Alan A. Nicolette, CFP^®, EA, started Nicolette Financial in 2008 following a 30+ year career as an IT Professional.

Greetings, my name is Alan Nicolette and I started Nicolette Financial Advisors in 2008 following a 30 year career in the Information Technology field. I earned my BS degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1977, a Masters of Business Administration from Seton Hall University in 1983, and a Masters in Management from NJIT in 1994. I am a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^TM professional and licensed IRS Enrolled Agent.  I currently reside in Charlottesville, VA with my wife Anne. We have three grown sons and 6 grandchildren. We enjoy biking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities.

In 1995, the firm I worked for converted their Defined Benefit Pension Plan to a Cash Balance Defined Plan.  In 1998 I left that firm, and took with me my pension cash-balance and my 401(k) cash-balance. I promptly opened an IRA, rolled my cash balances into my new IRA, and thus began my journey of managing my retirement accounts.

I started out as a bottoms-up investor, picking the latest funds that seemed to be good, and not understanding the principles of asset classes, lowering risk exposure based on different asset classes and diversification. In essence, I was purchasing funds that essentially owned the same stocks.

I did not have an Investment Plan or Strategy; instead of focusing on how the portfolio as a whole served the objective, I built my portfolio bottoms-up, viewing each investment in isolation. Another way to characterize this process is “fund collecting”: I was drawn to evaluate a particular fund and if it seemed attractive, I would buy it, often without thinking about how or where it may fit within the overall allocation.

Now as a Professional Financial Planner and Investment Advisor, I put into practice the principles for building and managing my personal and client accounts:

Setting Clear Objectives; Constraints; Savings or Spending Goals; Asset Allocation & Diversification; Rebalancing Strategy; Monitoring & Evaluation

I have had the pleasure of raising three children. While teaching them to drive, I was sure to instill this important principle about being on the road: as the driver, you always have control of two things, (1) the speed that you drive, and (2) the distance that you can keep between your car and the car in front of you. All other things are external forces beyond your control and require constant monitoring and assessing, after which you vary your speed and distance based upon the information. You just do not set one car speed and one distance between your car and the car in front of you and not pay attention to all the other elements around you.

I believe this driving metaphor transfers well to the concepts of financial investment. I learned very quickly as an investor that there were elements of investing I could directly control. These included being cost efficient in the investments selected, selecting investments with a strong track record of performance and ranking against similar investments, utilizing different asset class to manage risk, building a diversified portfolio, rebalancing, and determining when to make changes. Likewise, understanding domestic & global economies, geo-political events, Federal Reserve Policy, current administration regulations, etc., are all factors that we cannot control, but will influence portfolio design and rebalancing and must be taken into account in order to be prepared for changes in the market.

Since starting my firm in 2008, I have helped many clients understand, prioritize, and accomplish their financial goals. We normally start with building a Financial Plan that provides the framework and road map to help with achieving their financial goals. From there, we often move into an Investment Advisory & Management relationship where I provide the active role of building and managing retirement and investment accounts.

My clients find it comforting that, like them, I have been and still am in the process of figuring out how to accomplish diverse and often conflicting financial goals. Financial investment is a constantly evolving, living and breathing organism that rarely, if ever, finds a place of stasis. My wife and I have managed to accomplish similar financial events including raising three children, paying for college, owning our home, and saving for retirement. And I have “skin in the game” as I am the person that is managing our retirement and investment accounts. I have the same goal to eventually draw on those retirement assets, and have them last for 30+ years of retirement.

I would not use an investment for a client that I would not use for my personal portfolio. In almost all cases, the investments that I use for my clients are the same investments that I am using for my personal portfolios. In this way, I guarantee my clients that I have the same interests as they have in growing and guarding their portfolios.