Sensible Money

Sensible Money

Sensible Money launched in 2011 in Scottsdale, Arizona, founded by Dana Anspach, a certified financial planner who previously worked at firms including Charles Schwab and Prudential Securities. The firm operates as a fee-only registered investment advisor with no brokerage affiliation, a structure Anspach adopted explicitly to eliminate the conflicts of commission-based advice. She is the author of "Control Your Retirement Destiny" and for years wrote the "Money Over 55" column for The Balance, establishing a content-driven client acquisition model that distinguishes the practice from local competitors. The firm's wealth origin is earned — Anspach built the book of business herself over two decades. The firm's investment approach centers on retirement-income planning rather than accumulation, deploying client assets across a mix of equities, fixed income, and alternative assets including real estate investment trusts. Sensible Money constructs portfolios using low-cost ETFs and index funds, tilting toward value and small-cap factors. Geographic focus remains overwhelmingly domestic, with US large-cap and municipal bond exposures dominating. The firm does not operate its own fund vehicles or serve as a GP — all assets sit in individually managed accounts at custodians such as Charles Schwab. As of 2024, Anspach has publicly noted the firm crossing the billion-dollar AUM threshold, which places it among the largest woman-founded solo-practitioner-turned-RIAs in Arizona. Sensible Money has grown organically without mergers or outside capital, employing a team of CFP professionals in its Scottsdale office. Team size is not publicly disclosed. The adjacent vehicle is Anspach's personal media footprint — her book, her column, and frequent conference appearances — which serve as the firm's primary marketing engine. In 2023, Anspach sold her retirement-planning education business, Sensible Money LLC's predecessor content platform, to a larger publisher, sharpening the focus back onto client-facing wealth management. No philanthropic foundation or family-office structure exists — this is a straightforward RIA serving mass-affluent and high-net-worth retirees. Structurally, Sensible Money differentiates via its single-focus mandate: retirement-income sequencing, tax-efficient distribution strategies, and Social Security optimization. This is not a firm chasing entrepreneurs or liquidity events. The entire service model targets the deaccumulation phase, which most advisors treat as an afterthought. Anspach's public-authority posture — writing the column, publishing the book — creates a self-selecting client funnel that lowers acquisition costs and matches the firm's narrow expertise, a model that is difficult for generalist RIAs to replicate.