, college, and elder care—all at the same time.
Most retirement advice is designed for a different era. Previous generations, however, weren’t up against $80,000 in annual college costs, the burden of funding parents' long-term care, or reliable pensions nowhere in sight. Today's pre-retirees (AKA “the sandwich generation”) are.
The kid in college
Your kid is a sophomore. Each August, you write a $40K check. You hesitate to touch the 529 plan, but you’re also wary of depleting your brokerage account.
The parent in care
Your parent just moved into assisted living. The financial reality feels overwhelming. You’re weighing whether you, your siblings, or a spend-down strategy will cover the costs—but the right answer remains unclear.
Your retirement date
You once said 62. Then you reconsidered—maybe 65. Now, 67 feels like the more realistic answer. Every market correction makes you rethink your timeline.
Find out where you stand.
Two custodians: Fidelity and LPL Financial
Your assets are held in your name at one of two independent custodians: Fidelity Investments or LPL Financial. We'll help determine the right custodian for your situation during onboarding.
If you're already at Fidelity or LPL, nothing has to move—same account number, same statements, same login. You’ll simply sign a simple authorization form giving us advisory access.
From there, you’ll receive fiduciary, advice-first guidance from a dedicated CFP® professional who knows you and is backed by an independent boutique firm that doesn’t peddle proprietary products.
Independent, fiduciary RIA in Ridgewood, NJ (Bergen County)
Every Vision Retirement client works directly with a CFP® professional and true fiduciary, always committed to acting in your best interest. As an independent registered investment advisor (RIA) based in Ridgewood, NJ in Bergen County, we’re never incentivized to promote proprietary products and in fact don’t sell any. Every fee is published upfront, before you engage with us.
Fiduciary RIA
Your interests come first—throughout the relationship and not just the point of sale.
Fidelity & LPL custodians
Your assets are held in your name by Fidelity Investments or LPL Financial—two established, independent custodians.
CFP® professionals
Every Vision Retirement advisor you’ll work with holds the CFP® credential—earned through rigorous education, examination, experience, and ethics requirements.
Not all financial advisors work the same way.
Financial advisors operate under different rules: different legal duties, different compensation models, and different regulators. Here's how the two main types compare.
|
Fiduciary RIA
(like Vision Retirement)
|
Broker / Registered Representative
|
|
|---|---|---|
| What they’re required to do | Always put your interests first when providing advice (fiduciary duty) | Act in your best interest at the moment of each recommendation (Reg BI) |
| How long that obligation lasts | Throughout the entire relationship | At the time of each specific recommendation |
| How they’re typically paid | Via fees you pay directly (flat, hourly, or as a % of assets) | Via commissions paid by the products they sell you |
| What they must do about conflicts of interest | Minimize and disclose them | Disclose them |
| Who oversees them | SEC or state securities regulator | FINRA |
Meet the CFP® professionals behind every engagement.
Every client works directly with a CFP® professional who knows you well, with the rest of the team acting as backup, so a meeting never has to wait and a question never goes unanswered.
Paul Muller, AEP®, CFP®
Relationship Manager and Founder
Benjamin Stark, CFP®
Financial Advisor and
Director of Client Experience
Nicholas Taber, CFP®
Associate Financial Advisor
We coordinate your entire financial picture, not just investments.
Your retirement plan spans your CPA, estate attorney, insurance agent, and financial accounts. When these professionals don’t communicate, the consequences can be costly and include things like missed Roth conversions or unfunded trusts. Acting as your financial quarterback, we’ll coordinate with your team so tax moves, estate planning, and investment strategy all work seamlessly together.
Need your return prepared too? Our sister company Advisor Tax Prep handles filing, which includes a review of your return by your CFP® professional, so your return and your retirement plan stay aligned.
Already know which retirement planning services you need?
Some visitors arrive having already decided they want ongoing work, which is absolutely fine; you can skip the assessment and head straight to the right page…
Membership→
Starting at $895/yearFiduciary Investment Management→
Up to 1.25% of AUM, $10k minimumAutomated Investing w/ Guidance→
0.75% of AUM, $1k minimumTax Preparation↗
Starting at $450, via Advisor Tax Prep
Frequently Asked Questions
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The discovery call is a free 15-minute conversation with a CFP® professional at Vision Retirement — longer if you need it. You'll talk through your goals, your concerns, and where things stand now. There's no sales pitch. At the end we'll suggest a next step, which might be a one-time assessment, ongoing membership, or nothing at all, and you're under no obligation to take it.
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Yes. After the discovery call you can move straight to investment management or VR Circle membership without completing an assessment. And if you do start with an assessment, it's a standalone service — you keep the report, and there's no requirement to continue with us afterward.
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There is no net-worth requirement, and no minimum for our one-time services — the $295 Second Opinion, the $590 Am I on Track? assessment, and VR Circle membership from $895 a year. Automated Investing with Guidance starts at $1,000 and costs 0.75% a year. Fully managed portfolios start at $10,000, with fees capped at 1.25% all-inclusive. You work directly with a CFP® professional at every level.
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Yes. Vision Retirement's office is in Ridgewood, New Jersey, and most clients are in Bergen County and northern New Jersey — but the firm is registered in several states and works with clients well beyond the immediate area. Meetings happen in Ridgewood or by video, and plenty of clients have never been to the office. Ask on the discovery call and we'll confirm we can work with you where you live.
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No. Vision Retirement manages accounts held at Fidelity and LPL Financial, so in most cases your assets stay where they are — nothing is liquidated and nothing moves to a new institution. What changes is who manages them and how. As an independent Registered Investment Advisor, Vision Retirement has no proprietary funds to place and no sales targets attached to what goes into a portfolio.
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Vision Retirement’s main office is at 171 E. Ridgewood Ave., Suite 205, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450, in Bergen County. Clients meet in the office or by video. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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Vision Retirement's two primary groups are the sandwich generation — adults roughly 50 to 64 supporting aging parents and children at the same time they're funding their own retirement — and people at or near retirement dealing with Social Security claiming decisions, IRMAA Medicare surcharges, required minimum distributions, and how New Jersey taxes retirement income. Those are the situations we see most often, but they aren't the only ones: we also work with younger professionals building their first serious savings, and with people who simply want a second set of eyes on a plan they already have. Most clients are in Bergen County and northern New Jersey, and there's no asset minimum for the one-time services, so you don't need a portfolio of a particular size to get an answer.
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A robo-advisor—algorithmic portfolio management for self-directed investors—works well for straightforward situations where cost and hands-off management are prioritized.
Vision Retirement offers a robo option as part of our investment menu, with our Automated Investing w/ Guidance service built on the Betterment platform — 0.75% a year, $1,000 minimum, with a CFP® professional behind it.
If a robo-advisor is what you're after, the question isn't "Vision or robo?" but whether you want robo management on its own, the same management with a CFP® professional you can call, or something more involved like our Membership or Fiduciary Investment Management services. Our discovery call will help you figure out which fits.
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Major firms offer advisor services backed by national brand recognition and scale, often at very competitive fees. The structural difference with Vision Retirement comes down to three things: we're an independent RIA (with no affiliated broker-dealer product menu), we don't sell proprietary funds, and every client works with a dedicated CFP® professional from their first call onward. We're also smaller, meaning lower advisor-to-client ratios and more direct access. The right choice depends on whether you value the scale and lower fees of a national platform or the boutique service and integrated tax/estate coordination of an independent RIA.
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Tax return preparation is handled by Advisor Tax Prep, a sister company owned by the same parent, Ridgewood Financial Advisors. It's an optional service, and it includes a review of the completed return by your CFP® professional, so what's on the return and what's in your retirement plan stay consistent. Vision Retirement itself does tax planning — Roth conversion timing, IRMAA thresholds, the order you draw from accounts, how New Jersey treats retirement income — as part of its planning work. Filing and planning are two different services from two related companies.
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Some people do, which can work for simple scenarios. The math favors working with a CFP® professional, however, when decisions are irreversible or interconnected such as when to claim Social Security, how to sequence withdrawals, whether or not to perform a Roth conversion, and how to plan for healthcare costs. Get any one of these wrong, and the costs can far exceed what it costs to work with an advisor—often over many years.
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A fiduciary financial advisor is a financial professional who’s legally and ethically bound to always act in a client’s best interest. Unlike other financial advisors who operate under a “best interest” standard (Reg BI)—meaning they must recommend products appropriate for a client’s needs—a fiduciary is held to a higher standard of care.
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The CFP® designation is a widely recognized credential. Regulated by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, CFPs® must pass a difficult exam and meet strict standards with respect to education and work experience. Better yet, CFPs® are held (by law) to a fiduciary standard and will thus always put your best interests above their own. Every Vision Retirement client gets to work with a CFP® professional.
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A financial custodian is a specialized institution or entity responsible for safeguarding a client’s financial assets such as stocks, bonds, or cash. Vision Retirement works directly with two custodians: LPL and Fidelity.
More on the decisions you're working through
Gain practical perspective from our CFP® professionals on Social Security timing, Roth conversions, retirement state guides, and other decisions impacting what comes next.
30+
YEARS
Helping families navigate complex retirement decisions
FIDUCIARY
Legally required to put your interests first — throughout the relationship, not just at the point of sale.
TRANSPARENCY
Clear pricing, no hidden fees, no surprises.
PROPRIETARY PRODUCTS
No proprietary funds. No incentives to push them.
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