Mark Stancato, CFP^®, EA, CRPS^®
VIP Wealth Advisors

Financial Services

Effective portfolio management goes beyond picking investments. At VIP Wealth Advisors, it begins with understanding your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. We design globally diversified portfolios using low-cost, tax-efficient strategies that keep your money working toward your priorities. Our process isnt staticwe rebalance, tax-loss harvest, and adjust allocations as markets, laws, and your life evolve. Unlike product-driven firms, we dont earn commissions on trades or push proprietary funds. Instead, we act as a fiduciary, selecting strategies based solely on your best interest. Whether youre managing concentrated stock, exercising options, or simply wanting a disciplined approach to wealth building, our portfolio management ensures your investments are aligned with your financial plan.

Retirement isnt just about stopping workits about creating financial independence. We build retirement plans that account for every income stream, including 401(k)s, IRAs, pensions, Social Security, rental properties, and equity compensation. Our process projects cash flow decades into the future, stress-testing for inflation, market volatility, and healthcare costs. We help optimize contribution strategies, determine ideal retirement ages, and minimize taxes during both accumulation and distribution. For clients with stock options or business ownership, we integrate advanced strategies like Roth conversions, 72(t) distributions, and charitable planning. The result is a retirement roadmap that gives you confidence, flexibility, and peace of mind.

Leaving a job or consolidating retirement accounts? A 401(k) rollover may be the right movebut not always. We analyze your options: keep funds in the existing plan, roll to a new employer plan, or move into an IRA. Each path carries unique tax, investment, and fee considerations. Our advisors evaluate issues like creditor protection, early withdrawal rules, required minimum distributions, and access to institutional funds. If a rollover is right, we handle the process end-to-end to avoid costly mistakes such as triggering taxes or penalties. Our goal is to simplify retirement assets, align them with your broader investment strategy, and ensure tax efficiency.

True wealth management integrates every part of your financial life. At VIP Wealth Advisors, we combine investment strategy, tax planning, estate design, retirement forecasting, and risk management under one coordinated plan. Our clients are often high-income professionals with complex needs: stock compensation, multiple properties, business ownership, and multi-state tax filings. We take a holistic view, aligning short-term decisions with long-term goalswhether thats financial independence, generational wealth transfer, or philanthropic impact. Wealth management is not about chasing market returns; its about structuring your financial world so every dollar has a purpose. Our boutique approach means you get high-touch, year-round guidancenot cookie-cutter solutions.

Business owners face an entirely different set of challenges. We provide integrated planning that covers both the company and personal sides of wealth. This includes tax-efficient entity structures, retirement plans (401(k), cash balance, SEP), succession planning, risk management, and cash flow optimization. We help owners align business growth with personal financial independence, ensuring that wealth created inside the business translates into lasting security outside of it. Whether you're navigating a liquidity event, funding a buy-sell agreement, or weighing expansion, our role is to act as your financial quarterback. By coordinating with accountants, attorneys, and other professionals, we create strategies that keep your business thriving while protecting your long-term goals.

Every financial life is unique, which is why our planning process starts with you, not with a template. We help individuals map out a complete financial picture: income, taxes, investments, retirement, insurance, and estate considerations. Our role is to coordinate these moving parts into a clear plan that adapts as your life changes, whether that means a new job, marriage, children, or relocation. For professionals with equity compensation, we integrate stock options and RSUs into broader strategies to avoid tax surprises and maximize long-term value. For others, the focus may be on cash flow, debt reduction, or retirement readiness. Our fiduciary duty ensures recommendations are always in your best interest, delivered with clarity and transparency.

Sometimes you don't need a full financial overhaul, you just need trusted, experienced advice on a specific challenge. Our consulting services are flexible and project-based, designed for clients who want clarity on equity compensation, tax strategy, retirement timelines, or investment decisions. With 20+ years of experience and credentials including CFP®, EA, and CRPS®, we provide technical insights that cut through complexity. Whether it's modeling the tax impact of an option exercise, analyzing a real estate transaction, or reviewing insurance coverage, our advice is objective and actionable. No products, no commissions, just expert guidance when you need it most.

Effective portfolio management goes beyond picking investments. At VIP Wealth Advisors, it begins with understanding your goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance. We design globally diversified portfolios using low-cost, tax-efficient strategies that keep your money working toward your priorities. Our process isn't static we rebalance, tax-loss harvest, and adjust allocations as markets, laws, and your life evolve. Unlike product-driven firms, we don't earn commissions on trades or push proprietary funds. Instead, we act as a fiduciary, selecting strategies based solely on your best interest. Whether you're managing concentrated stock, exercising options, or simply wanting a disciplined approach to wealth building, our portfolio management ensures your investments are aligned with your financial plan.

Retirement isn't just about stopping work it's about creating financial independence. We build retirement plans that account for every income stream, including 401(k)s, IRAs, pensions, Social Security, rental properties, and equity compensation. Our process projects cash flow decades into the future, stress-testing for inflation, market volatility, and healthcare costs. We help optimize contribution strategies, determine ideal retirement ages, and minimize taxes during both accumulation and distribution. For clients with stock options or business ownership, we integrate advanced strategies like Roth conversions, 72(t) distributions, and charitable planning. The result is a retirement roadmap that gives you confidence, flexibility, and peace of mind.

Leaving a job or consolidating retirement accounts? A 401(k) rollover may be the right move, but not always. We analyze your options: keep funds in the existing plan, roll to a new employer plan, or move into an IRA. Each path carries unique tax, investment, and fee considerations. Our advisors evaluate issues like creditor protection, early withdrawal rules, required minimum distributions, and access to institutional funds. If a rollover is right, we handle the process end-to-end to avoid costly mistakes such as triggering taxes or penalties. Our goal is to simplify retirement assets, align them with your broader investment strategy, and ensure tax efficiency.

Insurance is a critical but often overlooked piece of financial security. We evaluate life, disability, long-term care, liability, and property coverage to ensure adequate protection without unnecessary costs. Our analysis focuses on aligning policies with actual needs, whether replacing income for dependents, protecting a business, or safeguarding retirement assets. As fiduciaries, we don't sell insurance products; instead, we provide objective advice and help clients shop for coverage independently. This unbiased approach keeps protection in place without the conflicts of commission-driven sales. Insurance planning with VIP Wealth Advisors is about building resilience so your plan succeeds even when life doesn't go according to script.

Annuities can be one of the most confusing and often misunderstood financial products. At VIP Wealth Advisors, we don't sell annuities or earn commissions from them, but we do provide objective, expert analysis to help clients make sense of what they own or what they've been pitched. We review contract terms, fees, riders, liquidity restrictions, and tax implications to determine whether an annuity aligns with your broader financial plan. For clients who already hold annuities, we evaluate whether to keep, exchange, or unwind them in the most tax-efficient way. Our goal is simple: cut through the jargon, identify hidden costs, and help you make clear decisions rooted in your best interest not a salesperson's incentive.

A well-crafted estate plan ensures wealth transfers smoothly and according to your wishes. We guide clients through wills, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and beneficiary designations, often in coordination with estate attorneys. For high-net-worth families, we explore advanced strategies like GRATs, family limited partnerships, and charitable trusts to minimize estate taxes and protect assets. We also help educate heirs, preparing the next generation to manage wealth responsibly. Estate planning is not just about documents, it's about creating clarity, preventing conflict, and securing your legacy.

Taxes touch every part of your financial life, yet most advisors outsource this critical area. At VIP Wealth Advisors, we prepare and file taxes in-house, integrating planning with execution. This allows us to anticipate issues before April 15, from AMT triggered by option exercises to multi-state residency rules or K-1 reporting. We analyze opportunities for Roth conversions, charitable deductions, business expense optimization, and capital gains deferral. Our year-round process ensures nothing falls through the cracks and that strategies are implemented, not just suggested. The result is proactive tax management that saves money, reduces stress, and keeps you compliant.

Education is one of the largest investments many families make, and planning ahead is key. We help evaluate funding vehicles like 529 plans, custodial accounts, and trust structures, analyzing tax benefits and control features. For clients balancing multiple goals, such as saving for college while exercising stock options, we create integrated strategies that don't sacrifice retirement or wealth-building. We also model costs for private K-12, undergraduate, and graduate education, adjusting for inflation and financial aid expectations. By coordinating contributions with gifting strategies, tax planning, and cash flow, we make sure your children or grandchildren have opportunities without jeopardizing your financial independence. Education funding is about more than tuition, it's about creating a legacy of opportunity.

Investments should never exist in isolation, they're tools that serve your overall plan. We build globally diversified, low-cost portfolios designed for after-tax returns, not headlines. Our approach combines academic evidence, disciplined rebalancing, and proactive tax strategies like loss harvesting and asset location. For clients with concentrated stock positions, we offer advanced solutions such as 10b5-1 trading plans, exchange funds, or charitable strategies. We continuously monitor markets and legislation, adjusting as needed while keeping clients focused on long-term outcomes. Because we don't sell products or earn commissions, our advice is always objective and aligned with your success.

True wealth management integrates every part of your financial life. At VIP Wealth Advisors, we combine investment strategy, tax planning, estate design, retirement forecasting, and risk management under one coordinated plan. Our clients are often high-income professionals with complex needs: stock compensation, multiple properties, business ownership, and multi-state tax filings. We take a holistic view, aligning short-term decisions with long-term goals, whether that's financial independence, generational wealth transfer, or philanthropic impact. Wealth management is not about chasing market returns; it's about structuring your financial world so every dollar has a purpose. Our boutique approach means you get high-touch, year-round guidance, not cookie-cutter solutions.

Protecting wealth is as important as growing it. Risk management involves identifying potential threats, market volatility, liability exposure, premature death, disability, or long-term care needs, and building strategies to mitigate them. We assess insurance coverage, asset titling, and estate structures to ensure you're not leaving vulnerabilities. For business owners, this may include key-person coverage or succession planning; for individuals, it may be about disability income protection or umbrella liability. We also integrate investment risk controls, such as diversification and stress testing, to keep portfolios resilient. Our philosophy is proactive: address risks before they become losses. The result is financial security that allows you to focus on opportunities instead of worrying about setbacks.

Managing money is about more than tracking expenses, it's about ensuring every dollar works toward your bigger goals. At VIP Wealth Advisors, money management covers cash flow planning, liquidity strategies, debt optimization, and smart allocation between spending, saving, and investing. For high-income professionals, this often means balancing equity compensation payouts, K-1 income, rental property cash flow, and bonus structures. We help prioritize short-term needs like emergency funds or large purchases alongside long-term objectives like retirement or education funding. By monitoring cash reserves, optimizing account types, and coordinating with your tax plan, we reduce idle capital and keep you positioned for opportunity. Our goal is to simplify the financial picture so you know exactly where your money goes, and how it compounds for the future.