Our full-spectrum service is offered on a retainer basis. While the most popular option is a standard, open-ended retainer (this means you pay a single annual fee and can call or come in as frequently as needed), we also provide one meeting "financial reviews" or hourly projects for those with less complex situations or to address a specific issue. As a rule of thumb, we work with clients, only where we can provide savings and/or added benefits in excess of our cost, so it is a win-win solution for everybody!
 

Goal Setting & Financial Planning

You will be guided in setting attainable goals for the near term and for the future...and in finding strategies to help balance what can seem to be conflicting goals.

Risk Management

All of your insurance needs will be reviewed, and you will be advised of the insurance you need to be adequately protected. Advice will be given on possible savings by reducing elaborate coverage you may not need.

Special Needs Planning

In addition to the areas mentioned here, special needs such as education planning, budgeting, debt reduction, home purchase analysis, charitable giving, and qualified plan/IRA rollovers are addressed. Also, careful planning can ease such life transitions as the death of a spouse, divorce, second marriage, early retirement, and starting a small business.

Special Needs Focus: Retirement planning, planning for unmarried partners

Estate Planning

How do you want your loved ones cared for and your assets divided? The focus is on reducing estate taxes and probate costs while ensuring your wishes will be carried out.

Tax Planning & Preparation

If you choose an ongoing retainer relationship, your personal income tax return will be prepared and you will be provided with professional advice year-round. By teaching you how to reduce your taxes, tax savings can often offset your annual fee. Tax planning strategies are incorporated into all our advice.

Audit Protection

If we prepare your taxes, in the event of an audit, a qualified tax attorney, CPA or enrolled agent will handle your audit at no additional charge.

Record Keeping System

You will receive Quicken software and training along with a complete home filing system. The recordkeeping system is designed to maximize tax savings and requires minimal effort to maintain.

Portfolio Analysis

Are your present investments appropriate for your risk tolerance? Tax bracket? Long term goals? Your retirement accounts (401(k), 403(b), IRA's, etc.) as well as your other investments will be analyzed.

Asset Allocation

A personalized asset allocation plan will be developed based on your needs and objectives. You will learn how to balance your investments to hedge against inflation and unpredictable economic and market cycles. Diversification appropriate to your investment horizon can enable you to reduce portfolio risk while enhancing returns.

Commission-Free Investing

No-load, low expense mutual funds are analyzed and specific recommendations are made. For independent investors, the self-directed approach enables you to buy direct from the funds or use the discount broker of your choice. Or, you may choose to invest through the Investment Advisor division of T.D. Ameritrade, a discount broker. TD Ameritrade Institutional Services, a division of TD Ameritrade Investor Services, Inc., is an independent and unaffiliated brokerage firm that provides Folk Financial Planning advisory clients with securities custody and execution services.
 

Retirement Planning/Financial Independence Analysis

When do you wish to retire? How much do you need to save to meet your goals? Your goals, present savings, and many other factors will be analyzed and a realistic projection will be developed. You will learn how to adjust your savings and spending now to make your retirement goals attainable.

Financial Review

We start all clients interested in comprehensive financial planning with a financial review. It is a two hour meeting that is all about you and your financial situation. We require preparation on your part and our part, and at the end of the two hour meeting, you will leave with a financial snapshot of your current situation. You identify your three biggest financial concerns for the review and we address them in as much depth as is possible in a two hour meeting.

At the end of this meeting, you have a written summary with constructive steps to take either on your own, or with the help of a financial advisor. The cost is $840. If you are interested, we reserve time at the end of the two hour financial review to discuss retainer options for your situation. Some clients repeat the financial review every few years and implement changes on their own; others prefer to follow the review with a full financial plan engagement. For more details, see financial review statement.

The success of a financial planner should not be based on the number of products a client purchases, but on the success of his or her clients. This is why no referral fees, commissions, or other reimbursements from the implementation of recommendations are accepted.

Being compensated by a predetermined client fee rather than commissions assures that the advice clients receive is unbiased and always in their best interest.

The fee is often less than the sales load you would pay on just one mutual fund purchased through a commissioned broker.

Most people are not financial experts. Yet increasingly, individuals are in charge of their own financial futures. Most are aware that planning is critical, yet don't have the time or the expertise to develop a plan and make the needed financial decisions.

Maybe you consulted with a financial advisor in the past...perhaps you felt you were being asked to buy something you didn't fully understand. Maybe you felt that products were recommended without consideration for your overall financial situation. Comprehensive, holistic, fee-only financial planning eliminates these concerns. You receive objective advice targeted to your needs and goals.
 

Client Pledge

In all of my dealings with my clients, I pledge to be:

• Holistic in outlook. I will consider all of your circumstances, family needs, goals, values, and aspirations when making recommendations.
• Professional in conduct. I will protect your privacy. I will strive to maintain the highest ethical standards possible in my work and life. I will continually enhance my skills and credentials through continuing education and I will refer you to other professionals when you need help in an area outside my expertise.
• Educational in nature. I will guide you through your options and explain them clearly to help you make the best choices. I will always take the time to make sure you understand my advice.
• Independent in compensation. I will never sell you a product or service other than holistic financial planning nor will I take a commission or a referral fee from another professional. You will receive objective, unbiased advice from me.
• Committed to your success. Holistic financial planning is a process, not an event, and I commit to adjusting your plan as your life goals change.

• CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner, licensed by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards since April, 1999
• Member of the Alliance of Cambridge Advisors, a national network of FEE-ONLY financial advisors committed to serving the financial planning needs of Middle-America in a non-product, non-commission oriented approach to reaching financial goals.
  www.cambridgeadvisors.com Elected board member for 2003-2006 term.
• Member of NAPFA, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. Invited Presenter at NAPFA Basic Training Conferences for new Fee-only financial planners, Midwest NAPFA, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006.
  www.napfa.org
• Member, FPA, Financial Planning Association. Past President, East Central Illinois FPA Study Group.
  www.fpanet.org
• Member, NATP, National Association of Tax Preparers
• Licensed with Illinois Department of Insurance for life, health and property insurance only to render advice. We do not sell insurance products.
• Registered Investment Advisor, State of Illinois, NASD CRD # 123394

• Former Financial Secretary and Religious Education Teacher, Unitarian-Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign
• Volunteer, Tax Counseling Project for Low-Income Families, 1999-present
• Girl Scout Leader, 1979-1987, Stillwater, OK

• Owner, Folk Financial Planning, April 1999 to present. Since starting her business, Karen Folk has served over 240 clients, including completion of 101 comprehensive financial plans.
• Assistant to Thomas Frey, CFP®, Frey Financial, Savoy, IL 1997-1999
• Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1994-1997
• Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, Consumer Science, 1991-1994
• Asst. State Extension Specialist, Family Economics, Oklahoma State University, 1986-1988
• Ph.D. 1991, University of Illinois, Family and Consumption Economics
• M.S. 1985, Oklahoma State University, Family Economics
• B.A 1970, University of Illinois, Bronze Tablet Scholar, English and Psychology
• In her 20 years in consumer education, Karen has done research on family time use, child care and women's labor force participation, has published 11 journal articles, a book chapter and served as editor of proceedings of the American Council on Consumer Interests. In her Cooperative Extension positions, she authored 20 publications on credit, life insurance, adjusting to reduced income and other consumer education topics.

For more information or to schedule a financial review,
call (217) 367-9730 (Office Hours: 9am - 5pm M-F)
or contact Karen Folk online - today.

Folk Financial Planning respects the privacy of clients and prospective clients. We do not collect any personal information nor sell or distribute any information on visitors to this site. If you choose to contact Karen Folk for further information, any information you disclose will be treated as confidential. See Folk Financial Planning privacy statement.

A reminder: email communications are not secure and can be easily intercepted. Do not send confidential information such as social security numbers, account numbers or other private identifying information via email or via this Web site.

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Fee-Only financial planning and investment advisory services are offered through Folk Financial Planning, a registered investment advisory firm in the state of Illinois. The presence of this web site on the Internet shall in no direct or indirect way be construed or interpreted as a solicitation to sell or offer to sell investment advisory services to any residents of any state other than the state of Illinois or where otherwise legally permitted under exemption de minimus rules. We are legally empowered to provide investment advisory services to residents of the state of Illinois and certain other states.

Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that any specific investment will either be suitable or profitable for a client's or prospective client's investment portfolio. No client or prospective client should assume that any information presented and/or made available on this Website serves as the receipt of, or a substitute for, personalized individual advice from the adviser or any other investment professional.