Financial advisor serving Duluth
Flames Financial Planning is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota and works with Duluth households through a virtual planning relationship. Fixed quarterly memberships coordinate investments, taxes, retirement, and estate guidance without an AUM fee.
Direct answer
Compare each advisor’s registration, fiduciary role, total annualized cost in dollars, the services included, and who you actually meet with. Flames Financial Planning is based in Minnetonka—not at a Duluth office—and serves Duluth households virtually. Memberships cost $150, $900, or $1,650 per quarter, with no AUM fee and no annual commitment.
A truthful local relationship
A location page should tell you who is actually available, where the firm sits, and how the relationship works day to day.
Flames FP is based in Minnetonka, in the Twin Cities, and works fully virtually. Duluth households meet by video like every other client; there is no office to drive to. This page describes the Duluth service area, not a separate Duluth branch.
Meetings, document sharing, dashboard access, and ongoing planning all happen remotely, so where you live does not limit the advice you get.
Check any advisor’s registration, services, disciplinary history, and fee disclosures before you sign. That applies to this firm as much as any other.
Minnesota planning context
Tax rules are set by the state, not the city, and they change which decisions are worth the most. The full Minnesota picture, with sources, is on the Minnesota page. How those rules bear on withdrawal order, Roth-conversion timing and Medicare premiums is set out in the retirement tax planning overview.
Minnesota taxes most retirement income at rates topping out at 9.85%, and Social Security is only fully subtractable below $110,780 of joint AGI in 2026. For Duluth's healthcare and university households, whose income arrives through 403(b) and 457 plans and often a pension, the order of withdrawals and the timing of Roth conversions carry more weight than they would in a no-income-tax state.
Pension, IRA and 401(k) withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income. Social Security is fully subtractable only below $110,780 of joint adjusted gross income in 2026 and phases out above that, so the order you draw from accounts changes what you keep.
The exclusion is far below the federal one and is not indexed, and Minnesota does not allow a surviving spouse to use the first spouse's unused exclusion. A couple that leaves everything outright to each other can waste one $3 million exclusion entirely.
Duluth's largest employers are its two health systems, Essentia Health and Aspirus St. Luke's, the University of Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota Power and its parent Allete, Cirrus Aircraft, and the port and rail economy of the harbour. Physician, nursing and faculty households here hold 403(b) and 457 plans, sometimes a public pension, and rarely public-company stock, which shifts the planning from concentration to retirement-income design.
Brackets, thresholds, and retirement-income rules are revised regularly. The figures above are for tax year 2026. Treat them as a starting point and confirm the current year before making a decision on them.
Federal and state, together
Minnesota income tax alone can exceed the federal deduction for state and local taxes for a higher-earning household, and above $500,000 of modified adjusted gross income that cap shrinks toward $10,000. In practice much of what a Minnesota household pays the state is not deductible federally, which is one more reason to manage the state layer directly.
For tax year 2026 the federal deduction for state and local taxes is capped at $40,400, shrinking above $500,000 of modified adjusted gross income to a floor of $10,000. IRS, Instructions for Schedule A (2025), line 5e.
Worth doing here
Things that are worth doing in Minnesota that would not be worth doing, or would work differently, somewhere else.
Minnesota offers either a credit of 50% of contributions up to $500, which phases out above $96,220 of Minnesota adjusted gross income, or a subtraction of up to $1,500 ($3,000 filing jointly). You choose one each year, and which one is better depends on your income.
Because the $3 million exclusion does not carry over to a surviving spouse, couples with more than that between them generally need trust language in their documents to use both exclusions. This is a planning problem at asset levels that would owe nothing federally.
With most retirement income taxed at up to 9.85%, the window when taxable income is briefly under your control is the time to map Roth conversions and which account to spend first.
The first meeting
A discovery meeting is a conversation, not a pitch. For households here it tends to get to these three things.
How a 403(b), a 457 and a pension fit together, and what Minnesota will tax of each in retirement.
Whether the years between retiring and required distributions are the time to convert to Roth at Minnesota's rates, and how much.
Disability and life coverage sized to a physician's or professor's income and career arc.
Who this fits
The common thread is a household with enough complexity that the decisions interact, and enough assets that a percentage fee gets expensive.
See how the planning relationship works for this situation, what is included, and what it costs.
See how the planning relationship works for this situation, what is included, and what it costs.
Run your own numbers before talking to anyone, including this firm. The calculator converts a percentage into the dollars it actually costs over time.
Watch and learn
Start with three videos selected for this page, then use the controls to explore every published Flames FP video guide.
Videos 1–3 of 14
Common questions
No. Flames Financial Planning is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and works fully virtually, so there is no office in Duluth or anywhere else to visit. Duluth households meet by video, share documents securely and use the financial dashboard, like every other client.
Yes. Duluth households can meet by video, share documents securely, use the financial dashboard, and receive ongoing planning without travelling. Flames FP serves clients nationwide where permitted.
Flames Access is $150 per quarter ($600 annualized), Planning is $900 per quarter ($3600 annualized), and Premier is $1650 per quarter ($6600 annualized). Memberships are billed quarterly in advance with no annual commitment.
No. The advisory fee is a flat quarterly amount tied to the planning work, not a percentage of the portfolio, so it does not increase as investments grow.
Compare the total annual cost in dollars rather than percentages, exactly what is included at that price, whether the advisor is a fiduciary and fee-only, and who you actually meet with. Then verify the firm's registration and disciplinary history on the SEC's adviser search.
Yes. State tax treatment shapes withdrawal order, Roth-conversion timing, and where investments are best held. Planning includes tax guidance and review of a completed return; Premier adds tax projections and preparation and filing through an independent tax partner. The Minnesota rules themselves are set out on the Minnesota page.
Next step
A discovery meeting covers your situation, your current advisor arrangement if you have one, and whether a fixed quarterly membership is a better fit than what you are paying now.
