Giffin Planning Services, Inc.

Giffin Planning Services, Inc. provides financial planning and advisory services to individuals, including high‑net‑worth clients, through a single‑advisor practice with a small client base. The firm delivers holistic financial planning, insurance and annuity recommendations, and referrals to third‑party investment managers rather than directly managing client portfolios.

The firm emphasizes long‑term, cash‑flow‑based planning and uses eMoney for comprehensive plan modeling and Riskalyze to quantify client risk tolerance, tailoring recommendations to each client’s needs. GPS does not take custody or discretionary trading authority and instead refers clients to selected third‑party advisers (including SEI and Lockwood), conducting due diligence and reviewing ongoing performance while receiving negotiated fee shares.

Distinctive aspects include the firm’s active insurance affiliation: the principal is a licensed insurance agent and the affiliated insurance entity receives commissions, which creates a potential conflict of interest alongside advisory services. It is also uncommon for an independent adviser to neither manage client portfolios directly nor charge percentage‑of‑AUM fees; GPS instead relies on planning fees and fee‑sharing arrangements and reports about $11 million in assets under advisement for its clients.