The FPH Team

John Robinson

Itaat Husain

Susan Gabor, CFP

 

Sawyer Patrick

Alicia McClaverty

Emily Forraht

 

Laurey Shibuya

 

FPH BLOG - RECENT POSTS

ARE YOU ON TRACK TO MEET THESE COMMON PLANNING OBJECTIVES?

The applications below help address investors’ greatest fear – If things go badly in the markets will I still be okay?

Spending in Retirement

(Will your nest egg last?)

TEST YOUR PREPAREDNESS

Saving for Retirement

(Will you have enough if returns are below average?

TEST YOUR PREPAREDNESS

Saving for College

(Are you using the right 529 Plan Strategy?

TEST YOUR PREPAREDNESS

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What planning topics does “Comprehensive Financial Planning” include?

    The core elements of our comprehensive planning reviews include:

    • Investment Portfolio Management
    • Tax Planning & Optimization*
    • Estate Planning*
    • Insurance Risk Management
    • Social Security Planning
    • Employee Benefits Reviews
    • IRA and Small Business Retirement Plans (401(k), Defined Benefit Plans, etc)
    • Creditor Protection Considerations
    • Asset Registration and Beneficiary Designation Reviews
    • Retirement Savings and Retirement Spending Stress Testing
    • Education Planning and Funding


    * While no part of our review or findings should be construed as specific tax or legal advice, and important element of our review is to raise awareness of potential tax and legal risks and opportunities.  We encourage clients to share these insights with their CPAs and/or attorneys are willing to facilitate those discussions upon request.

  • Do you have Certified Financial Planners (CFPs) on your team?

    Yes.  Sue Gabor is a CFP with more than 25 years of planning experience. Sawyer Patrick recently passed the CFP exam and is working toward satisfying the experience requirement for formal certification. John Robinson is the founder of Fee-Only Planning Hawaii.  While he is not a CFP, he is widely recognized as a domain authority within the financial planning community.  He has a degree in economics from Williams College and has written ten papers that were accepted for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. He has written more than a hundred articles on a broad range of financial planning topics and was twice included on Investopedia's list of the top 100 most influential financial advisors in the United States.
     
    As a thought leader, John is an outspoken critic of the CFP Board of Standards, the organization that owns the CFP designation.  He has published many op-ed commentaries calling out the CFP Board for putting its own financial and political ambitions above the interests of consumers.  He helped develop the July 2019 front page Wall Street Journal story on the Board's ethical lapses as well as a June 2025 follow up story in Financial Planning which revealed that the Board is providing cover for approximately 10,000 CFPs who have disclosure events on their regulatory records.

  • What is your financial planning process?

    The generally accepted 7-step financial planning process is as follows:

    Step 1: Learn the client’s background information and financial circumstances.

    Step 2: Identify client’s specific financial planning goals and objectives.

    Step 3: Analyze the data that has been gathered in relation to the goals and objectives

    Step 4: Develop a written plan and recommendations

    Step 5: Present the plan

    Step 6: Implementation

    Step 7: Ongoing monitoring

    Our one-time fee-only planning reviews encompass steps 1-5.  Clients may elect to engage us over time to cover steps 6 & 7 under a separate agreement if they choose.  See also - Client Services.

Read more FAQs

POWERED BY NEST EGG GURU

Nest Egg Guru makes client facing software to help financial advisors engage with and educate clients and prospective clients. The company was co-founded by J.R. Robinson and is the sister company to Financial Planning Hawaii.

FINANCIAL PLANNING HAWAII HAS PUBLISHED ARTICLES AND/OR BEEN FEATURED IN THE FOLLOWING MEDIA OUTLETS: