You can spend decades building a successful career, saving consistently, and making thoughtful investment decisions, yet still reach a point where your financial future feels surprisingly unclear. You may have several million dollars across your accounts but feel unsure about retiring. You may know that taxes deserve more attention without knowing which decisions to make first. Or you may simply wonder whether you can start enjoying more of what you have worked so hard to build.

These are the conversations I care most about as a financial advisor. An account balance tells me something about your resources, but understanding what you want those resources to accomplish is where the planning begins.

I’m Nathan Lee, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional, Behavioral Financial Advisor™, and founder of Servet Wealth Management. Based in New York City, I work with individuals and families locally and across the country. My work brings together investment management, retirement planning, and tax strategies around the decisions that matter in each person’s life.

If you are looking for a financial advisor in New York City—or someone you can work with remotely—understanding how an advisor approaches those decisions can help you determine whether the relationship is right for you.

Start With What You Want Your Money To Do?

When someone comes to me wondering whether they have enough money, I want to understand what “enough” means to them. For one person, it means leaving a demanding career while they still have the energy to travel. For another, it means helping their children, remaining in their home, or knowing they could handle an unexpected expense without disrupting their life.

Those priorities shape the advice. Two people with the same portfolio value can need very different plans because their spending, income sources, family responsibilities, and expectations are different. A pension may cover much of one person’s lifestyle, while someone else relies on investments for nearly every dollar they spend.

Living in New York makes some of these distinctions especially visible. A substantial salary can coexist with substantial housing costs, childcare expenses, and family commitments. A valuable apartment may contribute significantly to net worth without providing money for everyday spending. Retirement might involve staying in the city, moving closer to family, or dividing time between two places. As someone raising a family in New York City, I understand how these competing priorities can shape financial decisions. I see many of the same trade-offs in my clients’ lives, wherever they call home.

The same principle applies wherever you live: your financial plan should reflect the life you actually want. Before choosing an advisor, think about the questions you most want answered. The quality of the conversation around those questions will tell you more than a polished presentation alone.

Retirement Planning Should Help You Understand Your Choices

A recurring theme in my writing and in my YouTube channel (youtube.com/@nathanleecfp) is that accumulating wealth and feeling comfortable using it are different challenges. People can reach the savings goal they once thought would make them feel secure, only to discover that the uncertainty remains. There is always another market concern, another expense to consider, or another reason to work one more year.

Part of my role is to help turn that uncertainty into questions we can evaluate. What would retirement spending look like? Which expenses are essential, and which could change? How much income would come from sources outside the portfolio? What would happen if markets struggled early in retirement or your plans changed unexpectedly?

Working through those questions gives us a more useful foundation than choosing a retirement number in isolation. It also helps identify the trade-offs. You might be able to retire sooner by adjusting one part of your plan, or decide that another year of work is worthwhile because of the flexibility it could provide.

In my article about preparing to retire before 60, I explore the decisions that deserve attention before leaving work. The broader point is that retirement readiness involves your income structure, healthcare, spending, and personal expectations alongside your investments. An advisor should help you understand how those pieces support the decision you are considering.

Taxes Belong Inside the Financial Plan

Taxes are one of the clearest examples of why financial decisions need to be considered together. Selling an investment, withdrawing from an IRA, retiring, or changing where you live can affect more than one part of your financial picture. A decision that seems straightforward on its own may look different when you consider the years before and after it.

At Servet Wealth Management, tax strategy is part of the planning conversation. We do not prepare tax returns, and coordination with your tax professional is important. My focus is on helping you evaluate how investment and retirement decisions fit into your broader tax circumstances. We utilize software that can help you better understand how the decisions you make today can potentially impact your taxes tomorrow.

For someone approaching retirement, that conversation might include whether to evaluate Roth conversions, how to fund spending from different accounts, and how Social Security timing fits into the income plan. For someone still working, it might involve company stock, charitable intentions, or the balance between cash reserves and long-term investments.

I explore these connections in The 7-Figure Retirement Tax Trap and Which Account Should You Draw From First in Retirement?. Both address a question that becomes increasingly important as wealth grows: how should you use what you have accumulated?

When interviewing an advisor, ask how taxes enter their planning process and how they work with your accountant. You should be able to understand how they evaluate the trade-offs and what information they need before making a recommendation.

Your Investments Should Have a Clear Purpose

I believe every dollar should have a job. Some money needs to be available for near-term expenses. Some supports longer-term growth. Other assets may be intended for family,

charitable giving, or a future purchase. Understanding those purposes helps us decide how the money should be invested and what risks are reasonable.

This becomes particularly important when a portfolio has grown over many years without a coordinated review. You might have old retirement accounts, a brokerage account, company stock, and a large cash balance, each established for a different reason. Individually, the accounts may seem sensible. Together, they may expose you to more risk, or provide less flexibility than you realize.

Company stock is a good example. A position that helped build your wealth can eventually represent a substantial share of your financial future. Deciding what to do with it requires a conversation about taxes, diversification, upcoming expenses, and how much uncertainty you are comfortable accepting.

An advisor should be able to explain how your investment strategy supports your plan, including its costs, risks, and limitations. You should understand why you own something and what might cause the recommendation to change.

Good Advice Needs to Work in Real Life

Knowing what to do does not always make it easy to do. Someone may understand diversification but struggle to sell a stock that has performed well. Another person may hold substantial cash because having it available makes them feel secure. A lifelong saver may find spending in retirement uncomfortable even when the plan supports it.

These feelings are part of the work. My perspective as a Behavioral Financial Advisor™ is that recommendations need to account for how people actually make decisions. If a strategy leaves you too uncomfortable to follow it, we need to understand why and work through the alternatives.

In The Case for Doing Less, I describe the value of starting with a client’s most pressing concern and building from there. People often come into an advisory relationship with several unfinished financial decisions. Giving them an even longer list can make the situation feel more overwhelming.

I want clients to understand what deserves attention first, why it matters, and how we will move forward. Progress often comes from making a series of thoughtful decisions and revisiting them as life changes. That ongoing work is an important part of the relationship.

What to Ask Before Hiring a Financial Advisor

Whether you are comparing financial advisors in NYC or considering someone elsewhere, take time to understand how the relationship will operate. Ask who will lead your planning, who will answer questions between meetings, and how recommendations will be implemented. You should know what ongoing support looks like after the initial plan is delivered.

Be equally direct about costs. Ask for an explanation of advisory fees, investment expenses, and any other compensation that may apply. Clarify which services are included, what might cost extra, and how potential conflicts of interest are managed.

Credentials and experience also deserve attention, but connect them to your circumstances. If you are approaching retirement, ask how the advisor develops withdrawal plans. If you have concentrated company stock, ask how they evaluate that exposure. If your main concern is coordinating financial decisions, ask how they work with your tax and legal professionals.

My article on interviewing a financial advisor offers additional questions to guide that discussion. The conversation should leave you with a clearer understanding of both the advisor’s approach and what working together would involve.

My Approach at Servet Wealth Management

I began my career at Merrill Lynch more than a decade ago and earned my CFP® certification as my work with clients became more comprehensive. I built Servet Wealth Management around helping people make informed decisions across their financial lives, with their goals and priorities guiding the conversation.

My work is especially relevant to successful professionals and people approaching or living in retirement who want their investments, tax strategies, and income decisions considered together. Some are ready to step away from work. Others enjoy their careers but want to know when working could become a choice. Many simply want someone to help them think ahead and follow through.

Those conversations are personal. A single person planning for retirement may have different concerns about future support and decision-making than a married couple. Someone who wants to leave a substantial inheritance may make different choices from someone whose priority is enjoying their wealth during their lifetime. Neither situation should be treated as a variation of someone else’s plan.

My writing gives you a way to get to know how I think before we meet. Whether I am discussing the HSA shoebox strategy, retirement withdrawals, or the difficulty of taking the first step, I try to make the choices understandable and connect them to real life.

Finding the Right Financial Planning Relationship

Choosing an advisor is a decision about whom you want involved in some of your most important conversations. You should feel comfortable asking questions, discussing uncertainty, and saying when a recommendation does not make sense to you. Over time, the relationship should help you understand your options and make decisions with greater clarity.

Servet Wealth Management is based in Manhattan, and we also work remotely with clients across the country. Whether you live nearby or elsewhere, the starting point is the same: a conversation about your circumstances, what matters to you, and where you would like help.

You do not need to have everything organized or know exactly which service to ask for. A question such as “Can I afford to retire?” or “How do I bring all of this together?” is a useful place to begin.

Schedule an introductory conversation with Servet Wealth Management to learn how we work and explore whether we would be a good fit.

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_{This article is for educational purposes and is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Investment outcomes and the suitability of planning strategies depend on individual circumstances.}

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