INDEPENDENT OVERSIGHT FOR ALL YOUR FINANCIAL NEEDS

Paramount to me is taking my fiduciary oath very seriously. I am in this business to give my clients personalized attention and customized planning and execution. Clients should always ask an advisor if they are truly independent in the investments they recommend. If the advisor receives any compensation from the funds they recommend, incentives may be misaligned. My training, experience, personality, goals, previous success, and ethical framework mean that you are getting the most diligent and upstanding professional advice. 

There is not a perfect client size or demographic for me. More important to me is an alignment of style and values. I have great clients who are single, married, with children or without. I would love the chance to talk with you and see if we fit!

Services performed for clients depend on their needs, not mine. It’s no one-size-fits-all. At a minimum, I evaluate your current investment portfolio, devise a plan for reaching your goals that we determine together in the interview process, deploy your investment strategy, and monitor your portfolio on an ongoing basis. We will have quarterly reviews together. I am available all year for questions that come up and will assist you when you have financial decisions to make. I am available to meet with you and your tax planners, insurance advisors, legal counsel, bankers, and anyone else that you ask me to meet with. I will make introductions for you to better providers if you are not being well served in any of these areas. I have good relationships in all these areas and know the level of service you should be receiving. I am your advocate and consigliere. 

I have spent my entire professional career in the financial realm. I began as a tax consultant for a top-tier accounting firm, earning my CPA license at age 21. There I was trained in best practices of excellent financial stewardship and governance. Since then, I have been the CFO of 3 successful for-profit companies which gave me exposure to investor relations, financial management and discernment in the fields of treasury, risk management, tax planning, and legal advice. More recently, I went back to graduate school and earned a Masters in psychology, specializing in behavioral science. Being a financial advisor now feels like all of my prior experiences have been leading to this moment. 

Our first consultation will be a chance to get to know each other. If we each decide to move forward with working together, the next meeting will begin implementation.  During implementation, together we assess your current investment strategy and priorities. I will then design a strategy to help you reach your goals. The next step is that I make the suggested investments on your behalf and continually monitor your progress toward such targets. 

As an independent fiduciary fee-only advisor, my track record depends on the asset mix for each individual client situation. One of the standards of fiduciary duty is Suitability which means that your asset design is not the same as the next client. I will be able to show you the historical returns for all the individual funds I recommend for you and we will evaluate your overall return at each review period, but there is not a Deborah Michel standard track record for a hypothetical client. 

We will meet at least quarterly for a review of your investments and to discuss anything happening in your life that I can help with. I will reach out to you at other times and my door is always open for your call, email or text. I will share expert opinions and my thoughts with you about market news. I encourage dialogue because that's how we make sure all of your needs are being covered. Life doesn't happen on a regular schedule. 

Market variations and uncertainty are to be expected. They are part of investing. We devise a strong plan and stick to it. The time to make adjustments is not when things are shaky. I am continually monitoring markets but I am not trying to time the buying or selling of stocks or bonds. Good planning eliminates the need to react in times of uncertainty.

I picked the name ARGON because of the chemistry of the element argon. Argon is a very stable noble gas. And similar to how we want to make our money last and grow for decades (even generations), argon gas burns exponentially longer than its fellow and more well-known gas neon. 

My only compensation is a percentage fee based on the assets managed for you. It’s a straight tier of 0.75% for assets between $3M and $5M and that rate goes down to 0.50% for assets over $5M. I do not accept fees from the investments I recommend because that would be a conflict of interest. I do not accept gifts or perks from investment firms either.