Mindful Money Financial Counsel

Great advice and didn’t try to sell me. Couldn’t reccomend more. Clearly knows what he is doing and is great at getting his point across.

My partner and I reached out to Colin after we had serious problems finding a mutually agreeable meeting date with a difference Financial Planner. Colin responded quickly to our request to meet and was flexible to accommodate our schedules.
We completed the pre-​work and sent it in ahead of time. When it came time to meet, Colin sat down with us, reviewed our paperwork and answered a lot of questions we had wondered about for years. Colin went a step further and asked what we were hoping to gain out of working together, specifically, what role we wanted him to play in getting our finances in order.
We are so excited after our first hour-​long meeting with Colin and we look forward to coming back. After picking him from my trusty Unilocal community I have to give back. I recommend Colin’s services to all my friends, family and you!

My husband and I were very pleased with the help Colin provided us in drafting a financial plan. While we’ve always been aggressive savers, we never really knew how to plan for our current and future financial goals aside from maxing our 401k’s and throwing extra cash into savings. We felt overwhelmed by the idea of trying to get our current assets moved into smarter places (e.g. brokerage accounts, better funds in our retirement plans, etc.), and to set goals that would diversify where we put our future earnings.
Most of our friends and colleagues recommended planners associated with investment firms that obviously have their SPIFs in mind. We knew we wanted to work with someone fee-​based instead and stumbled upon Colin’s profile on Unilocal.We appreciated that he left a position at Fidelity specifically to be able to provide advice to his clients that was completely unbiased.
Colin was able to get us in to meet within a week or so of our initial outreach. His pre-​meeting worksheets took a long time to fill out, but we were pleased with the level of detail that Colin was interested in seeing — they seemed to indicate that Colin would be building a very customized plan for our goals and assets, not just giving us a cookie-​cutter recommendation cranked out for many others before.
Our first meeting took a bit over an hour. Colin asked good questions and seemed to understand what we were looking for in terms of our plan. He also helped us gain some perspective/​calm about some of our worries regarding long-​term/​distant future expenses, and focused us in on simply trying to make the best financial moves with our money for the next 12 months ahead.
Colin provided a scope-​of-​work and fee estimate at the end of the meeting, which was spot on to what we needed/​hoped for. The hours estimate was definitely less than the time I’m sure he actually spent on our file — he also let us leave with ZERO pressure to sign on the dotted line.
The overall plan took a few weeks to generate (Colin had a vacation in the midst); it had some helpful insights/​analysis of our current financial picture and was very easy-​to-​understand. The end of the report was an action plan with a clear, concise list of next steps that allowed us to get all of our money moved to, or set up to divert to, all the right places within a couple weeks. I had some troubles with Fidelity on some of my trades, and Colin willingly sat in on two phone calls with them to help me get it sorted out — which was definitely above the call of duty.
I would recommend Colin to anyone seeking a fee-​based planner. He’s calm and competent, and has given us confidence about our current financial state and what we can build toward over time.

Colin is wonderful! My husband and I recently got married. We decided to hire a financial planner to help us have the dreaded financial conversations we had yet to have. Before our first meeting we were sent homework to complete. The homework was very eye opening and helpful. We had no idea how much money we were spending each month and on what. When we met with Colin there was no judgement and he was very friendly and easy to talk to. We just received our financial plan and it was just what we were hoping to receive, a clear, concise, actionable plan. We had no idea where to start as far as paying down debt, saving for the future, planning for kids. Now, we do. We both feel good about the plan and are actually excited to get started. We will definitely use Colin in the future for yearly check ups to see where we are and how far we have come. Can’t recommend high enough!

My wife and I are on the verge on some major life changes. We needed to take stock of our current financial position and make a plan for our future goals, including college funding, retirement, what to do with our existing investments and assets and so on. We specifically did not want to go to a broker that sells investment products because we felt we needed independent financial planning and advice rather than a sales-​spiel.
It’s not something we’ve done before, and it was not without some trepidation that we decided to look for independent financial counsel. Fortunately I came across Colin and Mindful Money financial services via Unilocal,and I am very happy we did. Colin took the time to learn about our goals and current position and the plan he came up with had solid advice and clear steps to follow. He has also been very accommodating with answering follow-​up questions we’ve had and has a knack for explaining things clearly and logically when needed. He also took the initiative to figure out the maze that is our current stock option situation and recommend steps to take to best leverage those options.
Look, you will have some homework to do. (This is not a bad thing: it helped us to get our house in order and gather up all that documentation you tend to shove into a filing cabinet and forget about. It is also eye-​opening to see how you send your money and what the impact of that spending is over a longer timeframe.) It will also cost you some money, probably more than if you went to some broker who sells on commission. My point is that taking responsibility and ownership of your finances will take some input and commitment from your side, but the result is well worth it, as is the knowledge that you are taking charge of your financial future.

We are more than happy with Colin’s advice and help and would recommend his services. If you are serious about your financial planning and do not want to be sold some random investment product, he’s your man. You may not like everything he has to say, but his advice is solid and realistic. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

Colin is a really nice guy and really knows his stuff. He really helped my wife and I get our house in order. We are in the fortunate enough position to be on steady ground, just trying to plan for the future, but if you are in a rough patch, I’m sure he could help you with that as well.
I’d spoken with other planners but were very turned off by their agendas and viewing us as small fish. Colin treated us like real people are supposed to, and explained everything very thoroughly.
I deduct one star as I was expecting more, somehow. I’ve done a lot of personal research and know my way around my Roths and my 401k, so I guess I was expecting him to reveal some crazy stuff I’d never heard of, instead it was «just» simple, solid, advice. That might be more an issue with my expectations rather than with Colin, not sure.
Bottom line: Independent financial advice might seem expensive now, but financial mistakes now can cost you much more later.

Our experience was nothing like the previous reviews for Mindful Money on Unilocal.On the day before our planned meeting, we e-​mailed to explain that our financial worksheet was not complete, due to a scheduling issue from the day before. We received an e-​mail and a phone call from Colin’s assistant, assuring us that it wouldn’t make much of a difference. So, from nearly the minute that our worksheet was passed across the desk to Colin, the meeting went downhill from our perspectives. Much of Colin’s advice from that point on was not based on concrete financial analysis, but instead based on back-​of-​the-​envelope assumptions derived from questions he asked us. For example, he made a determination on our potential ability to own a home (which we had done for 17 years in the past & made every mortgage payment on time), without even asking us when the lease was up on our current rental, or even our time horizon for owning a home. So, my recommendation is that you complete the initial worksheet as fully as possible, before meeting with the Mindful Money team. We were also extremely surprised to see that the meeting wasn’t tabled and moved to another date, when it was clear that it wasn’t going to be productive, as both of us are busy professionals. Therefore, our experience was in complete opposition to the «active listening» that’s mentioned in several earlier Unilocal reviews. In all honesty, I would have provided a «1» rating– since the experience was a complete waste of 90 minutes of our valuable time– but Mindful Money earns a «2» since the assistant planner was extremely communicative and professional. I think that both Colin & his assistant would benefit in a brief education course on the «softer skills,» like how to utilize probing questions to move client conversations forward & react more sensitively when clients provide answers that are out of line with their methodologies. If you want to describe an aspect of your current financial situation and have Colin respond, «That’s crazy,» then Colin’s the perfect adviser for you! True story…

So thankful for Mindful Money. We met with Colin with the hope that we could get advice in balancing our student loan debt, monthly budget, and to start a retirement plan. Colin met with us for the initial consultation at no charge in order to learn about our goals. We felt comfortable with his style and his advice. After meeting with him to discuss the plan he created, we feel confident in following his recommendations. It is rare to find someone who is not biased toward investments etc. We were looking for a wholelistic plan and that is what we got. We will continue to go to Colin for our financial needs. Highly recommended.

Contacting Colin while I’ve been on the cusp of a major career change has been a big step in the right direction. We communicated via e-​mail a few times to get started, and he helped me find a health insurance expert. Once that process was underway, Colin and I met to discuss my finances. Like other reviewers have mentioned, I noticed that he spends a good amount of time actively listening and note-​taking. It seemed he wanted a clear picture of my lifestyle and priorities, rather than rattling off numbers based on the questionnaires. And his conclusions were delivered in a friendly, no-​pressure manner.
I appreciate Colin’s honesty, candor, and sense of empathy in addition to his financial expertise. I’ll be returning to Colin to guide my financial future as life continues to take shape.

Colin is the best — there really is no other way to say it. My husband and I were in dire need of a financial advisor, but it was difficult to find just that … an advisor. Most financial counselors or advisors tend to be commission-​based and we didn’t want someone who was going to try and sell us something, i.e., investments. It just wasn’t the type of approach we needed.
My husband owns his own consulting business, we own our home and a rental property, and we have two toddlers who we hope will want to go to college some day. We make a decent living, are saving for retirement, but we have incurred some debt, so we needed to holistically get our financial «house» in order. We really needed someone who would look at the type of business my husband has, our current assets and liabilities and help us get on the best track for our future.
Colin is patient and kind, which may not seem like the correct adjectives for a financial counselor/​advisor — believe me, they are some of the MOST important qualities to have when dealing with your spouse and your finances. Who sits down to discuss a budget with your partner/​spouse and does not have tension??? I’d like to meet you both and have you tell me how you have THAT happen! ;)
But back to Mindful Money & Colin — he met with us, I gathered a ton of information, and he came back to us promptly with a succinct plan to get us headed in the right direction financially. There were some «assignments» I tended to immediately and others where we’ll see the real value over time.
He is not judgmental about where you are or discouraging — quite the opposite, in fact. He is very pragmatic, with a very positive vibe, encouraging you to embark on the best path for your future.
Really cannot say enough good things about Colin Chase.

Colin really is fantastic. We were looking for a fee-​only independent financial planner to get our finances on track and help plan for the future (retirement, kid’s education, etc.). We started by searching on
to find fee-​only planners in our area, and then tried to figure out who actually comes highly recommended. Stumbled on Colin and, in part because he had such strong Unilocal reviews, decided to schedule the complimentary, hour-​long initial consultation with him. After that meeting, we were sold and commissioned him to do the full financial plan for us. Three weeks later we were meeting with him again with a detailed, comprehensive written report and a plan for action. It was amazing. Colin is knowledgeable, friendly, and worth every penny. Highly recommended.

I am not one of Colin’s clients (yet), and I have not met him in person. My husband and I had an urgent question regarding Roth IRA distributions that we needed answered urgently. I turned to Unilocal in hopes to find a financial advisor or accountant who would be able to answer the question for my by phone. One accountant didn’t have the answer and referred me to a CPA. The CPA wouldn’t even take my call because I wasn’t already a client (and won’t be now). I left Colin a message on Friday and he called me Saturday afternoon. Twice. We probably spent a total of 30 minutes on the phone. He was extremely helpful, offering advice in addition to answering my question. He even did some research to ensure he was giving me accurate information. I know that when I am ready to sit down and make a financial plan, Colin will be the man I call first!

I felt very wary about revealing our financial mess to a stranger but Colin came highly recommended. He exceeded expectations – we cleaned up our financial lives and have been thriving since we met with him and followed his very clear and very sound advice. I want to echo what’s been said about his lack of agenda (except to help and empower clients) as well as his very impressive ability to listen both to what his clients say and what they don’t say. He understood the facts we presented to him and also the emotional tangle that money can create and he helped us with both. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him to anyone looking for sound financial guidance.

Colin is great. I’ve had a good handle on what I have, how I spend — but have just been stuck on what I should do. I even have an MBA in finance, had several plans from investment folks but no plan/​advice was completely independent /​without some incentive to steer me… as Colin is. He listened and got me right away. I want to be investing conservatively and socially responsible… I met with Colin for a couple of hours and we discussed options and he gave me back a great plan with very specific evaluation of what I have «to-​do» to get from here to there. I’m at the point of trying to retire — he evaluated my different IRA, annuities, and other investments, the impact of SS when I can get it… and gave me a detailed «exit strategy» to start taking money out to live on… he addressed impact on taxes, access and what money to take out first and save for last. I could feel more secure. It has taken me 7 – 10 years to do this… right. I think I have it now… thanks to Colin. Go see him… he told me I can retire and spend more money… what a guy!

My husband and I felt completely «stuck» when we reached out to Colin. We own a condo that we haven’t been able to sell, we needed more space, and we weren’t at all sure what to do with that, how to be most productive with the $$ we do have saved, what to prioritize, etc. For example, was it better for us to start a college fund for our toddler or to pay down some debt? Or do we just save every penny to try to get out of this housing mess? We certainly aren’t in a position to make big investments or to have a «portfolio» of any kind – we just needed someone who knew more about money than we did to tell us what the heck to do.
We found Colin on Unilocal,read his website, and made an appointment immediately. He was fantastic from start to finish. We did have some homework to do, which was eye opening for us right there. He spent a considerable amount of time just LISTENING and asking us questions about our priorities, values, etc. And he did it all with a sense of humor and a no-​pressure approach. Following the first meeting he drafted a proposal for us, and then we met again to go over it (and this time we didn’t have a babysitter so he even rolled with our toddler running around his office). We had 3 versions of a plan presented to us, and then we made the decision on what we should go with. And his advice about what is actually going on in the real estate market is dead-​on and the most honest opinion that we have heard. Was it what we WANTED to hear? Well, no. But it was honest and allowed us to move forward and that’s what we NEEDED to hear. He speaks simply and concretely (for those of us who aren’t money savvy) but without being condescending. It’s the perfect combination of trusting that he knows what he’s talking about – and also being able to understand what he is saying.
We are implementing his plan this month and feel so much better having a firm direction in place. Can’t recommend Colin highly enough!

I was referred to Colin by a former Fidelity adviser. Over the past year, I’ve become disenchanted with the hard sell of the Fidelity reps and knew I needed an independent adviser who «had my back».
Colin created a 5 yr plan for me, demonstrating that I had enough assets to start «practicing retiring“before my official full time retirement. For a lifelong saver & worry wart about financial security, that was HUGE!
The plan is not only comprehensive but specific including, but not limited to, buy/​sell recommendations, tax savings strategies, with accompanying research data.
While I had reservations about plunking down a fee without any guarantee on monetary results (Fidelity’s services are free), Colin allayed my fears, survived the grilling I gave him with aplomb, and gave me an estimate for his services. It was money well spent.
Colin is earnest, diligent, knowledgeable, and approachable. I trust him completely because I believe him to be so, and in the world of finance, that’s everything.
Moreover, he’s a really nice guy. The kind of man you would recommend to your Mother for financial advice.