Intro: Detailed Ranking & Review of Legacy Wealth Designers
Legacy Wealth Designers was recently ranked by AdvisoryHQ News as a top-rated financial advisory firm in Denver for six years in a row.
In the sections below, we provide a detailed overview, including the key factors that enabled this firm to be ranked as one of the top financial advisors in Denver, Colorado.
About AdvisoryHQ News
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AdvisoryHQ is an online news media that is committed to simplifying the research that consumers conduct before choosing a top provider. Our review articles are always 100% independently researched and written.
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Overview of Legacy Wealth Designers
Serving the Denver/Boulder metro area since 1995, Legacy Wealth Designers is an independent, fee-based financial firm committed to helping clients achieve financial longevity and added peace of mind.
Legacy Wealth Designers’ highly customized approach and focus on retirement planning makes it an ideal choice for pre- and current retirees whose main financial objective is to prepare or preserve their wealth for their later years.
The firm’s dedication to providing enhanced client service and a collaborative financial management relationship is particularly admirable, particularly when welcoming new clients.
Ultimately, all services from this Denver wealth management firm prepare clients to enjoy the best retirement possible, making Legacy Wealth Designers one of the best financial advisors in the Denver metro area for new clients to consider partnering with.
Image source: Legacy Wealth Designers
About the Founder, Brian Ditton
As the founder and president of Legacy Wealth Designers, Brian Ditton boasts over 24 years of experience within the industries of finance and insurance. As seen in his biography, his father’s lifelong experience in the financial industry left a deep impact, demonstrating the values of hard work, honesty, and integrity.
Under Brian’s leadership, Legacy Wealth Designers has continued to integrate the above values in every client interaction, effectively serving the unique needs of families that are working to build and maintain their finances in retirement.
As an Investment Advisor Representative through Retirement Wealth Advisors, Brian brings a wide range of experiences to retirement planning, including:
- Series 65 Investment Advisor License
- Colorado State Life, Health, and Disability Insurance License
- Member of the National Ethics Bureau
- Long-Term Care Professional (LTCP) designation
Additionally, as a specialist in retirement planning for pre- and current retirees, Brian has written a guest article for AdvisoryHQ, titled “Retirement Planning: A Shift in Paradigm.” In the article, Brian shares his professional perspective on effective retirement planning, as seen in the excerpt below.
Developing a financial plan for your retirement years requires an approach that is very different from what is customary during your working years.
Retirement planning requires a paradigm shift in the way that you think and act regarding your attitude over your money – the money that, perhaps, took 30 to 40 years of hard work and discipline to accumulate so that you could retire someday.
This shift in perspective requires the transitioning of a financial plan focused on accumulating assets to one built to intelligently manage and convert assets into sustainable income.
Image source: Legacy Wealth Designers
In the sections below, we have outlined a few notable features to summarize the services, approach, expertise, and unique value offered to clients by Legacy Wealth Designers.
Fee-Based Fiduciary
As a fee-based firm, Legacy Wealth Designers remains steadfast in their commitment to maintain a client-centric, transparent, and ethical focus in everything they do.
Legacy Wealth Designers has adopted the fiduciary standard, which is excellent news for current and future clients alike.
Firms that take on a fiduciary responsibility have a fundamental obligation to provide thorough financial advice while acting in their clients’ best interests.
Additionally, the firm prides itself in its transparency and strong ethical standards. Legacy is a registered member of the National Ethic Association (NEA), which is committed to helping business professionals serve their clients from a foundation of trust, ethics, and best practices. The NEA performs an annual background check on Legacy Wealth Designers and has done this for more than a decade.
As a further testament to their commitment to excellence, Legacy Wealth Designers has also been a member of the Better Business Bureau for the past 21 years, maintaining an A+ rating as an accredited business.
Advisory Team at Legacy Wealth Designers
While the team at Legacy Wealth Designers may be compact compared to other wealth management firms, this boutique structure offers clients the unique benefit of receiving personalized attention and working one-on-one with their financial advisor.
For clients at Legacy Wealth Designers, this personalized approach can have significant benefits, particularly when considering the depth of industry experience and knowledge held by both financial advisors and support staff.
With over 40 years of collective experience working within the financial industry, Legacy Wealth Designers is comprised of:
- Brian Ditton—Investment Advisor Representative, Licensed Insurance Agent
- Robert Herzog—Client Relationship Director, Licensed Insurance Agent
- Sheryl Bergren Ditton—Administration Support
Image source: Legacy Wealth Designers
Client Experience at Legacy Wealth Designers
Uniquely, rather than acting as a “jack of all trades,” Legacy Wealth Designers takes a boutique approach, restricting their client base to pre- and current retirees. According to founder Brian Ditton, this includes “those within ten years of retirement and those already retired.”
For clients, this specific focus brings a wealth of benefits—not only does it allow for in-depth specialization and expertise, but it also ensures that each advisor is inherently in-tune with the unique financial challenges faced by this group of investors.
Compared to those that are still in the process of accumulating wealth, pre- and current retirees will find much more value in exploring strategies for capital preservation, income, insurance, and estate planning—all services offered by Legacy Wealth Designers.
As a boutique firm, Legacy Wealth Designers places significant importance on creating a personalized client experience. Advisors work closely with each client to thoroughly evaluate their current financial situation and their retirement goals, creating a fully customized wealth management plan.
Communication is held as a top priority throughout each financial planning relationship, as plans are constantly monitored, discussed, and evaluated during regular progress meetings.
Wide Range of Financial Services
To create a strong foundation for retirement, clients can choose from a wide range of financial planning and investment management services, including:
- Retirement Planning
- Social Security Maximization
- Wealth Accumulation
- Asset Protection
- Tax Planning
- Long-Term Care
- Estate Planning
- Income Planning
- Insurance Planning
- Annuities & Retirement Income
- IRA & 401k Rollovers
- Medicare Planning
WealthGuard™
Legacy Wealth Designers provides their clients with added peace of mind through WealthGuard™, a simple yet powerful software built to monitor and help protect investment accounts. A few key features of this software include:
- Investments are monitored through all market conditions
- All accounts are safely tracked in one place
- Access to data on asset allocation and overall performance
- Users are alerted to any changes via email/text message
WealthGuard™ can also monitor self-managed accounts, 401ks, and accounts managed by other financial advisors across the United States, making it easy for clients to see a holistic picture of their financial health.
The ability to monitor account activity and receive notifications provides clients with the added confidence that their accounts are monitored, and the added peace of mind to know that their goals are consistently in sight, two key elements of any successful long-term financial endeavor.
Image source: Legacy Wealth Designers
Contact Information | Legacy Wealth Designers
Golden: Denver West
14143 Denver W Parkway #100
Golden, CO 80401
Legacy Wealth Designers also maintains additional office locations around the Denver and Boulder metro area, including:
- Aurora: Southlands
- Boulder: Pearl Street
- Broomfield: Interlocken
- Cherry Creek
- Denver Tech Center
- Downtown Denver
- Highlands Ranch: Park Meadows
- Lakewood
- Littleton
- Louisville
Phone: 303-933-6797
Fax: 866-222-2832
Email: [email protected]
Interested clients can also fill out a brief form with their contact information to have an advisor reach out to them about specific financial planning questions or challenges.
Investment Advisory Services offered through Retirement Wealth Advisors, (RWA) a Registered Investment Advisor. Legacy Wealth Designers and RWA are not affiliated. Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values. Opinions expressed are subject to change without notice and are not intended as investment advice or to predict future performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.
This information is designed to provide general information on the subjects covered, it is not, however, intended to provide specific legal or tax advice and cannot be used to avoid tax penalties or to promote, market, or recommend any tax plan or arrangement. Please note that Legacy Wealth Designers and its affiliates do not give legal or tax advice. You are encouraged to consult your tax advisor or attorney.
Annuity guarantees rely on the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurer. Any comments regarding safe and secure investments, and guaranteed income streams refer only to fixed insurance products. They do not refer, in any way to securities or investment advisory products. Fixed Insurance and Annuity product guarantees are subject to the claims‐paying ability of the issuing company and are not offered by Retirement Wealth Advisors.
WealthGuard™ is a complete portfolio monitoring system. Designed by determining the amount of downside risk a client is willing to tolerate, WealthGuard™ is added to client accounts to help protect from downside risk. WealthGuard™ is not a stop loss strategy. When the account value in the portfolio hits the targeted downside value, an alert is sent to the client, advisor, and money manager. The money manager trades the account as indicated on the WealthGuard™ agreement.
There is no guarantee the exact WealthGuard™ value will be captured, or assets will be traded or liquidated the same day the WealthGuard™ value is reached due to time of day and/or market restrictions. WealthGuard™ is not responsible for any tax implications that may result due to the liquidation or trading of the holdings. FormulaFolio Investments is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the information used to prepare your WealthGuard™ percentages.
WealthGuard™ does not make any representations or warranties, whether expressed or implied, regarding investing in securities or investment products. WealthGuard™ makes no warranties to the legality or suitability of any investment product.
AdvisoryHQ’s Objective Standards & Our Personalized Page Service
This Legacy Wealth Designers review was independently conducted by AdvisoryHQ.
Our focus is on the everyday consumer. All of our research and publications are conducted from the end-user consumer’s perspective, and we publish our top-ranking reviews for anyone to view for free.
Both ranked and non-ranked firms can also request to have a separate personalized profile, like the one above, which incurs a charge.
For additional information on AdvisoryHQ’s methodologies, click here: AdvisoryHQ Methodologies. For information on AdvisoryHQ’s objectivity approach, click here: AdvisoryHQ’s Objective Process.
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