My experience helping investors spans more than 19 years working in the wealth management industry.
I spent the first five years of my career with investment brokerage/insurance firms as a young advisor, before growing into roles in planning, research, and portfolio management.
STEPHEN MILLER, FOUNDER & FINANCIAL ADVISOR
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Hometown: Austin, TX
Family: Married to Kate; Three kids: Braden, Aubrey and Julia
College: Baylor University
Professional Certifications: Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®)
Hobbies: Planning (and doing!) the next family adventure, camping trip or road trip. Evening Jeep rides (doors off).
Favorite Books: Unbroken, Lonesome Dove
history
Meet Stephen
→ I established Forward Wealth Management in 2014 to provide goals-based planning and investment strategies that best serve client’s long-term interests. I am a Certified Financial Planner™ pracitioner and CFA Charterholder. In addition to running Forward, since 2014 I have been involved as a volunteer with CFA Institute and served on the Board of Directors of CFA Society of North Carolina from 2019 to 2023.
Outside of work, I enjoy coaching youth sports, playing competitive tennis and volunteering in the special needs community.
→ Forward stands beside clients where life goals and money intersect with financial markets. Clients are typically mid- to late-career professionals and entrepreneurs. The objective in working togetether is a successful transition from full-time work, typically within the next 10 years.
Low financial stress during the retirement years requires measuring future retirement spending objectives and mapping existing assets and future resources into a personalized strategy. That strategy gives confidence when managing household finances.
Together, we work to build a successful retirement mindset and a custom wealth management strategy that will carry clients to and through this important time of life.
BOB HOFMANN, OPERATIONS MANAGER
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Hometown: Glen Ellyn, IL
Family: Married to Kathy; 2 grown children (Allison & Kyle); 4 Grandchildren
College: Purdue University
Professional Certifications: Qualified Kingdom Advisor (QKA)
Hobbies: Tennis, Indy Car Racing, go karting, Purdue Football & Basketball, Christian music, any competitive sport
Favorite Books: UThe Prpose Driven Life, I am Third, The Man in the Mirror, Point Man, The List
Meet Bob
→ My personal and professional passion is grounded in growing people and organizations through servant leadership. Being a natural problem solver and “doer,” I am most interested in finding and eliminating road blocks that stand in the way of clients reaching their goals.
When not working, I enjoy almost any sport and competing. I enjoyed coaching youth basketball when we had young children and have now transitioned to refereeing basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, and umpiring softball.
Personalized solutions
Contact us to learn if our unique approach is a fit for you.
Our Core Values
Collaboration
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We serve our client’s best interests and look to establish a long-term partnership requiring deep collective determination from all parties.
Stewardship
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With wealth comes responsibility. We pursue purposeful living on our client’s behalf as well as our own.
Ingenuity
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The pursuit of our client’s goals drives us to be our best and to find new ways to help clients attain their goals.
Integrity
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We will actively uphold a standard of honesty, prudence and care with our words and actions.
Investment Philosophy
Forward Investing
→ Investing is the process of allocating capital with the expectation of future economic benefit, under the condition of uncertainty.
Traditional financial theory represents the future as a long and single period, defined simply as now and forever.
We construct portfolios for clients that match assets with goals and make changes as necessary.
While much of our industry pursues the siren song of alpha, we focus on minimizing expenses and maintaining a preference for proven investment methods over compelling narratives.
In short, we keep things simple and focus on what is in our control by following a defined process.
Financial markets are dynamic systems in which participants move asset prices away from their “fair value,” causing a mispricing of risk and expected returns.
This means long-term investors should manage their investment allocation prudently.
Risk is traditionally defined by portfolio theory as the fluctuation of investment returns around historic averages.
We Integrate both internal (client driven preferences) and external (market driven realities) risk perspectives in our portfolio construction process.
Philosophy + Process = Strategy
Our Investment STRATEGIES Produces Portfolios Which Are:
Matched to the client’s financial goals
Incorporate internal and external risk perspectives
Implemented through low-cost investment vehicles
Held at a third-party custodian
Fee Structure
Asset Managment
→ Our standard advisory fee is based on the market value of the assets under management and is calculated as follows:
Account Value |
Annual Advisory Fee |
|---|---|
| First $2,500,000 | 0.95% |
| Next $2,500,000 | 0.70% |
| $5,000,000 and Above | 0.50% |