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Good Better Best Financial Planning
Michele R. Dunning's fee-only RIA in Durham, NC focuses on retirement income and fiduciary financial planning for local households.
Good Better Best Financial Planning
Good Better Best Financial Planning is a registered investment advisor in North Carolina, founded and operated by Michele R. Dunning in the Durham area. The firm is built on a fee-only fiduciary model, meaning it does not earn commissions from product sales, and its compensation comes solely from client-paid planning fees or assets-under-management charges. Dunning’s professional credentialing includes the Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) designation from The American College of Financial Services, indicating a practice weighted toward decumulation strategies, Social Security optimization, and sustainable withdrawal planning for households approaching or already in retirement. The firm’s service model combines comprehensive financial planning with ongoing investment management for clients who delegate portfolio decisions. Typical engagements cover retirement projections, tax-aware asset location, and insurance need analyses. Being a solo practice, Dunning directly manages client relationships and investment implementation, often relying on low-cost ETF and mutual fund allocations rather than selecting individual securities. North Carolina state records confirm the firm's RIA registration, and its Form ADV disclosures — mandatory for all SEC- or state-registered advisors — outline a conflict-of-interest policy centered on the fiduciary duty to put client interests first, standard for fee-only shops of this size. As a local advisory practice, the firm does not publish granular details on total assets or household counts. Publicly available state regulatory filings confirm registration but do not mandate AUM reporting for smaller firms under North Carolina’s threshold. Good Better Best Financial Planning does not maintain additional office footprints beyond its primary Durham location, nor does it operate philanthropic foundations or adjacent investment vehicles. In March 2024, the firm’s regulatory filing confirmed its continued operation as a solo practice with a retail client base concentrated in the Research Triangle region. What structurally distinguishes Good Better Best is its solo-operator, advice-first architecture at a moment when the broader RIA industry is consolidating into large aggregator platforms and private-equity-backed roll-ups. The firm’s decision to remain a single-advisor shop — offering hourly and flat-fee planning alongside managed accounts — places it squarely in a subset of practitioners who prioritize client count limits and deep personal relationships over scale economics. For a retiree in Durham seeking a planning relationship uncomplicated by institutional portfolio construction or proprietary products, that structure is the differentiator.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Durham
Corporate office
Durham, NC, United States
Principals
Michele R. Dunning
Founder & Financial Planner
Frequently asked questions
Is Good Better Best Financial Planning a fiduciary?
Yes. As a fee-only registered investment advisor, the firm is legally bound by the fiduciary standard under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, meaning it must fully disclose conflicts of interest and put client interests above its own. Its Form ADV filing documents this obligation, and the firm's compensation model — client-paid fees rather than commissions — removes a structural source of sales-driven bias.
What is the firm's fee model — AUM-based, hourly, flat-fee, or retainer?
Good Better Best Financial Planning describes a dual fee model typical of solo RIAs: comprehensive financial plans are delivered on a flat-fee or hourly project basis, while clients who want ongoing investment management pay an annual fee calculated as a percentage of assets under management. The firm does not sell commissioned insurance or investment products.
What client segment does the firm primarily serve?
Michele R. Dunning holds the Retirement Income Certified Professional designation, which shapes the practice toward pre-retirees and retired households in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. Her public listings indicate an emphasis on sustainable retirement withdrawal strategies, Social Security claiming optimization, and income planning for individual investors rather than institutional accounts or ultra-high-net-worth families.
Does the firm operate as a multi-family office or wealth management aggregator?
No. Good Better Best Financial Planning is a solo-practitioner RIA serving retail clients. It does not operate trust companies, family-office service divisions, pooled investment vehicles, or multi-advisor platforms. Its structure is deliberately small-scale, focused on direct personal planning relationships for a limited number of local households.
Is the firm affiliated with a broker-dealer or insurance company?
The firm reports in its regulatory filings that it is an independent registered investment advisor with no broker-dealer relationship. This independence allows it to select investments and insurance products for clients without the product-line restrictions or sales quotas that can arise from broker-dealer or insurance-company affiliations. No outside entity owns a stake in the advisory practice.
What investment strategies does the firm employ?
Good Better Best Financial Planning invests client portfolios in low-cost mutual funds and ETFs, consistent with the passive-to-factor-tilted approach common among solo fiduciary advisors. The practice does not market concentrated stock-picking, private fund access, or alternative investments. Instead, it builds globally diversified, risk-appropriate asset allocations and manages them in-house, adjusting for client-specific tax positions and withdrawal needs.
Where can an allocator or prospective client review the firm's disclosures and registration status?
The firm's Form ADV Part 1 and Part 2 disclosures are publicly available via the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website or through the North Carolina Securities Division. These filings contain the firm's fee schedule, disciplinary history, types of clients served, and descriptions of its business practices — the same documents an institutional due-diligence analyst would request as a first step.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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