Traverse 01 · Introduction
An unhurried first call
One conversation, no stakes. You learn how we work and what a plan would look like on your ground; we learn whether we're the right crew. Nothing signed.
A route surveyed to your ground alone.
The job, stated plainly: raise the odds that the money lasts, and lower the hours you spend worrying about it. Three traverses get you there — and the route is re-walked twice a year, every year.
No obligation · When you call, a person answers — most often Ellen · (231) 555-0162
Sheet 02 · Three traverses
How we work
You name the destination. We carry the instruments.
Every survey opens the same way: establish what the ground actually looks like. We sit down and take the bearings of your life — what you own, what you owe, what you want the next thirty years to hold — and only then is a strategy drawn. The result is fitted to your terrain, not traced from somebody else's map.
Traverse 02 · Full survey
The Datum Line
Six stations, walked in order — income, investments, taxes, protection, estate — each one measured from where you actually stand, then drawn into a single written plan you can hold.
Traverse 03 · Continued review
Walked twice a year, every year
The survey doesn't close when the plan is drawn. Every spring and every fall we re-walk the line, take fresh bearings, and correct the map to whatever your life has done since.
The Datum Line is the firm's permanent benchmark — the fixed elevation every plan is measured from, however far the route runs. The instruments are modern and the credentials are in order, but neither is the point: a survey is only as good as the surveyor's interest in the ground, and we are genuinely interested in yours.
Sheet 03 · The route
The Datum Line
Six stations. One route. Walked twice a year, every year.
The Datum Line is the level we survey from: six stations covering the whole of a retirement, built and tracked in RightCapital. Like any honest survey, it isn't done once and framed — every station is re-measured at a spring review and a fall review, every single year. The route runs from first bearing down to ground that doesn't move.
Station 01 · Elev. 1250 · Income & Cash Flow
A paycheck you design.
We map where every month's income comes from once the paychecks stop — Social Security timing, withdrawal order, the dollars and the dates. You see the whole route before you take a step.
Station 02 · Elev. 1188 · Investments
Built to fund the plan.
Your portfolio exists to fund the income plan, not to chase a stranger's benchmark. Assets stay in your own name at Fidelity — we advise; we never take custody.
Spring review · Nº 1 of 2 · every year
Station 03 · Elev. 1126 · Taxes
Lifetime, not just April.
We plan for what taxes take over a lifetime, not just this year's bill. Withdrawal sequencing, Roth conversions, and required distributions are laid out years in advance.
Station 04 · Elev. 1064 · Protection
Healthcare, surveyed early.
Medicare windows and long-term care costs are measured before they become emergencies. Risks you shouldn't carry get covered; the rest get written into the plan.
Station 05 · Elev. 1002 · Estate
A plan, not a puzzle.
If you go first, your spouse inherits a clear written plan — titles, beneficiaries, and instructions that all tell the same story. We re-check them at every review.
Fall review · Nº 2 of 2 · every year
Station 06 · Elev. 940 · The Years Ahead
The map stays true.
Markets shift, tax law shifts, life shifts. Twice a year we re-walk all six stations and correct the map to the ground — so the plan you retire on is never the plan you're left with.
“Every honest survey begins at a fixed point. I set ours at the client — each measurement we take runs from where you stand.”
Ellen Marsh, CFP® · Reviewed every spring and fall
Sheet 04 · One sheet, whole territory
Under one roof
One firm, carrying the whole map.
Retirement money rarely respects professional boundaries: the income plan moves the tax bill, the tax bill moves the portfolio, the portfolio shapes the estate. So Benchmark keeps all of it on one sheet — planning, investment management, investment-related tax work, and estate considerations — surveyed by the same hands.
One firm holding the whole map means the pieces are reconciled before you ever see them. It also hands you back your afternoons: no more relaying messages between an advisor, an accountant, and an attorney who have never spoken to one another.
- Retirement income planning
- Investment management
- Investment-related tax strategy
- Estate coordination
- Insurance review
- Cash flow planning
Sheet 05 · Final benchmark
Traverse 01 begins here
The route begins where you're standing. Traverse 01 is a call.
A simple, no-pressure conversation. No pitch, no obligation — bring nothing but your questions.
When you call, a person answers — most often Ellen · No obligation
Benchmark placedYou are the fixed point
Call
(231) 555-0162
Email
ellen@benchmarkfp.com
Office
88 Mitchell Street, Suite 3
Petoskey, MI 49770
Petoskey, MI 49770