Five Star award winner Tim L. Brown

PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

AWARDS

Five Star Wealth Manager award winner 2014, 2018, 2019, 2024

WHAT WE DO FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS

Financial Solutions
Our mission is to provide you with innovative financial strategies in an effort to provide financial clarity and solutions to help improve your quality of life. Making strong commitments to you and building life-long relationships are tenets of our success.

After a thorough and careful financial discovery with you, we analyze your personal financial situation – income, expenses, liquidity needs, and retirement goals – and create a plan that is unique to your situation.

When you hire us to plan for you, we don’t work for an insurance company or a particular money manager, we work for you. We think this is how business should be done in the financial world, and we are very proud of our commitment to always put our best foot forward.

We offer our prospective clients an initial complimentary consultation where we take the time to discuss your current situation. This helps you, and us, decide if working together would be to both of our benefits.

Your financial destination is important to us. Contact us today to schedule a time to discuss your situation.

WHAT WE DO INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Investment Management
At The Viable Group, Inc., we believe no two investors are alike. In order to help each client meet their financial goals, we use a personalized approach to investing. Our advice and recommendations are tailored to our clients’ investment goals, desired return objectives, risk tolerance, time horizon and income needs. Our investment strategies are designed based on your investment goals.

Strategic Alliances
The Viable Group, Inc. offers professional money management through various third-party money managers. One of our strategic alliances is with Gradient Investments, LLC (GI). GI is an SEC registered investment advisor firm offering clients over 20 proprietary portfolios. The portfolios are managed by their Chief Investment Officer, Wayne Schmidt CFA, MBA; Senior Portfolio Manager, Michael Binger, CFA; and Senior Investment Analysis, Mariann Montagne, CFA.

These three industry leaders now offer our clients their combined expertise. Schmidt brings 30 years of institutional investment experience to the private clients of Gradient Investments. Binger brings over 29 years of institutional equity investment experience to Gradient Investments and its affiliated advisors and clients. Montagne has 20 plus years of working with both institutional and high net worth clients and has amassed a strong breadth of investment experience in her tenure. In addition, Schmidt, Binger and Montagne are regular contributors to CNBC, Fox Business, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and have many other national publications.

WHAT WE DO TAX PLANNING

Tax Planning
An impactful piece of retirement planning is determining your current and future tax liability and developing strategies to minimize the amount of taxes you pay in retirement. Tax planning can have a large impact on the amount of wealth you will be able to transfer to your heirs. We will help ensure that your retirement plan takes full advantage of available tax credits and deductions in order to help you and your heirs maximize wealth for generations to come.

The Viable Group, Inc. has a strategic alliance with Stovall & Associates, Ltd.; utilizing their team of CPAs to provide tax planning, preparation and filing services for our clients. Our clients receive proactive advice on tax reduction strategies based on income, expenses, individual needs and goals. Proactive tax planning allows our clients the opportunity to minimize tax burdens and build a solid foundation of tax reduction strategies that can result in years of tax savings.

Throughout the year, Stovall & Associates, Ltd., will monitor tax law changes that could affect our clients, recommending tax savings strategies as well as serving as your advocate in tax matters. Our clients’ tax returns are prepared to take advantage of deductions, credits and exclusions allowed to minimize your tax burden.

Based on this strategic alliance, we will implement a sound, well-thought-out financial strategy to minimize year-to-year tax liabilities and provide the opportunity to maintain your current standard of living throughout retirement.

Tax Planning Services

CPA prepared Roth Conversion Analysis
CPA prepared 2nd opinion prior year individual and business tax return reviews
CPA prepared year-end tax filing services
1040 tax optimization reports
Personalized tax reduction reports
The Viable Group, Inc. does not offer tax planning services, but has a strategic alliance with Stovall & Associates, Ltd., to provide account and tax services.

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This award was issued on 07/01/2025 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 10/30/2024 through 05/01/2025. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 1649 Austin, San Antonio and Central Texas-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 91 (6 % of candidates) were named 2025 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2024: 1,400, 90, 6%, 7/1/24, 10/10/23 - 4/30/24; 2023: 1,251, 79, 6%, 7/1/23, 10/10/22 - 5/5/23; 2022: 1304, 90, 7%, 7/1/22, 9/20/21 - 4/8/22; 2021: 1233, 118, 10%, 7/1/21, 9/14/20 - 4/30/21; 2020: 1254, 124, 10%, 7/1/20, 9/30/19 - 4/17/20; 2019: 1204, 178, 15%, 7/1/19, 10/15/18 - 4/26/19; 2018: 1102, 161, 15%, 7/1/18, 10/30/17 - 5/21/18; 2017: 1431, 207, 14%, 7/1/17, 10/27/16 - 5/23/17; 2016: 1283, 351, 27%, 6/1/16, 12/8/15 - 5/20/16; 2015: 1968, 374, 19%, 7/1/15, 9/30/14 - 5/15/15; 2014: 2794, 357, 13%, 7/1/14, 9/30/13 - 5/15/14; 2013: 2254, 399, 18%, 8/1/2-13, 5/13/13 - 7/1/13; 2012: 1673, 392, 23%, 7/1/12, 9/30/11 - 5/15/12.

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All written content on this site is for information purposes only. Opinions expressed herein are solely those of The Viable Group, Inc. and our editorial staff. Material presented is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representations as to its accuracy or completeness. All information and ideas should be discussed in detail with your individual adviser prior to implementation. Fee-based financial planning and investment advisory services are offered by The Viable Group, Inc. a Registered Investment Advisor in the State of Texas. Insurance products and services are offered through Viable Strategies, Inc. The Viable Group, Inc. and Viable Strategies, Inc. are affiliated companies. The presence of this web site shall in no way be construed or interpreted as a solicitation to sell or offer to sell investment advisory services to any residents of any State other than the State of Texas or where otherwise legally permitted. The Viable Group, Inc., /Viable Strategies, Inc. and Tim Brown are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other government agency. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be used to make any financial decisions or as legal or tax advice. You should always consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation. The Viable Group, Inc. is not engaged in the practice of law. Exclusive rights to this material belongs to GPS. Unauthorized use of the material is prohibited.

Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria - required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP's consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP's consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client's experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria - considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager's future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients' assets. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.