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John Bell, CFP®

Hourly or Flat Fee Collaborative Advice-Only Planning

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Free State Financial Planning John Bell, CFP®
Columbia, MD

Serving Clients Nationwide

Hourly or Flat Fee Collaborative Advice-Only Planning

240.389.2355

Website

Areas of Focus

  • Estate Planning
  • Financial Life Planning
  • Retirement Planning
  • Tax-Smart Accumulation Planning
  • Tax-Smart Distribution Planning

About Me

Hi, I am an advice-only financial planner helping families define their path to financial independence. As a Maryland registered investment advisor and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, I collaborate with families to answer financial questions and if needed create comprehensive financial plans to help them pursue their financial goals.

I am a former industry executive who led TD Ameritrade Investment Management, one of the largest registered investment advisors in the country. While that job was fulfilling, I was never really sure if I was helping families as much as I could, because I was only working on the investing side. There is so much more to financial planning than investing. I launched my own firm to help individual families that I could not do at a large financial services company.

As a CFP®, I am held to the fiduciary standard of care, legally and ethically required to act in your best interest when providing financial advice. I have simple, transparent and fair pricing with no other sources of compensation beyond my financial planning or hourly fee.

Education & Experience

I am a proud Terp alumnus of The University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in Finance and live in Clarksville, MD. I completed the CFP® certification program by fulfilling the rigorous education, exam, experience, and ethics requirements to become a fiduciary financial planner. You can find out more about the CFP Board and CFP® certification here.

I also acquired a lifelong degree from the "School of Hard Knocks", with a specialization in "Individual Investing". As a DIY investor who started investing in early 90's using mutual funds, then graduating to stocks, then Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and options, I have made many good and a few bad decisions with my own investments and planning. I would like to help you avoid the mistakes I made. I have over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. I have served in various roles in a number of companies, but all of my experience had one overall mission: Helping individual investors on their path to financial independence.

Most recently, I was the President & Chief Operating Officer of TD Ameritrade Investment Management, one of the largest managed investment account programs in the country. TDAIM was a $23B registered investment advisor managing portfolios for over 150K individual investor clients using ETFs, Mutual Funds, and individual stocks. I also built and managed a number of DIY investor and advisor planning tools throughout my career for various financial services firms.

Personal

My favorite thing to do is spend time with my wife, daughters, family and friends at our lake cabin in Northeastern PA. You will see some pictures of Paupackan Lake on my site. It is truly a peaceful place to get away from the hustle and bustle of the DMV area.

I also volunteer my time at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Fulton, MD as the Financial Secretary and a number of their important missions. One is volunteering to cook and serve meals to less fortunate members of the community for the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center. They do important work if you wish to volunteer time or donate money to their worthy cause.

Finally, I enjoy playing golf as much as I can and I especially like playing at local, budget friendly courses. I find golf very similar to life and money decisions that we make throughout our lives. It’s a journey that requires patience, perseverance, and focus. Golfers of all levels must learn to deal with the unexpected, adapt to changing conditions, and make the most of what they have on the course that day.

In the end, isn't that what life and money are really about?

Professional Designations

  • CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional

Affiliations

  • Advice Only Network
  • CFP Board
  • Financial Planning Association
  • Measure Twice Planners

Primary Location

Columbia, MD 21044

Meeting Options

  • Video Conference
  • In-Person
  • Phone
Book Intro Call

Compensation Methods

  • Advice-Only
  • Flat Fee
  • Hourly Rate
  • One-time Financial Plan
  • Pro Bono
  • Subscription

What to expect in the first meeting

If you are interested in a complimentary, no-obligation call so I can learn more about your family, join my waitlist by sending an email to john@freestatefp.com and I will contact you.

This is a complimentary one-hour video or phone call to learn more about you, your family, and your goals. We will review your current situation and goals to clarify whether advice-only financial planning aligns with your needs.

In order to do this, I will ask a number of open-ended questions about your financial life and goals. After that call, I encourage you to discuss with your family to make sure this important decision is right for you. We will only move forward with the financial planning process if you are comfortable. As appreciation for meeting with me, I offer, at no cost, to any family I meet with a Financial Power of Attorney & Healthcare Power of Attorney. I look forward to speaking with you.

About our Firm

At Free State Financial Planning, I only provide financial planning advice for a select few families each month, so that I can fully focus on them and their needs. If you are interested in a complimentary, no-obligation call so I can learn more about your family, join my waitlist and I will contact you.

How is Advice-Only different?

As a hands-on investor, you enjoy managing your own money. You should invest how you want to invest. My goal is to help you navigate all the other life financial planning areas including, preparing for retirement, reviewing potential opportunities to save on taxes, making sure your estate is in order or various charitable giving strategies. Investing is important, but it is not the only thing...

And if you need investing help, I have decades of experience as an individual investor and executive in Fortune 500 financial firms. I can help you with your assessing your current portfolio, asset allocation, and provide recommendations if needed.

How can comprehensive planning help families like yours?

Comprehensive financial planning is an immersive approach to managing your financial needs over your lifetime and beyond. It involves setting goals, creating a plan to pursue those goals, monitoring your progress along the way and adjusting the plan as needed. I charge a one-time fee for this service. I also charge an hourly fee, to help families on more specific topics like, Social Security optimization, Roth conversions, tax planning, etc.

How I charge for my help

My flat fee or hourly fee for planning is my only compensation. I charge for my comprehensive financial planning, and I do not receive compensation from any other sources, e.g. sales commissions, referral fees to other professionals, securities transactions, etc. I also offer an on-going retainer based fees for those client's that wish to work with me longer term.

I chose this model because it is simple, transparent, and fair for your family and mine. More information on my fees and solutions can be found here.

Join the Waitlist

If you are interested in a complimentary, no-obligation call so I can learn more about your family, join my waitlist by sending an email to john@freestatefp.com and I will contact you.

Education

University of Maryland, Bachelor of Science, Finance | Montgomery College, Accounting and Business/Management

Volunteer Experience

St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Fulton MD - St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Fulton, MD Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center - Meal Preparation & Serving

Hobbies and Interests

  • Board Games
  • Canoeing
  • Church
  • Cooking
  • Eating Out
  • Entertaining
  • Exercising
  • Family
  • Golf
  • Grilling
  • Movies
  • Reading
  • Sports
  • Volunteering
  • Walking
  • Wine
  • Woodworking
  • Working Out

SEC Lookup

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Who We Serve

  • Baby Boomers
  • Christians
  • Corporate Executives
  • Couples
  • DIY Investors
  • Dual Income Family
  • Educators
  • Families
  • Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE)
  • Gen X
  • Gen Y / Millennials
  • Gen Z
  • Government Employees
  • Individuals
  • Intergenerational Families
  • Investors
  • Living in Retirement
  • Military
  • Nonprofit Employees
  • Parents
  • Remote Workers
  • Sales Professionals
  • Technology Professionals
  • Young Families

To make Wealthtender free for readers, we earn a nominal monthly fee from financial advisors and firms in exchange for marketing services (including being featured on this profile page), subject to terms of use. This compensation creates a natural conflict of interest when we favor their promotion over others. Wealthtender is not a client of these advisors or firms. Testimonials may not be representative of other clients’ experiences and do not guarantee future performance or success.

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