Can I Manage My Own Investments and Still Get Advice?

Yes: you can keep managing your own investments and still hire a financial planner for a written plan, a tax strategy, an investment allocation review and a second opinion on big decisions. For busy professionals building wealth who like doing it themselves, that keeps you in control while catching the mistakes that are expensive to make alone, like account order, taxes and estate gaps.

What advice looks like when you stay in control

• A written plan with the order to fund each account.
• A tax strategy: pre-tax vs. Roth, asset location, timing.
• An allocation review against your goals and timeline.
• A second opinion before big moves: a rollover, a stock sale, a home.
• Estate gaps checked: beneficiary forms, trust funding.

That's our DIY Planning Engagement: one engagement, one clear plan, with ongoing accountability available if you want it.

When did someone last check your plan, not your returns?

Questions to ask any planner before a DIY engagement

1. Do you act as a fiduciary for this engagement? (See what a fiduciary is.)
2. Exactly what will I receive, in writing, and when?
3. Will you review accounts you don't manage?
4. How are you paid for this, and is anything sold to me?

You run the money. We run the checklist.

How Dr. Pat Pachciarz® handles it

We explicitly show you our value, in writing, before you hire us. If we can't prove it, you don't pay. Every plan follows DAITT®: Debt Optimization, Advanced Planning, Private Wealth Investments, Tax Strategy and Tax Filing, Trust Planning. Choosing between planners? See how to choose a financial planner.

Questions we hear most

Can I manage my own investments and still get advice?

Yes. You can keep managing your own investments and still hire a financial planner for a written plan, a tax strategy, an allocation review and a second opinion on big decisions.

What is a DIY planning engagement?

A one-time engagement for self-directed people: tax planning strategy and investment allocation, a personalized sequencing roadmap and the top questions to ask, with ongoing accountability available.

Will a planner review accounts they don't manage?

Ask before you hire. In a DIY engagement, reviewing the accounts you manage yourself is the point.

What does a DIY engagement with Dr. Pat Pachciarz® cost?

We explicitly show you our value, in writing, before you hire us. If we can't prove it, you don't pay.

Do you work with self-directed clients outside Oswego and Aurora?

Yes. We serve Oswego and Aurora, IL, and virtually in all 50 states, from our office in Aurora, Illinois.

How we prove our value

We explicitly show you our value, in writing, before you hire us. If we can't prove it, you don't pay.

Where we work

We serve Oswego and Aurora, IL, and virtually in all 50 states, from our office in Aurora, Illinois. Call 815-486-0722 or book a Clarity & Discovery Session.

This page is education, not legal, tax or investment advice, and it is not a promise about investment returns or tax results. Examples are illustrations, not clients. Your estate attorney drafts legal documents and your CPA prepares your returns; we coordinate the financial plan around them. Rules and figures change; confirm your own situation before acting. Pinnacle Private Wealth® is a marketing name used by Pinnacle Financial Planning, a Registered Investment Advisor. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training.

Sources we checked

• CFP Board — Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct
• CFP Board — Verify a CFP® Professional

Reviewed by Dr. Pat Pachciarz®, The Pinnacle Group (Aurora, IL). Last reviewed October 18, 2026. Figures change; we re-check them against the sources above.