WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT
Disciplined: To Make Your Money Last
DISCIPLINED INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
Make Your Money Last
As seen in:
This is Larry's 2nd book. Read the first 3 chapters HERE.
OUR CLIENTS COME FIRST
You’ve worked hard all your life, now a new challenge arises: How to make your money last? That's our focus and why many clients join us.
We’re fiduciaries and always have been - our clients come first. This is serious, disciplined investing. There are no hunches, no products.
Disciplined is built around you, our clients. Our priorities are clear: to understand your objectives, achieve your goals and make your money last.
"We invest all of our money right along with you, at the same time, the same price – we’re with you."
Make Your Money Last
Making your money last is perhaps the greatest challenge most people will face in their lifetime. Why? Two reasons: Interest rates are historically low and lifespans have increased dramatically.
It's a highly complex process that cannot be done casually on the back of an envelope. This requires serious planning and calculation.
That's why making your money last is priority #1 at Disciplined.
We focus on clients who want to make their money last:
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Pre-Retirees
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Retirees
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Divorced Women
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Legal Settlement Awards
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Business Owner Liquidity Events
Below is our 7-step process to make your money last.
"Making your money last is priority one at Disciplined Investment Management. We believe it will be the greatest financial challenge most people will face in their lifetime."
CLIENT FOCUS
Working With You
Clients tend to come to Disciplined for a few reasons:
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We’re fiduciaries; our clients come first
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Disciplined focus on making your money last
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Personal attention; we take care of you
We work with high net worth clients of all ages. Specifically, we focus on people who need to make their money last:
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Pre-Retirees
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Retirees
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Divorced women
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Legal settlement awards
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Business owner liquidity events
ABOUT
WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT
Disciplined Investment was created to be a different type of
advisory firm.
We’re fiduciaries, our clients come first
• Your goals and financial plan drive portfolio construction
• We don’t sell product, there are no commissions
• We don’t accept fees from outside sources
Portfolios managed with disciplined processes
• No hunches, no guesswork
• We invest with low-cost index funds
• Rebalance opportunistically to manage risk
Special focus: Make Your Money Last
Firm CEO’s portfolio is traded with our clients
"Like a lot of firms, we invest in index funds. But we do it differently. We rebalance opportunistically. We're always looking for opportunities to take advantage of long-term trends or disparities in value. That's different.
OUR CHICAGO TEAM
Click images below to view bios.
Larry Stein
CEO & Chief Investment Officer
Disciplined Investment Management
OUR TEAM
Click images below to view bios.
Susan Cinofsky Stein
Director of The Women's Group
Disciplined Investment Management
STRATEGIC PARTNERS
Click images below to view bios.
MAKE YOUR MONEY LAST
The Challenge
Retirement used to be so easy. Retire at 65, buy bonds and live off the interest. Bond yields were generally in the 5-10% range and you only expected to live 5-10 years. What’s to worry about?
Things have changed. Bond yields are not high enough to support a long-term retirement unless you’re ultra-wealthy. With life expectancies on the rise, healthy retirees should plan on making your money last until you’re 100.
To thread that needle, you need high-end software and a dedicated focus. We have both.
Disciplined's 7-Step Process
At Disciplined, we have developed a 7-step process to make your money last. It’s an integrated mix of financial planning, disciplined investing and serious math. One step builds on another. Miss one step and you may miss your goal. Click HERE to see our 7-step process.
The key takeaway is this: To make your money last, you need to calculate your portfolio withdrawals based on a series of probabilities. That’s why this process is so demanding, there are so many unknowns. Life is dynamic, things change. Your advisor needs to be in close touch and ready to adjust. We are; we’re there for you.
INVESTING
A Disciplined Approach
This is serious investing. No hunches, no products. We begin from a clean slate, with no preconceived notions. It all starts with your financial plan, in which we seek to determine the target investment return you need to achieve your goals and make your money last. With that knowledge, we work closely with you to determine an asset allocation that fits your long-term return objectives and risk tolerance. Our disciplined process is below.
Disciplined Indexed Strategy
We seek to reduce risk at every stage of our process. We don’t guess on stocks or on managers. Instead, we invest in index funds to keep costs low and taxes low, with global diversification. Risk management is critical, though we handle with care. Rather than try to pick tops, we seek to take advantage of volatility by buying value and opportunistically rebalancing your portfolio.
"Our investment process is based on a series of disciplines grounded in serious, time-tested research, and it’s all built around you: to achieve your goals, live the life you want and make your money last."
FINANCIAL PLANNING
We provide financial planning for our clients at no additional charge. Financial planning is the cornerstone of our entire process, from investing to making your money last. We employ highly sophisticated software that enables us to model your specific financial situation, examine various scenarios and stress test the plan according to an unlimited range of potential events.
Of course, planning for your retirement demands more than software and numbers; the personal side is just as important. We will work closely with you to incorporate your life plans into your financial plan, and evaluate the ability to make your money last.
The financial planning software we use gives our clients the ability to see their entire financial picture on a single screen. Their holdings and net worth are updated daily. They can see all of their assets, whether with our firm or elsewhere, in one place.
The software also has a digital vault, enabling you to share and store documents. We take security very seriously. Each client has a unique User ID and Password. The system encryption is among the highest in the industry. There can be no transactions; it's only for the display of up-to-date account balances.
THE WOMEN'S GROUP
"We created The Women's Group to focus on independent women and help them take charge of their finances. It's a mission we take very seriously. Look for us here and on Facebook."
The Women's Group is dedicated to working with high net worth women who are either divorced, have lost their spouse or are professionals planning for retirement. This effort is headed by Susan Stein, a financial advisor who is a former social worker.
In addition to our investment and financial planning services, we work closely with women in transition to help them re-start their lives successfully. Since women tend to outlive men, Disciplined’s efforts to make your money last often take on even greater importance with clients of The Women’s Group.
The Women's Group Blog
Brief Videos on Articles
Make Your Money Last Blog
Brief Videos on Articles
Make Your Money Last Blog
White Papers
Making your money last used to be so easy. But with today’s longevity and low rates, it demands a highly complex mix of financial planning, investing and probabilities.
Click Read More (below) to see an easy-to-read 1-page summary. You'll see bullet points on our 5 Keys to Make Your Money Last and our 7-Step Process to make your money last.
For a more in-depth discussion, please download our white paper to the right.
Make Your Money Last: For Divorced Women
Women live longer and are far more likely than men to incur disabilities later in life that could significantly increase spending. This creates a monumental challenge: How do you make your money last?
Click Read More (below) to see an easy-to-read 1-page summary. You'll see tips for getting re-started after divorce, including two critical, time-sensitive must-do's, plus our 7-step strategy to make your money last.
For a more in-depth discussion, please click Download White Paper to the right.
For Pre-Retirees and Retirees
For Divorced Women
PUBLISHED BOOKS
ENDORSEMENTS
Peace of Mind Investing
Larry Stein’s second book, Peace of Mind Investing, was written for investors who are either retired or planning to retire in the next 5-15 years.
In Peace of Mind Investing, Larry shows you how to invest with low-cost ETFs and manage risk. The book also exposes a number of commonly held myths that tend to hurt investor returns.
Stop trying to beat the market. Instead, use this ETF strategy to seek the returns you need, the retirement you want, and the peace of mind you deserve.
Available at Amazon (click on Amazon to order)
“Easy to read, always candid and interesting, and packs lots of good thinking into a single evening’s reading.”
— Charles D. Ellis
Author of “Winning the Loser’s Game”
Former Chair of Yale Investment Committee
“A clear and concise message helpful to this retiree in considering its compelling and sensible investment rationale.”
— Richard G. Cline
Former Chairman of Nicor, Jewel Companies
and Hussmann International
“Larry Stein’s insightful approach to investing and risk management will prove especially valuable for my Vistage CEO group members as they plan for retirement. I intend to give a copy to every member.”
— Mike Lauesen
CEO, Vistage Chair and Member
Pre-Retirees
EXCERPTS
Media
Speaking
Larry Stein is a dynamic and compelling speaker on topics related to investing, financial planning and retirement.
Following are some of his more recent topics:
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Surprises in Selling Your Business
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How to Make Your Money Last
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Retirement Planning and Investing
IL CPA Speech - 2018
To Hire Larry for Speaking
Media
Quoted in: The Chicago Tribune
July 31, 2017
Syndicated columnist and CBS News money contributor Jill Schlesinger quotes Larry Stein in her article: Market Seems Stable, So What Could Go Wrong? As Jill ends the article, she writes: And, yes, you will need to focus on spending, which, according to Larry Stein, CFP of Disciplined Investment Management, “usually has the biggest impact on a financial plan.”
Wrote Commentary: CNBC
July 18, 2017
Making your money used to be easy. But things have changed. Interest rates are at historic lows, pensions are rare and longevity is on the rise. Given these conditions, I believe making your money last will be the single greatest financial challenge most people will face in this generation.
May 22, 2017
Larry Stein is quoted in the Washington Post by Columnist Michelle Singletary in response to her question, "Are we about to see a “Trump slump,” and, if so, is there anything you should be doing with your investments?"
July 12, 2016
Larry Stein is interviewed by Bernice Napich of ThinkAdvisor in "Are Bonds the New Stocks?"
"Holding dividend-paying stocks for income is a reasonable strategy since many stock yields currently exceed those of high-quality bonds, [but] dividend-paying stocks should not be viewed as a bond replacement. They still have the downside potential of other stocks and do not have the diversifying impact of bonds."
Guest Article: National CFP Board
"Indexing: Beat the Pros and Reach Your Goals" -- Chicago CFP Ambassador, Larry Stein, wrote a guest article for the national CFP Board. In one paragraph, he notes, "That leaves one element as the deciding factor in investment performance: costs. And that’s a game you can win. Low-cost index funds tend to outperform the majority of active managers in one-year time frames, and the advantage becomes more and more pronounced over time."
October 09, 2014
The Wall Street Journal interviewed Larry Stein for a story entitled, "A Financial Plan Based on Hope, Not Fear." This was a solo interview highlighting our novel approach to financial planning, in which we present a range of possibilities to help our clients achieve their goals. Unfortunately, the story is blocked to those who are not subscribers.
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