Needs Must happen
Living expenses, retirement income, tuition, the down payment. Matched with high-quality bonds timed to when you'll need them, so one bad market year can't derail them.
Financial planning for what's nextLiability-driven wealth management
Secure what matters.
Grow the rest.Plan for outcomes,
not forecasts.
Clear, honest advice for every stage of life. We set aside high-quality bonds for the goals you can't miss, then invest the rest for long-term growth. We price your goals like liabilities, secure what must happen, and invest only your true surplus for growth. The same method pension funds and family offices use.
CFP® professional
Fiduciary advice, always in your interest
Plain English, no jargon
Liability-driven investing
Total-wealth planning
Custody at Schwab
Our approach
Wealth with roots, plans that moveThree ideas that change the math
01
Start with your lifeYour total balance sheet
Your career, your family, the home you want, the trips you keep putting off. The plan starts there, not with a product.
Your career, home, Social Security, and equity compensation are assets and obligations too. The plan accounts for all of them, not just your accounts.
02
Explain everythingGoals priced like liabilities
Every recommendation comes with the why, in plain English. If something is unclear, that is on us to fix.
Every goal becomes a stream of future cash flows with a present-day cost, measured at market interest rates instead of assumed returns.
03
Keep it movingRisk set by funded status
Life changes, so your plan does too. We check in regularly and adjust before small things become big ones.
How much risk to take comes from your surplus over what your needs cost, not from a questionnaire about how you feel.
How we investHow we invest · the full method
Built around outcomes, not forecastsThe logic, step by step
Most portfolios start with a risk questionnaire and a guess about future returns. We start with what your money has to do, and when.
Liability-driven investing is how pension funds and endowments manage money, and it works just as well for individuals and families. Play with the numbers first, then walk through the logic.
Wants Should happen
Travel, an earlier retirement, the upgrades. A balanced mix with time to recover from a downturn.
Wishes Would be great
Legacy, giving, the dream property. Invested for long-term growth, because this money has decades to work.
Try it
How would we invest for your goal?
Illustrative mixes to show the idea, not a recommendation.
Your total wealth
Your portfolio is only part of the picture
Your careerOften your largest asset while you're working
Home and mortgageAn asset and a long-term obligation
Retirement accounts401(k)s, IRAs, and equity comp
Social SecurityFuture income that behaves like a bond
Insurance and reservesProtection a portfolio can't provide
Why not just use a risk score?
A questionnaire measures how you feel about risk on the day you fill it out. Monte Carlo simulations depend on return assumptions no one can know. Matching your money to your real obligations means the plan holds up without needing a forecast to be right.
How pension funds and the ultra-wealthy invest
Pension funds and family offices for the ultra-wealthy rely on this same strategy: secure the money that has to be there, then invest the rest for growth. You get that same discipline, whatever stage of life you're in.
No strategy eliminates risk. Matching investments to goals can reduce, but not remove, the chance of falling short.
Try it
Price a goal, then measure your funded ratio
TIPS yields from the U.S. Treasury.
Cost to secure this goal today
Funded ratio
0%100%200%
Illustrative math: the present value of level annual spending at one real rate. A real plan uses a full yield curve and every goal you have. TIPS yields: U.S. Department of the Treasury, daily real yield curve.
01
Start with a balance sheet, not a portfolio
Traditional planning looks at your investment accounts and asks how much risk you can stomach. We start with your whole economic balance sheet, the way an institution would: everything you have, including the present value of your future earnings, and everything you owe your future self.
Early in a career, human capital usually dwarfs the portfolio. Later, Social Security and pensions carry more of the load. Leave either out and a plan ends up quietly wrong.
02
Turn every goal into a liability with a price
Each goal is a stream of future cash flows: $90,000 a year in retirement, $160,000 for a down payment in four years, tuition starting in 2040. We discount those cash flows to today using market interest rates: a Treasury zero-coupon yield curve, and TIPS for goals that rise with inflation.
That gives every goal a real, present-day cost instead of a guess.
03
Measure your funded ratio
Funded ratio = resources you can count on ÷ present value of your goals
Above 100% on your needs means they're covered even if markets disappoint. Everything above that is your surplus, and the surplus, not a questionnaire, sets how much investment risk makes sense. Try it in the calculator above.
85%
Short of needs: save more, adjust a goal, or take risk on purpose.
100%
Needs secured, whatever markets do.
140%
A 40% surplus that can afford real market risk.
04
Hedge the needs, grow the surplus
Money for needs is invested to match the timing and inflation sensitivity of those goals: bond ladders and duration-matched Treasuries and TIPS, so assets and liabilities move together when rates change. Wants get a balanced mix. The surplus, for wishes and legacy, is invested for long-term growth in a diversified, low-cost equity portfolio.
Your overall stock and bond mix becomes an output of your goals, not an input.
05
Treat the portfolio as a completion portfolio
Your liquid investments should fill the gaps in the rest of your balance sheet. A tenured teacher's career behaves like a bond, so their portfolio can lean toward growth. A tech employee paid in RSUs already carries a big, concentrated equity bet in their paycheck and their stock, so their portfolio should diversify away from it.
Same age, same risk score, very different right answers.
06
Manage the risks a portfolio can't
Some of the biggest threats to a plan aren't market risks at all. They're handled directly, with the right tool for each, so the portfolio doesn't have to carry them.
Losing income to disabilityDisability insurance
An early deathTerm life insurance
A layoff in a down marketCash reserves
A concentrated stock positionStaged diversification
07
Why we don't lean on Monte Carlo
A Monte Carlo simulation runs thousands of hypothetical markets using assumed returns and volatility, then reports a "probability of success." Small changes to those assumptions swing the answer dramatically, and the number says little about what happens in the scenarios that fail.
Funded-ratio planning uses today's market prices instead of forecasts, so the plan is anchored to something observable.
08
Keep it current
Interest rates, markets, and your life all move. When rates rise, the present value of your goals falls and your funded ratio improves. When you get a raise, have a child, or buy a home, the balance sheet changes.
We re-measure regularly and rebalance toward the plan, locking in progress as goals become fully funded.
Where this comes from
Liability-driven investing is how pension funds and endowments manage money, and family offices bring the same discipline to the ultra-wealthy. We apply it to individuals and families at every stage of life.
Go deeper
Libretto publishes articles, webinars, and podcasts on total-wealth planning, human capital, and risk management.
Dollar figures and percentages above are illustrative examples, not projections for any client. Hedging reduces, but does not eliminate, the risk of falling short.
Services
Everything your money touchesOne balance sheet, managed as a whole
Financial planningTotal-wealth planning
Cash flow, savings goals, and a clear picture of how today's choices shape the next ten years.
A full economic balance sheet, including human capital, Social Security, and equity compensation, with every goal priced in today's dollars.
Investment managementLiability-matched portfolios
Diversified, low-cost portfolios built around your goals, not a risk score.
Treasury and TIPS ladders for needs, a diversified low-cost growth portfolio for the surplus, rebalanced to your funded status.
Equity comp & taxesConcentration & tax strategy
RSUs, ESPPs, and stock options, with a plan for when to hold, when to sell, and what it means at tax time.
Staged diversification of employer stock, ISO and ESPP timing, asset location, and tax-loss harvesting.
Home & big decisionsDecision modeling
Buying or downsizing a home, paying down debt, changing jobs, or retiring. Run the numbers before you commit.
Mortgage versus investing, rent versus buy, career moves, and retirement timing, each measured by its effect on your funded ratio.
Family & educationEducation liabilities
529 plans for kids or grandkids, help for aging parents, and gifts to family, without losing sight of your own goals.
Tuition priced and hedged like any other goal, with 529 funding coordinated across the whole plan.
Protection & estateRisk transfer & estate
Insurance, beneficiaries, and the basic estate documents every family needs, coordinated with your attorney.
Disability and life coverage sized to your human capital, reserves for job risk, and estate documents coordinated with your attorney.
How it works
Four steps, no pressureFrom balance sheet to funded plan
01
Intro callMap the balance sheet
A free 20-minute conversation to see whether we're a good fit.
Aggregate every account, then value human capital, Social Security, and equity compensation.
02
DiscoveryPrice the goals
We learn your goals, your numbers, and what keeps you up at night.
Build a cash-flow schedule for every goal and discount it on Treasury and TIPS curves.
03
Your planDesign the portfolio
A clear written plan with priorities, trade-offs, and next steps.
Hedge the needs, size the surplus, and build a completion portfolio around the rest of your balance sheet.
04
OngoingMonitor funded status
Regular check-ins, a quarterly report you can actually read, and a call whenever life changes.
Track your funded ratio as rates, markets, and life change, with a clear quarterly report.
Safety
Your money stays in your nameCustody, access, and continuity
We never hold your money. It sits at Charles Schwab, the largest custodian for independent advisors in the U.S., in accounts opened in your name.
Held at Schwab, in your name
Your accounts are opened in your name at Charles Schwab. We can manage your investments and deduct the fee you agree to, but we can't take your money for ourselves.
Assets sit with an independent qualified custodian, in accounts registered to you. Our access comes through a limited power of attorney you sign: we can trade and deduct the agreed fee, but we can't take your money for ourselves.
Trusted by 16,000+ advisory firms
More than 16,000 independent advisory firms keep their clients' money at Schwab, about $5.5 trillion in all. You're in good company.
Schwab custodies about $5.5 trillion for more than 16,000 independent RIA firms. That scale pays for security, operations, and oversight no small firm could build on its own.
You can always check our work
Statements and trade confirmations come straight from Schwab, not from us. Log in to Schwab Alliance anytime to see every holding and transaction.
Statements, confirmations, and tax forms come directly from the custodian, so every report we send can be checked against Schwab's records at Schwab Alliance.
Two-factor sign-in
Your Schwab login is protected by two-step verification: a quick approval in the Schwab app or a one-time code, on top of your password. We use two-factor authentication on every system that holds your information, too.
Schwab Alliance uses two-step verification, by app approval or one-time code, and you can require it at every login. Internally, every system that holds client data requires multi-factor authentication.
Protection if a brokerage fails
Schwab is a member of SIPC, which protects securities customers up to $500,000, including $250,000 in cash, if a member firm fails. SIPC doesn't cover market losses.
If something happens to me
Your money never depends on me. Your accounts stay in your name at Schwab, you keep full access, and you're free to pick a new advisor or manage them yourself.
Because the custodian holds your assets in your name, nothing about your accounts changes if I can't serve. You keep full access through Schwab and can move to another advisor or manage the accounts directly.
Ranking: #1 in RIA custodial assets, The Cerulli Report, RIA Marketplace 2025, as cited by Schwab. Firm count and assets as reported by Schwab, mid‑2026. SIPC coverage details at sipc.org. Cedar and Current is independent of and not affiliated with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
About
Hi, I'm Keaton
I'm a CFP® professional and a self-described financial planning nerd. I started Cedar and Current to bring the kind of planning usually reserved for the ultra-wealthy to people at every stage of life.
Before starting the firm, I spent years as a client advisor at a Seattle multi-family office, leading financial planning and working with families on everything from equity compensation to estate plans.
Outside of work you'll find me sailing, skiing, or planning the next trip up the coast.
CFP®Seattle, WA
Fiduciary
Multi-family office background
Let's talkLet's run the numbers
See if we're a good fitWant to see your funded ratio?
A free, no-pressure 20-minute call. Bring your questions; leave with a clearer picture.Book a call and we'll price your goals together, using your real balance sheet.
Schedule a call
Prefer email? [email protected]