Insight Wealth Strategies

If you are reading this you are likely looking for a Financial Planner. I have used 3 and have interviewed 5 in the Bay Area, and would highly recommend Insight which is where I have consolidated my investments (over $ 1,200,000). Why? 1) Outstanding office staff! Best office staff of any I have dealt with! 2) Constant analysis of the market and recommended investments. 3) Daily analysis of recommendations to evaluate how they are performing compared with the market and competing funds. 4) They are a Fiduciary Planner, meaning they put your interest ahead of their own. 5) They put more effort into analysis than any other planner I have worked with. Most planners just sell the same stuff to every client. Insight will put you into whatever fund will best meet your objectives. 6) Flexible enough to accommodate YOUR priorities and strategies. 7) Outstanding quarterly reports. 8) Proactive management, meaning they will recommend going to cash if the market gets ugly, and have a strategy as to when to get back in.
These guys are the BEST! Then there are the rest.

I was very impressed with David and his strategies with his demeanor made me feel very happy and confident with his track record. There was no sales issues he was very confident and the advice that was given was very straightforward it was clear, was not confusing and he never talk down to me that’s all.
I would recommend it services to somebody like me young and has a little bit of disposable income and would like to start the strategy early in life.

Insight Wealth Strategies is by far the most professional and knowledgeable financial firm I have ever encountered. I have been approached by a number of Wealth Advisors in the past and have not been impressed. After meeting with Insight, I now know the reason why. Insight’s level of comprehensive financial planning goes way beyond just managing assets. Over the last 2 ½ years, I have had the pleasure of working with David Chazin and team. From the start, this company has really held my hand through the challenges of planning for my retirement. I have been with my company for the last 26 years and David (by far) has been an expert regarding my employee benefits. I didn’t realize it at first, but there is a lot to prepare for and it can be extremely overwhelming if you don’t have the right planner by your side. I had David create my financial plan a few years back and I have absolutely no regrets. His client service team consistently contacts me to meet with him once a quarter to ensure that I am staying on track. The amount of time David dedicates to his clients is admirable. I always feel like I am treated with respect and that the whole team genuinely cares about my well-​being. When I first received a call from one of his managers, April, I must say I was a bit skeptical. She explained all of the details of what I could expect in the initial meeting and I decided to explore my options. I’m sure glad I did. Prior to Insight, I had been working with a financial advisor for about 15 years. I think my biggest fear was «change» and simply being complacent, thinking I had everything already figured out. After meeting with David, I learned there were a lot of pieces missing from my puzzle. Due to all of the planning I have implemented, I am on track to retire COMFORTABLY in less than 2 years.

I have worked with a few wealth managers and heard the pitch from many, but Brian Stormont is by far the best I have had the pleasure to work with. I discussed with me options that my former wealth manager never even thought of all to help me save $ 100 per month on one of my insurance policies. So the moment I was able to move over my 401k from my former employer I called him up, we two conversations and I feel like my money is working for me again. It’s also great to have him local in Pt. Richmond. I highly recommend Insight Wealth Strategies and especially Brian Stormont.

We’ve been extremely pleased with David Chazin and his staff. The prepared agendas for each quarterly meeting ensure that all concerns are addressed. David closely monitors our risk tolerance and will readily revise our portfolios to reflect our comfort level.
David looks at all aspects of personal financial planning, including the need for long term care insurance, estate planning, etc. We didn’t have an estate plan when we started with David, but we do now. I cannot thank him enough for this advice.
The staff is very well organized and is quick to follow up when we have questions. For example: we wanted to know the pros and cons of transferring a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA and were very pleased to receive a detailed report using our personal data — at no extra charge.
Lastly, we like the flexibility to schedule our quarterly meetings in either the San Ramon or Livermore office, plus we always have the option to discuss any concerns over the phone.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I couldn’t have imagined it being better.
My advisor came well prepared to our first planning meeting and was able to provide his thoughts on national and global trends that would impact investment decisions.
And, best of all I have been happy with my portfolio’s performance and am hopeful for it’s future gains.

The hjgh points: investment advisor David Chazin is a really nice guy, who aims to speak with his clients every quarter and to advise them in a knowledgeable and personable way.
The low points: (1) having our investment advisor switched within weeks of signing on, with little explanation and no notice; (2) administration was uneven — personnel turnover was fairly frequent, scheduled calls sometimes got missed, and paperwork needed for a scheduled call did not always arrive on time; (3) if you were a small-​balance customer, as we were, you do not always feel that you are getting top-​of-​the-​list service (see (1) and (2) above); and (4) tax documents related to investments sometimes got mailed late in the tax season, with no notice that it would be late or amended, and without a care that a tax document might actually arrive after tax return filing.
There is significant room for improvement here. Perhaps the worst part was that the suggestion that there was room for improvement was left ignored and unaddressed, in favor of a «this is how we do business» attitude.
UPDATE: I write more than a year after my earlier review because it has taken Insight/​Ms. Chazin and his affiliates that long to close my accounts. The primary problem was that Mr. Chazin stopped oversight and management of my accounts or any manner of transfer or closure of the accounts — even though management fees were still being collected from our hard-​earned money. This meant it was necessary to work through the impersonal and completely uncaring call centers of the investment platforms Mr. Chazin chose to associate with — and there were several given that he decided to change his affiliations after he had originally invested our money.
The affiliated companies we spoke with — over hours of multiple calls and e-​mails, which largely went unreturned — were Lincoln, Symmetry and American Funds. At long length, we were able to remove most of our funds — much of which had strangely been taken out of their investment positions and converted to cash, without our say-​so; however, company representatives couldn’t understand why our agent was not doing this for us, yet they would not open an inquiry into his deficient practices as it was not «their» problem. We were directed to the compliance offices of Lincoln and Symmetry, neither of which returned calls or would even assist with closure duties clearly never designed for an end-​user investor to navigate directly.
Perhaps the worst development of all: Mr. Chazin had put some of our money into a proprietary account. That may not sound bad at the entry point, but if you ever want to move the money to a similar account under non-​company management, regardless because of dissatisfaction with the company or for any other reason, you cannot extract your money without paying very expensive back-​end fees. Requests to waive these fees given the circumstances were summarily rejected. So our account is effectively held hostage at a company we cannot stand and have no confidence in, unless we pay what can only be described as a significant ransom to free our funds.
No amount of small print will teach you these lessons. Let’s hope for tighter laws regulating financial and investment advisors — there has traditionally been very little oversight.