I'm a hybrid advisor.

Most advisors choose a side. Investment-only, or insurance-focused. Real retirement planning often needs both: professional portfolio management for growth and flexibility, and strategic insurance for protection and guaranteed income. I do both, in coordination, and I'm paid two different ways for the two different kinds of work. Below is exactly how that works.

The Approach

Two jobs. Two tools.

One plan.

Growing your wealth and protecting your retirement income are two different jobs that require different tools. Investments are the right tool for growth, flexibility, and liquidity. Insurance and annuities are the right tool for problems investments can't solve as well: principal protection during the years a market downturn would do the most damage, guaranteed income that can't be outlived, and tax-advantaged supplemental income above what qualified plans allow.

About 70% of my clients have at least one annuity in their plan. That isn't because I sell hard. It's because for most pre-retirees and retirees, a complete plan includes both.

The two compensation streams that follow (an ongoing advisory fee for the investment work, and a one-time commission paid by the carrier when an insurance product is placed) are direct reflections of those two kinds of work. Different compensation for different problems.

Advisory Fee.

Ongoing, transparent, billed from the account.

or investment management and the comprehensive planning that surrounds it, I charge an annual advisory fee based on assets under management. That planning work includes Roth conversions, Social Security strategy, Medicare and IRMAA, RMDs, withdrawal sequencing, behavioral coaching, and estate coordination.

The fee is split between WILLIAMSON WEALTH MANAGEMENT (the planning and advice side) and Brookstone Capital Management (the SEC-registered RIA platform that handles custody, trade execution, compliance, and reporting). You see one combined number; the fee is debited from your account monthly. There are no separate invoices and no out-of-pocket costs.

A complete relationship.

Not just a portfolio.

Most clients evaluate an advisor by their portfolio. Research consistently shows the larger source of long-term value comes from planning decisions and behavioral discipline, not just security selection. Your fee covers both.

1.0%

• Comprehensive retirement income plan, updated annually

• Personalized portfolio design and ongoing oversight

• Roth conversion strategy and multi-year tax planning

• Social Security claiming strategy

• Medicare and IRMAA bracket management

• RMD planning and required distribution coordination

• Estate planning coordination with your attorney and CPA

• Annual reviews plus check-ins as life or markets change

• Behavioral coaching during volatile markets

0.5%

• Independent fiduciary oversight and compliance review

• Custody at Charles Schwab

• Trade execution (no separate commissions on equity or ETF trades)

• Automated rebalancing technology

• Performance reporting and online account access

• Monthly statements and year-end tax documents

• Account-level cybersecurity and fraud protections

• Continuous portfolio monitoring systems

Marginal-tier pricing.

Lower rates as your assets grow.

Each portion of your balance is charged at the rate for its tier. As assets grow, each additional dollar is billed at progressively lower rates. The entire balance is never re-priced.

Asset Tier

Advisor Fee

First $500,000

1.00%

Next $500,000 ($500K – $1M)

0.80%

Next $2,000,000 ($1M – $3M)

0.40%

Above $3,000,000

0.30%

Insurance Commissions.

Paid by the carrier, one-time per placement.

When I place an insurance product as part of your plan, I'm compensated by the issuing carrier, not by you. The commission comes from the carrier's general account and doesn't reduce your premium dollar or your account value. Commission rates vary by product type and carrier, and I'll show you the specifics on any product I recommend before you sign anything.

The products I work with fall into four categories, each solving a different planning problem.

Growth Annuities

A category most prospects haven't heard of. And the one that does the most to change how people think about annuities.

A Growth Annuity is a fixed indexed annuity tied to the S&P 500 (or a similar index), with a cap that limits upside in any given year, a floor that prevents loss of principal, and no internal fees. When the market is up, you participate up to the cap. When the market is down, your principal doesn't move.

For most clients, the right home for these is the conservative portion of the portfolio (the part that traditionally lives in bonds). Bonds are doing a specific job in a retirement portfolio: be the part that doesn't crater when stocks fall. There are years when bonds and stocks fall together. 2022 is a recent example, and Growth Annuities don't have that failure mode. They're structurally incapable of losing principal to market movement, regardless of what bonds or stocks do.

That's why for clients within 10 years of retirement (the window where sequence-of-returns risk does the most damage), I increasingly use Growth Annuities to handle the work that bonds traditionally did. Same defensive job. Better at it.

Income Annuities

An Income Annuity is structured to produce guaranteed lifetime income (either immediately or starting at a specified future date) for as long as you (or you and your spouse) are alive. The carrier takes on the longevity risk; you get a paycheck that doesn't depend on what the market does.

This is the core tool for solving the longevity problem in retirement. Social Security gives you one source of guaranteed lifetime income. A pension, if you're lucky enough to have one, gives you another. For most clients, those two sources don't cover the income floor they actually need. An Income Annuity fills that gap.

The right amount depends on the gap, not on a percentage rule. I'll model your plan with and without it before recommending an amount.

Indexed Universal Life

IUL is one of the more powerful tools in retirement planning, and one of the most misunderstood. It's a tax-advantaged life insurance product that builds cash value indexed to a market benchmark, with a death benefit, and the ability to access the cash value tax-free during your lifetime through policy loans.

Used well, IUL solves problems that traditional retirement accounts can't. It builds tax-advantaged cash value above and beyond what qualified plans allow. It generates supplemental income in retirement that doesn't show up on your tax return. That means it doesn't push you into higher Medicare IRMAA brackets and doesn't cause more of your Social Security to be taxable. It provides a death benefit that passes to your heirs income-tax-free. And the cash value is protected from market downturns, similar to a Growth Annuity, but with a different tax treatment that opens up planning opportunities IRAs and 401(k)s can't match.

For clients who want tax-advantaged growth and income beyond what qualified plans allow, IUL is often the right answer, especially when paired with a properly structured investment portfolio and the right annuity strategy. The math, when designed correctly, can be excellent.

When I recommend IUL, you'll see a full illustration with realistic assumptions, a clear breakdown of how it fits into your plan, and the specific role it plays alongside your investments and any annuities. The structure of the policy matters enormously. IUL designed for cash accumulation looks different from IUL designed for death benefit, and the design choices we make together determine the outcome.

I also place term life insurance when there's a real protection need, typically for clients in their working years with dependents or unpaid debt. It's the simplest and least expensive form of life insurance, and the right answer for most families during accumulation years.

The life insurance policies I recommend include Living Benefits. These no-additional-cost riders let you access a portion of the death benefit while still alive if you're diagnosed with a critical illness (cancer, heart attack, stroke, organ failure), a chronic illness (inability to perform daily activities of living or severe cognitive impairment), or a terminal illness. For many retirees, the chronic illness benefit can help offset costs related to long-term care needs. Funds accessed through Living Benefits are typically income-tax-free.

A commission creates an incentive. Here's how I keep it honest.

The plan comes before the product. Every insurance recommendation starts from a planning analysis: what problem are we trying to solve, what tools could solve it, what are the trade-offs of each. The product comes after the analysis, never the other way around. You'll see the alternatives we considered before any recommendation, and the commission structure is disclosed in every illustration. If you want to see exactly what I'm paid on any product, ask. I'd rather you ask than wonder.

The Math of the

Hybrid Approach.

Because Growth Annuities have zero internal fees, every dollar allocated to one is a dollar that isn't paying an advisory fee. In a typical hybrid portfolio, that means the effective cost across your full portfolio is meaningfully lower than what an investment-only advisor would charge for the same dollars.

The examples below assume a 60/40 split: 60% of the portfolio in actively managed investments (billed at the advisory fee schedule above), and 40% in a Growth Annuity (zero fees). For most pre-retirees and retirees, this is a realistic allocation. Your specific allocation depends on your risk tolerance, time horizon, and planning needs.

This is the differentiator.

Most advisors do one or the other. Fee-only advisors won't touch insurance products and will refer you to a separate insurance agent if you need them. Insurance-focused agents don't manage investments and will refer you to a separate advisor for the portfolio. In both cases, the two halves of your plan are handled by people who don't talk to each other.

The hybrid model is different. The insurance products and the investment portfolio are designed together, because the choices on one side affect the choices on the other.

Here's what that looks like in a typical retiree plan: