Cash Flow Management in Alpharetta, GA
When High Income Doesn't Mean Predictable Income
A strong salary can still leave you guessing about what's available once taxes and long-term saving are accounted for. We help you plan around income that arrives unevenly.
Fee-Only • Fiduciary • Independent RIA • CFP®, ChFC® • 30+ Years Serving North Atlanta
I Make Good Money and I Don't Know Where It Goes
It's one of the more common things we hear, and one people rarely say out loud. Research from Goldman Sachs found that a meaningful share of households earning well into the mid six figures still describe themselves as living paycheck to paycheck.
A high income removes the warning signs. On a modest salary, a cash flow problem shows up fast: a payment bounces, a card gets declined. At $500,000 nothing bounces, and an expensive habit can run for years before anyone notices.
At Daner Wealth Management, we help high-income professionals and executives in Alpharetta, Roswell, and Johns Creek replace the guesswork with a plan built around how their income arrives.
When to Start This Conversation
- A meaningful part of your pay comes from bonus, equity compensation, or deferred comp rather than base salary
- April brought a surprise tax bill
- Your income has grown but your savings rate hasn't
- You and your spouse decide on purchases one at a time, with no agreed rule behind it
- You can't say how much of this year's pay is available after taxes and saving
Our Process
We start with how you're paid, what your year looks like month to month, and what you're trying to fund.
- Mapping Income That Doesn't Arrive Evenly. Base pay, bonus timing, vesting dates, and deferred compensation go on one calendar so you can see the peaks and the gaps. More on how variable pay creates those gaps.
- Closing the Withholding Gap Before April. Employers withhold on bonuses and vesting equity at a rate below what you owe. We compare the year's income against what's withheld and decide whether to adjust withholding or make quarterly estimates, alongside your tax planning.
- Watching What Your Fixed Costs Commit You To. A larger mortgage, private school tuition, club dues, a second property, household help. We add up what repeats every month, because it sets the minimum you have to earn and it's how lifestyle inflation narrows your options. Where debt is involved, this connects to debt management.
- Deciding Where Money Goes Before It Lands. Your reserve comes first, sized for how variable your pay is. What's left goes in a set order: employer plan contributions, taxable accounts, education funding, debt paydown. The share you save matters more than the size of the income.
- Answering Whether You're On Track. We put a number on where you stand, and show how your cash flow supports retirement planning, investment strategy, and nearer-term goals like a home purchase or a career change.
As a fiduciary, we're accountable for how these pieces fit together, and we revisit the plan as your compensation and goals change.
We don't charge by the service or take commissions on products we recommend. As a fee-only firm, we charge an all-inclusive percentage of assets under management, generally 0.75%–1.25% annually, so our only incentive is doing right by your plan. We'll walk you through exactly what that means for your situation before you commit to anything.
Why Choose Daner Wealth Management
Marc Daner, CFP®, ChFC®, has helped clients organize complex compensation into a workable plan for more than 30 years. As an independent, fee-only fiduciary, we're required by law to act in your best interest, not selling products or earning commissions. We explain your options in plain language and stay with you as your plan evolves.
Start With a Conversation
If your income has grown and you still don't have a clear view of where it's going, we'd welcome the conversation. Schedule a consultation with Marc Daner to talk through how cash flow planning fits your full financial picture.
Cash Flow FAQs
Get your questions answered about cash flow management .
Budgeting tracks what you spend, usually after the fact. Cash flow planning works the other direction: saving, investing, and tax obligations are handled first, before the money reaches your checking account. Done well it feels less restrictive, because whatever's left is yours to spend without second-guessing.
It depends on what's already committed. A bonus usually carries a tax obligation that payroll withholding only partly covers, so the first question is how much of it isn't really yours. What's left can go toward whatever the plan says it should, decided before the money lands rather than in the weeks after. We've written more on balancing saving against spending.
More than the usual guidance suggests, and for a different reason. Standard advice sizes a reserve against job loss. When income is lumpy, the reserve also has to bridge the months between payments and cover tax obligations that come due on their own schedule. Those are separate jobs, and it helps to know which dollars are doing which.
Your CPA reports what already happened. Cash flow planning happens ahead of it: how much of a bonus to set aside, when to adjust withholding, where surplus goes. We're glad to work alongside your accountant, and often do.
