Who we help.

Our clients built their wealth by earning a good living and living within their means, and they'd like to see their wealth grow as they approach retirement. They value financial advice that is direct, honest, and cuts through the noise.

Which one sounds like you?

Business owners.

Most of your net worth is the business, and at some point it has to turn into retirement income. The price, the tax on the sale and what you live on afterward get decided years before the closing, usually while you are still too busy running the company to think about them. We help by planning the business and the family’s money together, early enough that what you keep after tax is enough to retire on.

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A business owner in a plaid shirt and glasses, arms folded, smiling in his workshop

What we look at first.

What you would keep after a sale. The number that matters is what lands in your account after tax, not the price on the offer.
How much of your money is outside the business. If the company is most of the net worth, we build up the savings and the accounts that do not depend on it.
This year’s tax bill. Retirement plan contributions, business losses and timing, worked out in October through December while there is still time to act.
Who can get to the money. Titling, the documents and a plan for who runs the company, so your family is not waiting on probate.

Relevant services: business planning, tax planning, retirement income, estate and legacy.

Corporate executives.

Your pay comes in pieces: salary, bonus, stock options, RSUs and a 401(k), and each one is taxed differently. The vesting dates and the bonus land whether or not you have a plan for them, and the tax bill shows up the following April. We help by laying the choices out side by side, Option A next to Option B, so you can see what each one does to your taxes and your retirement date and decide for yourself.

Get the Red Zone checklist

An executive in a grey jacket laughing on a phone call at his office window

What we look at first.

The vesting calendar. When the RSUs and options vest, what that does to your bracket, and whether to sell, hold or spread it out.
How much of your net worth is one company. Salary, bonus, stock and the 401(k) all depend on the same employer. We work out how much of that is too much.
Pretax or Roth this year. The 401(k) election, the match, and how much room the bracket leaves for a Roth conversion.
What happens if the job ends early. The plan has to hold up if the date is not yours to pick: the severance, the health coverage and the years before Social Security.

Relevant services: tax planning, investment management, retirement income, Social Security and Medicare, financial planning.

Professionals.

You are good at what you do and you earn well, and you have never had the time to plan around any of it. The accounts pile up across old employers, the tax return goes to a preparer once a year, and nobody has looked at the whole thing together. We help by pulling it into one plan, meeting at times and places that fit a full schedule, and telling you plainly whether you are on track.

Get the Red Zone checklist

A physician in a white coat with a stethoscope and a folder, smiling down a corridor

What we look at first.

Every account, in one view. The old 401(k)s, the current plan at work, the brokerage account and the cash, so the plan is built on the real total.
The tax return. We read it for what it says about next year: the bracket, the deductions you are not using, and the moves that would cost the least.
Whether the savings rate gets you there. The date you have in mind, the number it takes, and what has to change this year to hit it.
Insurance and long-term care. Coverage that matches the income you would lose, and the long-term care math worked out before it is urgent.

Relevant services: financial planning, tax planning, investment management, insurance and long-term care.

Families.

Two incomes, kids heading to college or already gone, parents getting older, and retirement coming up behind all of it. Every one of those has a bill attached, and they do not wait their turn. We help by putting all of it in one plan, with the order worked out, so paying for college does not come out of retirement, and a parent’s care does not come out of either.

Get the Red Zone checklist

A father with his young son on his shoulders, smiling at the boy’s expectant mother in their doorway

What we look at first.

College and retirement, together. What college will really cost, what is already set aside for it, and what the retirement accounts need to keep getting so you are not catching up at 55.
Two incomes, two plans at work. Both 401(k)s, both matches, the Roth question for each of you, and what the joint return says about next year.
Your parents. The long-term care math, worked out before it is urgent, and what it does to your own plan if you are the one who steps in.
The documents. Wills, a trust where it helps, powers of attorney, and titling that lets your family get to the money in weeks instead of months.

Relevant services: financial planning, tax planning, Social Security and Medicare, estate and legacy, insurance and long-term care.

How far out are you?

Common situations.

A business owner in a denim shirt and glasses writing in a notebook at the counter of his shop

Selling the company in five years.

The situation.

A business owner in his late fifties built a company that is most of what he has. He has a buyer in mind and a number in his head, but nobody has told him what that number is after tax.

How we would approach it.

We would start with what he would keep after a sale, not the price, build the accounts that do not depend on the company, and settle titling and succession before the closing.

An executive in a pinstripe blazer and glasses at her laptop, pen in hand, in a brick-walled office

Stock vesting every quarter, and a tax surprise every April.

The situation.

An executive in her early fifties earns a salary, a bonus and stock that vests every quarter. Most of the family’s net worth is now one company’s shares.

How we would approach it.

We would lay the vesting calendar against the tax brackets, set a rule for what to sell and when, and work out how much of one company is too much.

A couple in their late forties walking hand in hand along a city street, laughing together

Good income, no plan, and a stack of old 401(k)s.

The situation.

A physician and an engineer in their late forties earn well and have never had the time to plan. There are four old retirement accounts and a tax return nobody reads.

How we would approach it.

We would pull every account into one view, read the return for next year rather than last, and set a savings rate that gets them to the date they have in mind.

A couple in their fifties sitting close on the deck of a sailboat, her head on his shoulder

College, aging parents and retirement, all at once.

The situation.

Two incomes, a daughter starting college in two years, a father who will need care before long, and retirement coming up behind all of it.

How we would approach it.

We would put the three in order in one plan, work out the long-term care math before it is urgent, and get the documents and titling done so the family can get to the money.

These are hypothetical situations, shown to illustrate how we approach common planning questions. They do not describe actual clients, and they are not a promise of any outcome. Your situation will differ, and so will the plan.

Already have an advisor?

About half of the people who come to us do. Many of them had not heard from their advisor in a while, and nobody had looked at their tax return. We are glad to be a second set of eyes. Bring the statements and last year's return, and we will tell you what we would do differently and whether it is worth making a change.

Questions about who we help.

Who the firm works with, how far out to start, and who it is not for.

See every question

Who do you work with?

Business owners, corporate executives, professionals and families within about twenty years of retirement who want the taxes, the income and the estate documents worked out together. Most of our clients built what they have themselves, by earning a good living and living within their means. No single industry is more than a small slice of the practice.

Who we help

How far from retirement should I be when I call?

Ten years out is the sweet spot. You can see the finish line, and there is still time to fix what needs fixing. Twenty years out is even better for the taxes, because the moves that save the most only work while there is time left to make them. Five years out is getting dicey, but it is still worth the call.

The plan by stage

I am already retired. Can you still help?

Our work is built for the years before retirement, when there is still time to change the outcome. If you have already retired, tell us where things stand on the first call and we will say plainly whether we are the right fit for what you need.

Do I need to be near Lake Norman?

No. About two thirds of our clients are within twenty miles of the office in Stanley, and the rest are all over the country and meet with us by video. The plan, the tax work and the reviews are the same either way.

Is there anyone you are not a fit for?

Do-it-yourselfers, and anyone who would rather argue than decide. Nick will walk through the options and say which one he would take, but the point is to reach a decision, not to win one. And expect to be asked what you actually spend, because nobody spends as little as they think.

I own a business. Is the planning different?

The business is usually most of the net worth and the hardest line to value, so it goes into the plan first: what a sale would leave you after tax, how much of your money sits outside the company, this year’s tax bill, and who can get to the money if you cannot. We plan the business and the family’s money together, years before any sale.

For business owners

Work with Nick and Rachel.

Nick won a stock-market game in grade school with a thank-you share of Disney and IBM from his grandparents. That turned into a finance degree, the designations after his name, and a practice built on honest conversations that last for decades, not a cookie-cutter plan with tax surprises in it. Nick's style is direct, friendly, and free of jargon.

Meet Nick and Rachel

Nicholas St George, founder of St. George Wealth Management — Nicholas St GeorgeCFP^®, CRPC^®, CPFA, BFAFounder and principal advisor

Rachel Melgard, Client Service Manager — Rachel MelgardClient Service Manager

Let's talk about where things stand.

Thirty minutes by phone, video or at the office. We'll go through where you are and whether we're the right fit, with nothing to sign and nothing to bring.

A written plan first, then the investing.
Your tax return read every year, not just filed.
A call before there is a problem, not after.
Straight answers on how we are paid.

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