• What areas do you serve?

    In California, Lamorinda, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, San Ramon Valley, Danville, Alamo, Martinez, Concord, Contra Costa County, Benicia, Vallejo, and Solano County. Also Greater Seattle and clients in several other states.

  • What are Michael’s credentials?

    Michael earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business management from St. Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif. He became a financial planner in 1984 and has achieved the professional designations of Accredited Investment Fiduciary and Life Underwriting Training Fellow. He completed the FINRA-sponsored Series 7 examination and is licensed by the California Department of Insurance for life, disability, property and casualty, and variable insurance, and he also is certified in long-term care insurance. Please request a copy of his  to his ADVII B for a hard copy.

  • Are you tied to any major financial institutions or brokerage firms?

    No, he is fully independent. Michael MacDonald  is a California State Charterd  Registered Investment Advisor focuses on providing a full range of products and services with a high level of personal service. Its status as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) ensures that its members act as fiduciaries for their clients, always placing clients’ interest above their own.

  • How are you compensated?

    Michael MacDonald  is a fee-based financial services firm. With some narrow exceptions regarding Life,Health,and Personal Lines Prorerty and Casuality Insurance, he provide financial advice and services for a set fee, as opposed to earning commission payments based on selling proprietary products.

  • Who are your customers?

    We serve a wide variety of professionals, business owners, pre-retirees, retirees, widows, and widowers.

  • What services do you offer?

    We offer planning assistance in the following areas: Overview Financial Plan is the broadest tool we provide it includes all the following areas, We also provide single need planning in, retirement planning, investment management, and risk management. as well as  estate planning, charitable gift planning, insurance solutions, tax strategies, retirement income planning, investment planning, pension plans, and 401(k) plans.

  • What is your investment philosophy?

    We utilize diversification with active management to provide custom portfolio design. We monitor client portfolios carefully and emphasize asset allocation, rebalancing, risk management primarily through the use of Riskalyze and our Accumulate and Protect strategy, and cost controls, primarily utilizing Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) as well as institutional no-load funds with low expense charges.