Truth... It is a superpower- the leveler of complexity, opaqueness, and subterfuge. It provides the simplicity, clarity, and authenticity required to create and protect REAL wealth in an all too Risky world full of confusion, noise, and misinformation.
Risk, it is the enemy of your wealth. You will find it everywhere and always, mostly hidden, and especially present when dealing with Wall Street- ironic, indeed! Wouldn't we ALL be wealthy if Wall Street's various types of advisory relationships, financial programs, investment products, and 401(k) offerings were as simple, mathematically precise, and as profitable as you’ve been told or sold? Widespread wealth would be the rule not the exception. Unfortunately, that is not the case, nor even close to it. Why is that? Risk...
The simple truth is, outside of luck, the only way to successfully create and protect REAL wealth is by managing and profiting from the Risk taken through genuine expertise, immediate proactiveness, ongoing collaboration, and, most importantly, hard work. Yes, you read that right- good old fashioned hard work. If you're like most small business owners, you know intimately well what hard work is, i.e., running your business well, supporting your employees, and keeping your personal life on track. Trying to figure out how to make your money work just as hard, or even better yet, harder than you are, is probably getting the least amount of your time and attention.
This is where GlacierWealth comes in. We get it! This is why we exist. It has taken over 25 years of our own hard work and dedication to get here and be able to provide this genuinely independent, uniquely integrated, comprehensive wealth management service. Acting as your fiduciary wealth manager, we shoulder the day-to-day burden of managing the complexities of wealth for you and indirectly for all those who depend upon you. Our real-time involvement and oversight is critically important, especially when financial markets go to extremes. During these periods of time, whether at nosebleed highs or gut wrenching lows, is when we really prove our worth. These rare but defining periods present the greatest opportunities and challenges; having the uncanny ability to take most everyone by surprise and transform money into wealth or wealth into despair.
We invite you to learn more about our approach to creating and protecting REAL wealth, especially how to avoid it being jeopardized by the enemy of Risk, dependent on luck, or taken advantage of by Wall Street. Please note though, and so you don't waste your time, in order to implement our unique strategies and provide maximum value, we respectfully have the following straigtforward prospective client criteria:
Should you meet this criteria, we truly look forward to getting to know you and exploring how our work together can massively help you, your family, and all those employees who finacially depend on you and your business's success. The calendar link below will allow you to conveniently schedule a no-obligation/no-nonsense meeting. And if we may, let's consider this one of the MOST important investments you'll ever make- an investment in truth! It's the superpower that might just set you and yours financially free.
We are firm believers that most anything is possible if you're willing to do the hard work, have the talent, use the best tools, and keep the right attitude. Whatever challenges and opportunities come up along the way, we'll make the most of and will use to guide us in the right direction. Our daily engagement in this collaborative, life-long effort helps to not only create and protect your REAL wealth, it naturally sustains.
As an independent fiduciary, without commissions, hidden incentives, or conflicts of interests in the picture, GlacierWealth is able to deliver, implement, and maintain dynamic financial solutions, a.k.a REAL Wealth Management, that solely serve your best interests, even when you might happen to forget about them in the midst of daily life and volatile markets. To further protect against that possibility and Risk, we have made sure the solutions utilized are readily accessible and easy-to-understand so you can apply and benefit from them each and every day. Explore the different scenarios and related planning areas below that you might find yourself in, along with the brief explanations of the recommended solutions.
Situation | Solution |
| Your business is growing and you'd like to save more while increasing employee retention and financial well-being. | Business Planning Maximize your business's 401(k) or start a non-qualified plan to defer more revenue to you and your employees. Everyone wins. LEARN MORE |
| You are trying to find someone who will shoot you straight about investing and want some hands-on guidance about which investment strategies are right for you. | Investment Planning Accomplish your short- and long-term objectives with a investment strategies matched to your unique circumstances and risk profile. LEARN MORE |
| You’re too busy keeping the business plates spinning and have assets all over the place that need some organization, attention, and oversight. | Financial Planning Social Security, pension, stocks and more, we’ll identify all potential sources of income so you can look forward to your life past work. If you're so lucky to have too much, we'll look at protecting it through an estate plan and how best to give some away. LEARN MORE |
| You’ve found yourself with higher and higher tax bills and want to make sure you’re staying ahead of any future liabilities, maybe even one of the biggest related to estate planning. | Tax Planning Feel confident once filing season comes around with a strategic tax planning approach that keeps your numbers in order so no detail falls through the cracks. LEARN MORE |
As a business owner, you’re motivated, driven and always on the go. As a small business ourselves, we at GlacierWealth understand the stress that comes with managing personal finances while simultaneously tending to business matters. There is rarely enough time in the day to get the work done let alone deal with the administration. This is why achieving financial well-being is so important. It's why you're doing all of this, right? If not, then why?
The strategies we utilize are designed to fit your needs and the needs of your growing business to set you up for continued success. Through time-efficient collaboration, we’ll create a plan to fully optimize your assets and your overall financial wellness.
Deep knowledge and expert insight into global financial markets, investment psychology, and financial history allow GlacierWealth to construct a brilliant portfolio uniquely tailored to you. In addition to the rigorous management of your portfolio, we'll share, as appropriate and desired, the rationale and research driving the portfolio design so you’re well-versed in the logic of the ever evolving innovative approach.
Identify Your Financial Objectives
We'll start with where you are today and where you want to be in your tomorrows. As these objectives change, we’ll dynamically adjust our approach and your investment portfolio according to the current state of the market so you continue to generate returns.
Determine Your Optimal Risk Tolerance
Through a dynamic, realistic risk assessment, we’ll assess and determine the amount of risk required for you to achieve your goals. One variable we can manage is how much risk to take. Let's use it to our advantage.
Follow a Timeline That’s Right For You
After outlining your objectives, we’ll design a strategy that aligns with your optimal timeline for achieving your returns given your specific risk tolerance. Time can be both your friend or enemy depending on how it is managed.
Whether you’re five years away from retirement or 20 years away from retirement, we will help you create, implement, and maintain the financial strategies required to achieve your optimal retirement lifestyle. After evaluating your current financial situation, we will identify the income sources and opportunities that are most advantageous for you as you prepare for your life past employment.
Identifying
Potential income streams and ways you can continue to contribute to your nest egg while still securing the basic necessities.
Optimizing
Your spending/saving habits so you continuously make decisions that benefit your broader financial picture.
Reviewing
Your investment strategy and ensuring you’re investing your wealth in an actively managed, absolute return portfolio that best aligns with your objectives.
You don’t have a choice when it comes to paying taxes, but you can avoid making the mistake of overpaying them. While it’s hard to imagine anyone intentionally paying too much in taxes, the IRS estimates that more than one billion dollars is overpaid in taxes each year. That’s no surprise when tax laws change every year—even in years when no major tax legislation is enacted. How much of that money is yours? Wouldn’t you rather see those funds in your bank account or put aside for your retirement, other financial goals, or generations?
GlacierWealth specializes in portfolio tax management and estate planning strategies. We will identify the tax-saving approaches that apply to your situation. We work on this throughout the year, not just when it’s time to prepare your return or at the later stages of life.
You might be able to save on taxes by:
If you’re like most people, your taxes represent one of your largest annual and lifetime expenses, yet often little or no planning is done to minimize your tax bill. This is where we collaborate with tax professionals and estate attorneys to assist with careful tax preparation and planning that can protect and enahnce your REAL wealth.
The more you know, the better the decisions we can make together. We want to enhance your understanding, reduce complexity, and focus attention on what is in our control. Over time, clarity and wisdom will be gained which create greater peace of mind, one of the most valuable aspects of REAL wealth.
GlacierWealth's original research graph of The Myth*, the contrarian websites, videos, and books along with our regularly updated blog and news feed as shared via the links below, are some of the most important resources we can provide to assist in this effort. If all of this information were taken together and synthesized, it would simply state that there are many opportunities and possibilities that we can and should capitalize on, but we have to be acutely aware of and manage the ever present Risk. Unlikely will you see this on any Wall Street advertisement, hear this from the fellow golfer on the course, or be told this by an uncle who happens to be in the "business." Does this make you want to hide your money under the mattress and not trust anyone? We don't blame you... That's why it's absolutely critical to increase your understanding/knowledge/wisdom and then reach out when you're ready to take the "road less traveled by." Let's start the journey!
Wall Street and its friends’ favorite sales pitch is a 10% annual return, implied or otherwise. It’s seems easily achieved, maybe even taken for granted, so much so that few question it. It's why most financial plans and dreams are built on it. It’s a belief so widely held that you might think it is a natural law- something that is absolute, like gravity. The truth- it’s a myth, The Myth* as we have termed it: a popular, self-serving, oversimplification that massively profits the promoters at the expense of those who believe in it. Want to learn why? Simply click on our insightful research graph below and follow the asterisk's journey. May the truth, the superpower it is, help set you financially free!
What current, trustworthy information sources do you follow to stay informed on finances, current events, and the like? This is critically important as there is a lot of information out there that is nothing more than noise. Unfortunately, it is well disguised and a distraction at best and potentially harmful at worst. For your convenience, here is a list of our top sources providing some free access that won't be found on your conventional advisor's regular reading list.
Crestmont Research: Develops provocative insights on the financial markets, including the stock market, interest rates, and investment philosophy. The research focuses on the drivers and characteristics of secular stock market cycles, the impact of the inflation rate and interest rates on the stock and bond markets, and a conceptual approach toward investment strategy that is applicable to the current market environment.
Hussman Market Comment: Modern investment research and education to "help you see through Old Wall Street’s cloak of obscurity."
The Felder Report: Take the Financial Road Less Traveled
National Debt Clock: The purpose of US Debt Clock.org is to inform the public of the financial condition of the United States of America.
Shadow Government Statistics: Analysis Behind and Beyond Government Economic Reporting
Investor.gov: Brought to you by the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Investor.gov is your online resource to help you make sound investment decisions and avoid fraud. Please take a minute to view our video below to see how Investor.gov can help you.
In the age of immediate gratification we'd like to comply and share with you a few inspiring, intellectually powerful videos that will quickly bring to light different thoughts, perspectives, and intriguing points that have helped shape our views. The thoughtful, imaginative, truth seeking minds that created these are to be thanked and applauded. Seeing is believing so let's give it a whirl! Click a link below to be transported into YouTube's or Vimeo's greater enlightenment.
Altruist- The Way Money Should Feel
Swan Bitcoin- God Bless Bitcoin
Renegade Inc.- The Four Horsemen
End of the Road- How Money Became Worthless
Bird and Fortune- Investment Banker
"Before you read any how-to investment books or seek financial advice, read Unexpected Returns, the essential resource for investors and investment professionals who want to understand how and why the financial markets are not the same now as they were in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition to explaining the fundamentals, this book takes you on a graphic journey through the seasons of the market, tying together economics and finance to explain the stock market's cycles. Using comprehensive full-color charts and graphs, it offers an in-depth exploration of what has changed over the past five years - and what you can do about it to avoid disappointment with your investments. This unique combination of investment science and investment art will enable you to differentiate between irrational hope and a rational view of the current financial markets. Based on years of meticulous research, it provides the sensible conclusions that will drive your future investment choices and give you the confidence to rely on your investment outlook, whatever your financial strategy." (Book jacket)
"In the international bestseller, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman, the renowned psychologist and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. The impact of overconfidence on corporate strategies, the difficulties of predicting what will make us happy in the future, the profound effect of cognitive biases on everything from playing the stock market to planning our next vacation―each of these can be understood only by knowing how the two systems shape our judgments and decisions." (Amazon)
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841. The book was published in three volumes: "National Delusions", "Peculiar Follies", and "Philosophical Delusions". Mackay was an accomplished teller of stories, though he wrote in a journalistic and somewhat sensational style." (Amazon)
"Mathematical superstar and inventor of fractal geometry, Benoit Mandelbrot, has spent the past forty years studying the underlying mathematics of space and natural patterns. What many of his followers don't realize is that he has also been watching patterns of market change. In The (Mis)Behavior of Markets, Mandelbrot joins with science journalist and former Wall Street Journal editor Richard L. Hudson to reveal what a fractal view of the world of finance looks like. The result is a revolutionary reevaluation of the standard tools and models of modern financial theory. Markets, we learn, are far riskier than we have wanted to believe. From the gyrations of IBM's stock price and the Dow, to cotton trading, and the dollar-Euro exchange rate--Mandelbrot shows that the world of finance can be understood in more accurate, and volatile, terms than the tired theories of yesteryear. The ability to simplify the complex has made Mandelbrot one of the century's most influential mathematicians. With The (Mis)Behavior of Markets, he puts the tools of higher mathematics into the hands of every person involved with markets, from financial analysts to economists to 401(k) holders. Markets will never be seen as "safe bets" again." (Amazon)
"Sparked with wit and humor, this clever and insightful book provides clear evidence that the stock market is inefficient. In the author's view, models based on rational economic behavior cannot explain important aspects of market behavior. The book tackles important issues in today's financial market in a highly conversational and entertaining manner that will appeal to most readers. Chapter topics include: estimating expected return with the theories of modern finance, estimating portfolio risk and expected return with ad hoc factor models, payoffs to the five families, predicting future stock returns with the expected-return factor model, super stocks and stupid stocks, the international results, the topography of the stock market, the positive payoffs to cheapness and profitability, the negative payoff to risk, and the forces behind the technical payoffs to price-history. For anyone who wants to learn more about today's financial markets." (Amazon)
"Humorous and entertaining, this book exposes the folly and hypocrisy of Wall Street. The title refers to a story about a visitor to New York who admired the yachts of the bankers and brokers. Naively, he asked where all the customers' yachts were? Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. Full of wise contrarian advice and offering a true look at the world of investing, in which brokers get rich while their customers go broke, this book continues to open the eyes of investors to the reality of Wall Street." (Amazon)
"2011 reprint of 1928 edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In economics, money illusion refers to the tendency of people to think of currency in nominal, rather than real, terms. This is a fallacy as modern fiat currencies have no inherent value and their real value is derived from their ability to be exchanged for goods and used for payment of taxes. The term was coined by John Maynard Keynes in the early twentieth century, and Irving Fisher 1928 book, The Money Illusion, is one of the most important works on the subject." (Amazon)
Friday, May 17, 2024 - The Guardian
Mindfulness is said to help everything from anxiety to overeating. But how does it work? Experts separate fact from fiction. Read more...
Friday, May 17, 2024 - Business Insider
Want a six-figure salary? Try Walmart. Read more...
Monday, May 13, 2024 - Forbes
Proactive and strategic estate planning is paramount to safeguarding your assets' value and ensuring their seamless transition to the next generation. It not only protects your legacy but also minimizes the risk of familial discord that can arise from inheritance disputes. Read more...
We invite you to learn more about us and the partnerships we have established to accomplish this good, hard work of REAL wealth management. Our dedicated team utlizes and collaborates with top-tier financial experts, innovative technology firms, and cutting-edge investment providers to ensure that our services and strategies are both state-of-the-art and custom-tailored to each client. By integrating these partnerships in such a manner and leveraging their unique advantages, we are committed to delivering comprehensive, synergistic financial solutions that help you achieve your financial goals while fostering long-term security and prosperity, a.k.a REAL wealth.
GlacierWealth is not your typical financial or investment advisory firm. You'll need to look elsewhere for the comfort of the status-quo, salesmanship, and the false sense of security they offer. Our absolute focus is on what matters- REAL Wealth Management that empowers you to achieve your intimately interrelated financial and personal goals and objectives that are most meaningful to you.
As an independent fiduciary, we engage in authentic relationship and provide liberating alternatives to conventional financial advice, cookie-cutter investment management, and run-of-the-mill 401(k) solutions. Our hard won independence and unrelenting pursuit of Truth provide the freedom and desire to do what is right, always. It's not optional or even preferrable to do otherwise. We have chosen the road "less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." Robert Frost
As the grateful owner of GlacierWealth, I have been providing trustworthy, hands-on counsel to individuals, families, and business owners for decades. These long-term client engagements exemplify the value and authenticity I readily pour into each relationship.
I graduated from Willamette University in Salem, OR, with a bachelor’s degree in Business Economics and a minor in Religious Studies. While at it, I also garnered a few collegiate football records playing for an incredible team. Desiring to continue to compete and thinking that hard work and integrity are what matters most, I went on to pass various financial industry exams (Series 7, 6, 65, 63, 31) and work as a financial advisor in the conventional Wall Street model. The experiences gained during this time led to my determination that ‘fee-only’ financial advice and investment counsel were the only way to serve my clients. Sales and the conflicts of interest that arise from them had to be eliminted.
In 2001, with the help of my amazing wife's typing skills and a mechanical typewriter, I founded the registered investment advisory firm that is now GlacierWealth, Inc. in order to focus my commitment, loyalty, and energy solely on my clients and their REAL wealth. As my extensive real-world experience thwarted theoretical ideas, I sought out, developed, and integrated enhanced planning, investment, and tax strategies in order to assist my clients with creating and protecting their REAL wealth.
Located in Whitefish, MT, I enjoy the privilege of living in Montana with my wonderful wife and amazing children. There are no greater gifts than faith, family, and time to embrace and honor it all, especially in a place so special.
You know that old saying, "You are the company you keep?" We take it to heart, and that's why we thoroughly research and hand select partners that are accountable, honest, and experts in their field. Please click the links below to learn more about our trusted partners.
More than ever, it’s imperative to partner with an absolutely independent fiduciary advisor like GlacierWealth that solely serves clients' best interests and has built over a 25 year reputation on personal commitment and excellence. It's foundational.
Just as you seek specific qualities in an advisor, we find that the strongest relationships are forged with like-minded clients who are relationship focused, emotionally disciplined, and long-term investment oriented. If you're a hard-working, self-enlightened, successful small business owner with a 401(k) Plan with at least $1,000,000 in assets who would like to learn more about creating and protecting REAL wealth for yourself, your family, and those employees who depend on you, we should talk. There is so much we can accomplish!
643 Denver St., Ste 100
Whitefish, MT 59937
By Appointment Only
Edward G. Rainford, AIF®
Investment Counsel | Financial Advisor
T: (800) 416-1063
© 2012-2024 GlacierWealth, Inc. | Legal Notices
