Financial Advisor in Baltimore County, MD

Yes. Our Perry Hall office is at 9405 Hayloft Drive, Perry Hall, MD 21128, and you can reach it at (443) 286-5250. Our main office is at 2402 Scotlon Ct in Forest Hill. You can also meet with us by video through TeleWealth, so you do not have to drive in for every meeting.

No. Chesapeake Financial Planners is not affiliated with Chesapeake Financial Advisors (Towson, Maryland) or Chesapeake Financial Shares. Because the names are close, check the advisor’s name and office address on FINRA BrokerCheck or the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site before you book a meeting.

A fee-only advisor is paid solely through fees you pay directly and earns no product commissions. A fee-based advisor charges fees but may also earn commissions on some products, such as insurance. Both can act as fiduciaries. Knowing which model an advisor uses tells you where potential conflicts of interest may exist, so always ask. We’re fee-based and use the fiduciary standard.*

It depends on the advisor, but here’s how we do things at Chesapeake: Flat annual fee for planning: Our comprehensive financial planning and personal oversight ranges from $3,000 to $10,000 per year, depending on the complexity of your situation. Optional investment management: We charge a percentage of assets under management. That starts around 1.3% for smaller portfolios and decreases to as low as 0.35% as your assets grow. We’re also licensed to offer commission-based products (like life insurance), but we only recommend them when they’re in your best interest and we’ll always disclose how we’re compensated.

Yes, slightly. For 2026 the Baltimore County local income tax rate is 3.20% and Harford County’s is 3.06%, according to the Comptroller of Maryland. Baltimore County’s real property tax rate is $1.10 per $100 of assessed value for fiscal 2026. Maryland does not tax Social Security benefits in either county.

Most state employees and teachers, including many at Towson University, UMBC and Baltimore County Public Schools, earn a pension through the Maryland State Retirement and Pension System and can save more in the state’s supplemental 457(b) and 401(k) plans. The key decisions are when your service credit makes it worth retiring, which survivor option to choose, and how much to put in the 457(b), which has no 10% early-withdrawal penalty once you leave the job.

Start with the 403(b): contribute at least enough to get the full employer match, then decide between pre-tax and Roth contributions based on your tax bracket now and later. The 2026 employee limit is $24,500, per the IRS. From there, a plan should coordinate the 403(b) with a spouse’s plan, any equity or deferred compensationAn arrangement where a portion of your income is set aside today and paid out at a future date — typically retirement — when you may be in a lower tax bracket. Non-qualified deferred compensation plans are common among executives, but they carry real risk: if the company goes bankrupt, you're an unsecured creditor for those funds., and the date you actually want to retire.

Yes. Federal employees at SSA and CMS headquarters plan around three income sources: the FERS pension, the Thrift Savings Plan and Social Security, plus the FERS supplement that bridges the gap until age 62. We help you choose a retirement date, a survivor benefit, a TSP withdrawal approach and a Social Security claiming age that work together.