Our Firm-to-Family™ Approach

A: Yes, Gatewood Wealth Solutions is a fiduciary. That means we are legally and ethically required to act in your best interest at all times. As fiduciary financial advisors, we do not receive commissions or third-party incentives for our recommendations. Instead, every decision we make is based on your goals, your financial plan, and the oversight of our CFA-led Investment Committee. Our advice is independent, transparent, and always aligned with your long-term success.

A: Our process is designed to align your goals with your vision and give you clarity and confidence through four steps:

• Understand Your Vision: In-depth consultation to define your financial landscape, goals, and concerns.
• Design Your Strategy: We create a customized wealth management roadmap supported by a detailed balance sheet, financial strategy, and cash flow forecast. We stress-test the strategy against different scenarios so you can see how key life changes, market conditions, or other significant matters may impact your plan.
• Monitor & Adjust: We continuously track your progress relative to the plan, reviewing balance sheet changes, cash flow, and overall trajectory. If you’re off track, we identify adjustments needed to get back on course. A plan is static, but planning is indispensable.
• Communicate Clearly: Transparent reporting and proactive updates to keep you informed and confident.

Learn more: Financial Planning for Purposeful Living  VIDEO – web page.

A: Our Firm-to-Family™ structure ensures you’re supported by a dedicated Client Care Team working seamlessly together:

• Wealth Advisor: Oversees the overall relationship, ensures alignment with your long-term vision, and provides strategic guidance.
• Wealth Planner: Serves as your family’s personal CFP®, your primary point of contact, and the designer and monitor of your comprehensive financial plan.
• Wealth Coordinator: Manages day-to-day service, scheduling, and follow-up.
• Specialists (Investments, Tax, Estate, Insurance): Provide expertise for specific planning needs.

Learn more:  The Firm-to-Family™ Advantage – Blog

A: We provide three tiers of service so that families can choose the level of planning support that best fits their needs:

• Core Client Care (CC) – Foundational planning, investment oversight, and ongoing support to help you stay on track.
• Client Care Plus (CCP) – Enhanced planning including estate planning coordination, coordination with your CPA, tax analysis with Holistiplan, Roth strategies, and tax-efficient withdrawal planning.
• Private Client Care (PCC) – Advanced and comprehensive planning for families with complex needs, including estate strategy, legacy, multi-generational coordination, and charitable giving strategies.

Learn more: Tailored Services for Every Stage – Blog

A: Our Client Care Commitment is Gatewood’s promise to every family we serve. It outlines our standards for responsiveness, proactive communication, thorough meeting preparation, and consistent follow-up. This ensures you know what to expect from us at every stage of the relationship.

A: We offer a disciplined approach overseen by our CFA-led Investment Committee. Our proprietary strategies include:

• Signal Equity Strategy: Designed to capture momentum and market trends while managing downside risk.
• Strategic ETF Strategy: An actively managed portfolio of exchange-traded funds to adapt allocations as markets shift while maintaining broad diversification and cost efficiency.
• Moat Equity Strategy: Focuses on companies with durable competitive advantages and strong fundamentals.
• Taxable and tax-free fixed income strategies for stability.
• Corporate Bond Ladder: A structured approach to fixed income investing, providing predictable income and reducing reinvestment risk.
• Alternative Investments for additional diversification and return potential.
• Cash Flow and Lump Sum managed cash strategies: Integrated with our Gatewood Cash Hub framework, these approaches ensure liquidity, support retirement income, and provide confidence by maintaining adequate reserves to avoid selling investments during down markets.

This blend helps ensure you remain bear market ready and bull market positioned.

Learn more: Fortress Gatewood: Bear Market Ready, Always – Blog

A: For families in our Client Care Plus (CCP) and Private Client Care (PCC) levels, we incorporate proactive tax planning directly into the financial planning process. Using Holistiplan, we analyze tax returns to identify opportunities such as Roth strategies and tax-efficient withdrawal planning. We then coordinate closely with your CPA to ensure seamless execution. This integration helps align your tax strategy with your overall wealth plan.

We also offer Gatewood Tax & Accounting as a separate service. It provides individuals, families, and business owners with full tax preparation and filing, tax projections and planning meetings, CPA coordination, and support for more complex needs like trusts, estates, or business filings. 

For business owners, services can also include bookkeeping, consolidated financial statements, payroll coordination, and multi-entity returns. This service is designed to simplify compliance, anticipate tax impacts, and give you proactive guidance throughout the year.

A: Yes. We help design strategies to minimize estate tax, support charitable goals, review beneficiary designations and account titling, and ensure all basic estate planning documents are aligned with your goals. While we don’t draft legal documents ourselves, we partner with your estate attorney to help ensure your plan aligns with your wishes.

Learn more: The 9 Essentials Every Thoughtful Estate Plan Should Include – Blog

A: At Gatewood, we believe true differentiation comes from how we serve families—not just manage money. Here’s what makes us different:

• Firm-to-Family Strategy: You’re a client of the entire firm, not just one advisor. A dedicated Client Care Team ensures seamless support, continuity, and consistency for generations.
• In-House Investment Management: Our CFA-led Investment Committee manages all strategies internally, providing direct access to decision-makers with no outsourcing or product conflicts.
• Cash Hub & Dynamic Planning: We integrate strategic cash reserves with ongoing, real-time adjustments so you stay invested and prepared—bear market ready, bull market positioned.
• Industry-Leading Technology: Our tech stack delivers transparency, accountability, and real-time insight into your plan, performance, and decisions.
• Multigenerational Team: Experienced leaders mentor next-generation advisors, ensuring continuity and long-term care for your family.
• Behavioral & Market Discipline: We build structural guardrails—cash buffers, systematic rebalancing, and disciplined strategies—to help you avoid emotional mistakes.
• True Fiduciary, Process-Driven Strategy: We charge transparent fees, sell no proprietary products, and use our Three-Bucket planning framework (CFA Goals Based Planning Methodology) to align every dollar with your goals.
• Long-Term Independence: Gatewood is privately owned and not for sale to private equity, keeping client interests—not shareholder demands—at the center of every decision.

This structural, philosophical, and process-driven edge is why families choose Gatewood—for confidence today and continuity for generations.

Learn more: Why Gatewood? Our True Differentiators – Blog