Optional paid service

Request a consultation

The calculators are free and always will be. If you would like to talk a decision through with someone, you can request a consultation — an educational discussion about your own situation, with clear limits on what it is and is not.

Read this before requesting A consultation is an educational discussion. It is not regulated investment advice, tax preparation, accounting or legal services, and it does not create a fiduciary or professional relationship. If your question needs a licensed professional, we will tell you so and decline rather than proceed.

How it works

  1. You send a request describing what you are trying to work out.
  2. We reply with an honest assessment of whether we can help — and if we cannot, what kind of professional you actually need.
  3. If we can help, we confirm the scope, the fee and the terms in writing before anything is booked or paid.
  4. We hold the session, and follow up with a written summary of what was discussed.

Pricing

Two arrangements are available.

  • A flat fee of $99 for a 30-minute session. Simple, predictable, agreed before booking.
  • A results-based arrangement, where the fee is a percentage of savings actually demonstrated in the first year. Where this is offered, the written agreement will define exactly how savings are measured, over what period, what evidence is required, what happens if savings cannot be demonstrated, and what the maximum fee could be. We will not agree to a results-based fee where the outcome is not measurable.

No outcome is guaranteed. Any potential savings depend on your individual circumstances, your eligibility, applicable laws and regulations, and the strategies available to you. We do not claim that a consultation will save you money, and you should be sceptical of anyone who does.

What we can help with

  • Understanding how a calculation works and what it means for your situation
  • Talking through a decision — refinance or not, prepay or invest, Roth or traditional — and what the trade-offs actually are
  • Building a debt payoff plan and understanding the sequence
  • Understanding how the tax bracket structure affects a specific decision you are weighing
  • Working out what questions to take to a CPA, attorney or licensed adviser, so that appointment is productive

What we cannot help with

  • Preparing or filing a tax return
  • Recommending specific securities, funds or investment products
  • Managing money or holding assets on your behalf
  • Legal advice of any kind, including on entity formation, contracts or disputes
  • Insurance recommendations
  • Anything requiring a licence we do not hold

If your question falls into one of these, we will say so at the first reply rather than take a fee and disappoint you.

Request a consultation

Nothing is booked or charged by submitting this form. We will reply with an assessment and, if appropriate, written terms.

City and state are enough unless we agree otherwise. It tells us which state's rules are relevant, which matters for tax questions.

The more specific you are, the more useful our first reply will be. Please keep it to the situation and the question — you do not need to send figures, and you should not send account numbers.

About attaching documents Only attach a document if it is genuinely necessary, and remove or redact anything sensitive first — Social Security numbers, full account numbers, dates of birth, card details. Uploads are stored outside the public web directory with direct access blocked, and are deleted once your enquiry is closed. That is reasonable protection for ordinary business documents. It is not a substitute for a secure document portal, and highly sensitive documents should not be sent this way. If your matter requires one, tell us in the description and we will arrange a secure channel before you send anything.

One file, up to 8 MB. PDF, image, CSV, spreadsheet or Word document.

Frequently asked

Will you tell me what to invest in?

No. Recommending specific securities or products requires registration we do not hold. We can explain how different account types are taxed and what trade-offs a decision involves; we cannot tell you what to buy.

Can you do my taxes?

No. We can help you understand how a rule works and what to ask a preparer. Preparing or filing a return requires a qualified preparer.

What if you cannot help?

We say so, explain what kind of professional you need, and charge nothing. That is a better outcome for everyone than taking a fee for a conversation that could not have helped.

Is my information safe?

We take reasonable measures — HTTPS, server-side validation, uploads stored outside the public web directory with direct access blocked, and deletion once an enquiry is closed. We will not describe this as "bank-level security", because no independent assessment supports such a claim. Send only what is necessary. Our Privacy Policy has the detail.