Forecasts don't hold under pressure. Structure does.
Markets fall, clients waver, and judgment fades exactly when it matters most. The Gestalt Method provides a structured approach to planning that seeks to address market realities.
Focus on core financial principles rather than inherited industry assumptions. This finds what matters.
Think in pairs, not isolated parts. Income pairs with expenses, growth with protection. This finds the efficiency.
Ask before you tell. The client constructs the understanding, so the client owns it. This finds the understanding.
A structured approach to planning.
Traditional planning leans on probability scores and projections, then hopes the next decade cooperates. We start somewhere else: with a structure that behaves the same way whether markets cooperate or not.
IMPORTANT: The projections or other information generated by [name of investment analysis tool] regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results.
A single number, presented as certainty, that moves whenever the assumptions behind it move. Change the return assumption by a point and the client crosses out of the confidence zone without anything happening in their actual life. That is not a plan. It is a forecast with a decimal point.
Decision Durability, the Portfolio Waterfall Strategy, and the Case for Integrated Planning
Larry R. Pike Chair for Insurance and Investments
The American College of Financial Services
The framework, with the citations.
The Gestalt Method is set out in full in a working paper authored by industry experts with real-world practice experience. Request a copy and we will email you the PDF.
The views expressed in the working paper are those of the authors alone and do not represent the views, positions, or opinions of The American College of Financial Services. The paper and the author’s academic title are presented for informational and academic context only and do not constitute an endorsement of Gestalt Financial Group, LLC or the Gestalt Method by The American College of Financial Services.
Draft for review. Shared with financial professionals for professional education. Professional Use Only.
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The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Every piece of a client's financial life, connected into one strategy, and every piece of an advisor's practice, connected into one repeatable method.
A plan's strength is in how it generates income without selling shares.
Give every remaining dollar a defined purpose to avoid drift.
Sequence the pieces for tax-efficiency.
Revisit on a rhythm, not in reaction to headlines.
We are looking for advisors willing to take on Goliath.
The Goliath is not a competitor down the street. It is the industry default: probability scores presented as certainty, product-led advice, and plans that quietly need the next decade to cooperate.
Most of the industry has made peace with it. We are gathering the advisors who have not.
You have stopped believing that a probability of success is the same thing as a plan, and you are willing to say so out loud.
You would rather build a framework designed to navigate changing market cycles over time than spend your career defending a projection.
You want clients who arrive at the decision themselves, because a plan they helped build is one they keep.
Principles over predictions. Because getting a client to their destination requires more than knowing the odds.
Advisors who realize traditional advice isn't enough.
Independent professionals ready to break away from the crowd, in the first or last stage of their careers. Two ends of one arc. One building a practice from scratch, one deciding what it becomes next. Both done asking clients to place their trust in a confidence score built on assumptions.
You keep your own business and your own flag. There is no requirement to join our RIA, and no book to hand over. Gestalt exists to supply the resources, the support, and the platform for growth that doesn't look like everyone else's.
Practitioners building their own book who want a repeatable method rather than a product shelf.
Professionals who would rather refer a client to a defined method than to chance.
Organizations seeking a training platform to scale one consistent method across every advisor.
Everything required to run the Gestalt Method, and the support to adopt it.
We share the relationships we have built with our institutional partners, so you are not negotiating access on your own.
Onboarding into the Method, and a support team behind you once you are running it with real clients.
Significant discounts across your technology stack through our enterprise agreements.
Build and deploy your own marketing plans on our platform, with no strings attached.
Gestalt is for people who choose the challenge.
There will always be another pain point. Another corner. Another Goliath. The victory isn't that the pain goes away. It's becoming capable of taking on the next challenge.
We're not promising an easier journey. We’re inviting you into a bigger one.
Tell us where you are, and we'll tell you if this fits.
A short, private conversation. No pitch, no obligation. If the Method isn't right for your practice, we'll say so.
A senior advisor replies within one business day.
A senior advisor will reach out privately within one business day. Nothing to prepare. Come as you are.
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The content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information. The information in this material is not intended as tax or legal advice. Please consult legal or tax professionals for specific information regarding your individual situation. The opinions expressed and material provided are for general information, and should not be considered a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security.
Investment advisory and financial planning services offered through Simplicity Wealth, LLC, an SEC-registered investment adviser. Securities offered through Simplicity Investments, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Opinions expressed reflect the views of the author as of the date referenced and are subject to change. Gestalt Financial Group, LLC is not affiliated with Simplicity Investments or TLG Advisors, Inc. Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through Simplicity Investments, Member FINRA/SIPC; TLG Advisors, Inc. Registered Investment Advisor 475 Springfield Ave., Suite 1, Summit, NJ 07901 (303) 797-9080.
Is there a more efficient way to produce income in retirement? That question led to the discovery of a new investment strategy: the Portfolio Waterfall.
Over several years the strategy evolved into a comprehensive planning process. As we shared it, like-minded advisors began meeting regularly to explore and refine the principles we were discovering.
Gestalt Financial Group emerged from that original group of advisors, expanding our ability to develop resources that accelerate advisor success and improve client outcomes.
It's in our name. Together we can accomplish more than all of us could alone.