Jeremy Palensky, AIF - Financial Advisor

10/15/2026

🔍 A simple fee check

This week we’ve talked about what fees look like, where they hide, and how to think about value. Here’s the simple next step.

Pull up your most recent statement and see if you can actually answer these:

✅ What’s my advisory fee, as a real percentage?

✅ What are the expense ratios on my largest holdings?

✅ Are there any account or transaction fees I haven’t noticed?

✅ Does what I’m paying match the level of service and planning I’m actually getting?

If you can answer all of those clearly, that’s a good sign. If you can’t, that’s not a failure, it just means it’s worth a second look.

Send me a message and I’ll walk through your actual numbers with you, plainly, no jargon, no pressure.

10/14/2026

⚖️ Cheaper isn’t automatically better.

The goal isn’t to pay the lowest fee possible. It’s to know what you’re getting for what you pay.

A low-cost index fund and a comprehensive financial planning relationship aren’t the same thing, and comparing their fees side by side doesn’t tell you much. The real question is whether the value matches the cost, not whether the number is small.

✅ What’s actually worth paying for:

🎯 A plan built around your specific goals, not a generic portfolio

👨‍💼 Ongoing access to someone who knows your full financial picture

🔗 Coordination across investments, tax, and estate planning, not just one piece

📈 Someone actively managing and adjusting, not a strategy left on autopilot

A fee with nothing behind it is a bad deal. A fee attached to real, ongoing value is a different conversation entirely.

Tomorrow, let’s make this concrete. Send me a message if you want a plain breakdown of what you’re actually paying for.

10/13/2026

🔎 Where fees actually hide

💸 Some fees are easy to spot. Others are built into products in ways most people never see.

An advisory fee is usually clear, it’s often a stated percentage. But investments themselves carry their own costs, and those rarely show up as a separate charge on your statement.

✅ A few places fees tend to hide:

📊 Fund expense ratios — The ongoing cost of owning a mutual fund or ETF, taken out of returns before you ever see them.

📈 Trading costs — Costs that can build up with frequent buying and selling.

🏦 Account or custodial fees — Small charges that add up over time.

📑 Surrender charges or sales loads — Often buried in certain insurance or annuity products.

Not all of these show up as a bill you pay directly. Some reduce your investment returns, which is exactly why they’re easy to miss.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about how to actually think about whether a fee is worth it. Send me a message if you want help spotting what’s inside your own accounts.

10/12/2026

💸 Do you actually know what you’re paying?

Most people can’t tell you exactly what they’re paying in fees, just a general sense that “it’s probably fine.”

Fees aren’t always a single line item on a statement. They can be embedded in fund expense ratios, account fees, advisory fees, and trading costs, all stacked together in ways that aren’t always obvious at a glance.

✅ A few questions worth asking yourself:

💰 Do you know your advisory fee, as an actual percentage?

📊 Do you know the expense ratios on the funds you’re invested in?

🧾 Are there account fees, transfer fees, or other charges you’ve never really looked at?

🔍 When’s the last time you added it all up in one place?

None of this means fees are bad, fees pay for real services. But you can’t evaluate whether you’re getting good value if you don’t actually know the number.

This week we’re breaking down what fees actually look like and how to think about them. Send me a message if you want to see your own numbers laid out clearly.

10/09/2026

I know this video is a little longer than what I typically share, but if you’ve ever wondered what it actually looks like to sit down with a financial advisor and build a wealth plan, I think it’s worth a few minutes of your time.

In this video, I walk through what you can expect when we first meet, how we get to know your financial picture and goals, and the process we use to build a plan that makes sense for you.

For many people, the hardest part is simply knowing where to start. My hope is that this gives you a better understanding of the process and takes some of the mystery out of financial planning.

Whether you’re just getting started or have been managing your finances for years, having a thoughtful plan can make a real difference.

Take a few minutes to watch, and if you have questions, I’d be happy to talk.

10/08/2026

🤝 A good client experience isn't one thing, it's a lot of small things done consistently.

It's not just about returns. It's about knowing where you stand, having your questions actually answered, and feeling like someone's paying attention to your situation, not just managing a number.

✅ A few things that shape that experience:

📞 Being reachable when something comes up, not just at your annual review

🎯 Advice that's built around your actual goals, not a generic model

📂 Easy access to your own information, whenever you want to look

⏱️ Proactive check-ins, not just reacting when you call with a question

That combination is what we're always working on behind the scenes.

If any part of that doesn't match your experience lately, send me a message, that's exactly the kind of feedback I want to hear.

10/07/2026

There’s more to my life than investments and financial planning.

Music has always been a big part of my life. Before becoming a financial advisor, I was a music teacher, and it’s something I’ve never stopped loving.

These days, one of my favorite things is getting the chance to play alongside my wife and one of my best friends. We’ve been making music together for a long time, and I’m pretty thankful we still get opportunities like this.

A beautiful Sunday, good music, and even better company. Hard to beat that.

10/05/2026

📱 Ever wonder what's actually happening behind the scenes with your accounts?

We use a platform called Black Diamond to give our clients a clear, real time view of their whole financial picture, performance, holdings, documents, all in one place, not just a quarterly statement that's already outdated by the time it arrives.

✅ A quick look at what that actually means for you:
📊 See your performance and accounts update in real time, not just once a quarter
📁 Access your documents and statements whenever you need them, not just when we send them
🎯 Track progress toward your actual goals, not just raw account numbers
📱 Check in from your phone, whenever it's convenient for you

Take a look at the video below to see it in action.

If you're a client and haven't gotten set up on it yet, or want a quick walkthrough, send me a message and I'll get you going.

This is "Avior Client Experience" by Avior on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

09/30/2026

🧩 Here's the part that surprises people, having the information isn't the same as having a plan.

Most people who work through that list realize they know more than they thought. A few accounts, a password here, a folder there. But knowing where things are scattered isn't the same as your spouse being able to actually step in and keep things running.

✅ The difference comes down to this:
📂 Information is scattered pieces only you can fully connect
🗃️ A plan means someone else could pick it up without you there to explain it
🔄 Information changes and gets outdated, a plan gets maintained
👥 Information lives in your head, a plan lives somewhere your family can actually access

That gap is exactly what I want to show you tomorrow. I put together something that walks through what it actually looks like to close it, not just for your accounts, but for your whole financial life.

Keep an eye out for it, and if this has you thinking about where you and your spouse actually stand, send me a message in the meantime.

09/29/2026

📋 “Knowing what to do” is more specific than most people realize.

Last week, we asked the big question. Today, let's get concrete about what “knowing” actually needs to cover if your spouse ever had to step in.

✅ The real list looks something like this:
🏦 Every account that exists, not just the big ones, and where they're held
🔐 How to actually get into them, logins, key contacts, not just account numbers
📞 Who your professional team is, advisor, attorney, CPA, and how to reach them
🧾 Which bills are automatic, which aren't, and where the money for both comes from
📁 Where the actual documents live, will, insurance policies, deeds, not “somewhere in a drawer”

Most couples know pieces of this. Very few have it all in one place, written down, and easy for the other person to actually find.

That gap, between knowing some of it and having all of it accessible, is where things get hard at the worst possible time.

More on this tomorrow. If you want to see how much of this list you and your spouse could actually check off today, send me a message!