Intelligent Investing

10/01/2026

Tired of being treated like a number? You're not imagining it.

This week reminded me how big institutions see their customers.

📌 My bank: After more than twenty years as a loyal customer, I asked for a free checkbook. I was told I'd have to upgrade to a new account tier to get one.

📌 Fidelity: This week, Fidelity told independent advisory firms with less than $100 million on its platform that they have until June 30, 2027 to reach that level or find a new custodian. Loyalty didn't factor in.

📌 Even my own tech vendor: Today I got an email saying our client software would soon cost $6,000 a month to access our own data. Thankfully, it turned out to be a mistake that should never have been sent. But it shows where the industry is heading. Big players are looking for new ways to charge more, and someone always ends up paying for it.

If your advisor received that Fidelity letter, take a breath. Your investments are still yours. A custodian change means your accounts get moved, not lost. Ask your advisor a few simple questions: Where are my assets going? Will this cost me anything or create taxes? What will change for me?

And if this week has you wondering whether you're being served or just processed, that's worth paying attention to.

My wife and I have been running Intelligent Investing for the past decade. We are a boutique, fee-only fiduciary firm here in the Upstate. We're paid only by our clients. We don't earn commissions, sell products, or take money from third parties for recommending their funds (aka revenue sharing). We use the largest custodian in the industry to keep your assets safe, but the relationship is with us, not a call center.

It's the difference between the big box hardware store and the local shop where someone walks you right to the screw you need.

If you're tired of the big box bullies and want a boutique approach, my wife and I would welcome the opportunity to serve you.

☕ Let's talk, on us. We offer a complimentary phone call or coffee, plus a complimentary portfolio review. There's no cost, no obligation, and no sales pitch, just an honest second opinion on whether your current setup is working for you.

📅 Book a call or coffee: https://investedwithyou.com/connect/
📖 The checkbook story: https://investedwithyou.com/twenty-years-as-a-customer-wasnt-enough-for-free-checks/

Hans Blake, CFA, CPA
Principal, Intelligent Investing | Creator of Intelligrations®

A Phone Call That Should Have Been Simple I’ve banked with the same local bank for more than twenty years. Long enough that I don’t remember which president was in […]

10/01/2026

At Intelligent Investing, we never settle.

The world is talking about artificial intelligence, super intelligence, and everything in between. But here's what I believe: nothing beats a human with technology.

Technology alone can't understand your family, your fears, or what a well-lived life means to you. A human alone can't see everything at once. Put the two together, and you get something better than either.

That's why we built Intelligrations®, our proprietary fintech platform that connects the many tools we use into one clear, unified picture. It helps us organize our clients' financial junk drawers, with the goal of minimizing financial stress to maximize lives.

It's how we live out what we stand for:

💡 Insightful: seeing the whole picture, not just the pieces
🧭 Independent: fee-only fiduciary advice, always in your best interest
🚀 Innovative: building tools that help us serve you better

We're building the next level of intelligence within Intelligent Investing, and we'd love for you to be part of it. If you're looking for an advisor who pairs real human judgment with real technology, let's talk.

🔗 https://investedwithyou.com/intelligrations/

Intelligrations™ -intelligently integrating financial technologies to minimize your financial stress to maximize your life.

09/14/2026

Over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern among a certain kind of client. Often — though not always — an engineer by training. Methodical. The kind of person who built a savings spreadsheet sometime in their thirties, updated it faithfully every year since, and can tell you their net worth to the dollar without opening the file.

That discipline is exactly why they’re sitting across from us with $1 million or more saved. It worked. In fact, it worked for twenty-five or thirty years.

And then retirement arrives, and the same discipline that built their nest egg becomes a sort of trap standing between them and their money.

The income faucet gets turned off, and their spreadsheet can’t accommodate all the risks, assumptions, and factors they may face over the next 30-40 years of retirement. They also have a hard time distributing from their fortified nest egg.

Here’s the part that surprised me the first few times I saw it, but doesn’t surprise me anymore...

  The Spreadsheet That Never Sleeps Over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern among a certain kind of client. Often — though not always — an engineer by training. Methodical. […]

09/02/2026

Intelligent Investing will be the first to acknowledge that we cannot control markets or even how long you may live. However, we believe that by investing prudently through market cycles while managing risks, controlling our own emotions, while coaching you to control your emotions, we may provide a smoother path as we travel together on this journey called life.

We can help you remove the emotions out of investing, and help you maintain the course towards your financial goals.

https://investedwithyou.com/behavioral-coaching/

08/28/2026

We listen to your situation and then ask questions to clarify and hone our understanding of your situation.

Learn more about our One Passion.

Intelligent Investing has one passion, and that is to minimize financial stress to maximize your life. We do this through a number of ways such as...

08/28/2026

"Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life."

- Dolly Parton (1946 – 2026)

08/26/2026

"Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants."

08/24/2026

Over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern among a certain kind of client. Often — though not always — an engineer by training. Methodical. The kind of person who built a savings spreadsheet sometime in their thirties, updated it faithfully every year since, and can tell you their net worth to the dollar without opening the file.

That discipline is exactly why they’re sitting across from us with $1 million or more saved. It worked. In fact, it worked for twenty-five or thirty years.

  The Spreadsheet That Never Sleeps Over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern among a certain kind of client. Often — though not always — an engineer by training. Methodical. […]

08/12/2026

Learn what makes us different: https://investedwithyou.com/four-unique-factors/

08/10/2026

Over the last decade or so, I’ve noticed a pattern in the questions I get from prospective clients. Someone will ask me about converting part of their traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. It’s a smart question. It’s often the right question.

But by the time I hear it, the person asking has usually already started Social Security. And once that happens, the window for doing much with Roth conversions is already closing, or closed.

Nobody told them the window existed in the first place. That’s not their fault. Nobody had a reason to.

A Question That Arrives Too Late Over the last decade or so, I’ve noticed a pattern in the questions I get from prospective clients. Someone will ask me about converting […]