I live in Durham, North Carolina, in the heart of the Research Triangle. I have a wonderful wife of 37 years, Lynn, and a daughter and son. My favorite activities involve spending time with friends and family. I love to ski, play golf, camp, and I walk with my father most every day.
Service has always been a part of my family history. My parents were physicians, my grandparents missionaries in China and small business owners. My other relatives are college professors, business owners, estate attorneys, missionaries and foundation executives, and my two grown children are both educators. Most of my family went to Wake Forest University, though my loyalty lies with UNC and Duke.
I earned an undergraduate degree with focus on Economics, Business, and Psychology from UNC in Chapel Hill, NC. Not realizing that would be a perfect background for financial planning, I kept reinventing myself as an executive to create value in 14 high-growth startups. In my spare time while running the IT group for a highly profitable 24/7/365 manufacturing facility (part of a Fortune 20 company), I earned a Duke MBA. In 2005 I decided to start a financial planning practice, garnering my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional designation three years later. Since then I've accumulated another 7 planning designations, and I still attend upwards of 15 conferences and industry events a year: I believe it's my obligation to clients to keep on top of current research, changes in policy, and thought leadership so I can serve them better and get them to the best possible outcomes.
I specialize in financial independence, life, and legacy planning for clients in or near retirement, as well as business owners and executives.
You have decisions in your financial picture, you're the CEO of your financial life. Your job is to take all these ideas and decisions and make sure there's no gaps or overlaps. You have an asset management, risk management, and tax management divisions in your business management. One question: when you think about your whole financial picture, when was the last time someone besides you saw the whole thing in one place?
Our team is going to do a deep dive on the whole picture and report back to you about what you're doing that's really well-aligned, and typically find a few areas to talk about. And more importantly, there are going to be some strategy things that you didn't know you didn't know.
At the end of the day, financial planning is not just about the numbers -- how much you have and how much you need -- but about why the things you want are important to you. We go into much, much deeper planning than the math alone would dictate because we want to help people live focused on the joy in their lives. It's about the finances supporting your life, not your life supporting the finances.
General Information |
| Firm Start Year: | 2005 | |
| No. of Employees: | 5-9 | |
| Work with the following types of clients: | Individual Investors, Businesses |
| Advisory Services Provided: | Retirement Planning, Portfolio Management, Financial Planning, Insurance Products & Annuities, Financial Advice & Consulting, 401K Rollovers, Wealth Management, Money Management, Risk Management, Education Funding and Planning, Financial Planning for Individuals, Investment Advice & Management, Financial Planning for Businesses |
Services |
| Investment Types: | Commodities, Mutual Funds, Bonds, Annuities, Insurance |
| Can meet clients in the following ways: | Phone, Email, Your Office, Video Conference, Our Office |
Qualifications & Memberships |
| Insurance and Annuity Licenses: | Disability, Annuity, Health, Life, Long Term Care, Variable Life, Variable Annuity |
Compensation and Fees |
| Fee Structure: | Fee-Based |
| Minimum Portfolio Size for New Managed Accounts: | $500,000 |
| Compensation Methods: | Based on Assets, Flat Fee, Commissions |
Education |
| MBA | Duke University-Fuqua School of Business
1988-1990 |
FAQs |
Why should I choose you as my financial advisor?Face it. You can get traditional, low-fee management anywhere, if that is all you are looking for. However, you are a person, not a portfolio. Our clients hire us because we also serve as their guide, their guru, and their guardian. Guide: we create a workable plan to help you get to your goals. What's important to you? What do you want to be a part of your life and your future? Guru: we know retirement issues, and we can take care of details like asset location, asset allocation, tax loss harvesting, etc. Guardian: we advocate for your future self and remind you that we have already called the plays when the markets turn against you. Don't just mitigate risks--position yourself to take advantage of them. |
How are you compensated? How will I pay for your services?We can be paid through an asset management model, a commissions-based model, or a flat fee for a plan. In an asset-management or commission-based environment, complete transparency is how I maintain my fiduciary status to you. I'll inform you of exactly how much I'll be paid for anything you buy where my compensation is built in. That keeps me honest. It's not invasive to ask what I get paid, it's your right to know. The the environment I most often operate in is one where you simply pay for advice. This consulting arrangement is meant actually to accomplish an outcome that you value. When we charge a fee for advice, we're taking a fiduciary duty to your outcomes--not to your assets or your portfolio performance. It's about the finances supporting your life, not your life supporting the finances. You can implement that advice with us, do it yourself, or take it to a third party. |
Will you be the only person working with me?I will remain the primary advisor on your account. However, I have a fantastic team who you will interact with over the course of our working relationship, and who will often join in on our meetings. They are capable to answer any and all questions you have. |
Do you offer any guaranteed results?Although it's difficult to quantify the value of advice, recent studies from Vanguard, Fidelity, Morningstar, and others have all concluded that getting financial advice can add as much as 4% to your potential returns, even after taxes and fees. Advisors help their clients maintain a long-term perspective and discipline. As you near and enter retirement, you simply do not have the runway left to recover from expensive mistakes, and abandoning a well-planned strategy can be costly. Our fees start at $5,000, based on complexity. I don't engage unless I know that I can provide a lot of value. My advice will create at least 10x the value of my fee over the course of your life. If I don't believe I can create that kind of value for you, I will tell you we are not a good fit to work together. |
Have you ever been charged with any breaches?No. |
Disclosures |
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WiserAdvisor provides referrals to financial professionals. WiserAdvisor is not a current client of advisor or advisory services. Financial professionals pay cash compensation for these referrals, which creates the incentive for WiserAdvisor to make these referrals, resulting in a conflict of interest. tommorris-nm.com/disclosure |
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Additional Detailed Disclosures |
Registered Investment Advisor:
Yes
Registered Representative:
Yes
Investment Advisor Representative:
Yes
Acknowledged fiduciary:
Yes
Compliance Disclosures in Last 5 years:
I have a clean record
Criminal Disclosures in Last 5 years:
I have a clean record
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