We believe that...

Life is complicated enough.

Your money shouldn't be.

our mission

To get clients to retire as fast as possible with as much money as they need to confidently say to themselves “I can go to work if I want to. Not because I have to.”

what we do for clients

We Are Retirement Planning Specialists

Investment Strategies to Retire with Comfort and Confidence
Coordinated Planning to Attain Multiple Income Streams During Retirement
Design and Implement Competitive Retirement Benefits for Business Owners and Their Team

our philosophy

Driven by Our Mission. Not Commissions.

We started Capital Benchmark Partners in 2013 because we clearly saw what was missing in the industry: 

A fiduciary focused on guiding clients across income stages to confidently set, meet and raise their own benchmarks for success.

As a fee-only wealth management firm, our focus is on you and your financial goals. We are not driven by third-party products or sales commissions. And we have no incentive to make you choose certain investment options to get paid.

meet our team

Helen Ngo, CFP®

Founder & CEO | Investment Advisor

With over 15 years of experience in wealth management, Helen has honed her expertise in guiding countless households towards financial freedom, a journey many often struggle with.

Her passion for empowering women executives and entrepreneurs led her to establish Capital Benchmark Partners. Here, she concentrates on enhancing clients’ earning potential and fostering their personal wealth.

Helen’s forte lies in devising strategies that reduce tax burdens for business owners and contractors, achieved through tailored retirement benefit plans such as pension plans, Solo 401(k) plans, Traditional and Roth 401(k) plans, SEP IRAs, and other business-exclusive retirement strategies.

Known for her candid approach and distinct financial insights, Helen is a highly sought-after speaker and frequently graces major news platforms including CNBC, Forbes, NerdWallet, CBS Money, and Investor’s Business Daily. In 2019, Atlanta’s Best Self Magazine featured her among 10 exceptional women entrepreneurs who have successfully built their businesses from scratch.

Education & Professional Designations
Languages Spoken

English, Vietnamese

Karishma Patel

Vice President of Operations

Education & Professional Designations
Languages Spoken

English, Gujarati, Hindi

After a sixteen-year career in healthcare technology, Karishma ventured into finance by joining our team in August 2022. With her extensive experience as a leader in organizational and operational management, she helps our team build innovative systems, tools, and processes to serve our clients and business partners more efficiently and effectively.

She is passionate about bringing vision to reality while empowering others along the way. Karishma truly lives up to her nickname of ‘Execution Artist,’ leading first with empathy to encourage members of our team to get things done.

Currently, she resides in Chicago, IL with her husband and two young kids. Outside of work, she enjoys creative projects from planning events, decorating her new home, and photographing families and kids.

Fernanda has an eye for detail that she has been honing for more than 15 years. She spent nearly 10 years as a research professional with universities and corporations, where she excelled in independent research, fact checking, and quality control. 

She now applies her meticulous analytical skills to a variety of responsibilities at our firm to support our lead financial advisor, Helen Ngo. Her duties include processing client paperwork, assembling client data, and assisting in data inputs to create financial plan reports for clients.

She receives great satisfaction in knowing that her work is helping clients bring their finances and life goals into harmony.

Fernanda was born in Brazil but currently lives in Idaho with her husband and two kids. When she is not working, she enjoys reading, gardening, swimming, and dancing. She also enjoys traveling anywhere she can spend time with her extended family in South America and Europe

Fernanda Auwarter

Paraplanner

Education & Professional Designations
Languages Spoken

English, Portuguese

Krissy Meriwether

Administrative Assistant

Education & Professional Designations

With a strong background in marketing and education, Krissy brings a unique blend of skills to Capital Benchmark Partners. Her experience as a podcast producer and a former educator are roles that required precision, reliability, and the ability to manage multiple tasks. This background has shaped her into someone who values transparency and trust—qualities that are essential in building strong, lasting client relationships. Known for her attention to detail, she is committed to delivering accurate, reliable service and fostering trust with every client interaction.   

She resides in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, their two teenage children, and their King Charles cavalier spaniel. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, walking her dog, reading, and traveling.  

Mochi

Chief Morale Officer

Languages Spoken

Treats and Hugs

In September 2018, Mochi joined our team as Chief Morale Officer. 

She makes sure we stay in high spirits and maintain our optimism during good and bad economic times. Besides chasing away bear markets and pursuing bull markets, Mochi is responsible for keeping us safe and sane during long work weeks, especially tax season.

In her free time, she plays tug-of-war, sunbathe on her deck, and spy on squirrels. 

Free Resource

FREE Financial Planning Calendar and Checklist

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what's included:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Answers to Your Most Common Questions

Yes, we are fiduciary financial advisors.

It is upheld in our fee-only advisory business model.

And because we are CFP® professionals, we are held to a fiduciary standard of care in which we are required to act in the best interest of clients.

Financial planning is the process of defining your goals and establishing a time horizon to achieve those goals. Then, a course of action is designed to meet those goals.

This may include planning for your retirement, how to save for your children’s future, how to save for your first-time home, and other financial goals.

Investment management builds on top of financial planning. It is the process of making investment decisions to grow your money in specific accounts to meet your objectives.

It involves defining an expected rate of return to meet your financial goals, selecting specific investments, and managing the portfolio as the economy and market conditions change.

So we can sit at the same side of the table as you.

With our fee-only planning model, we avoid conflicts of interests because we are not paid based on products we sell. We are paid solely for the advice and the breadth of financial planning and investment management we deliver.

We do not sell products to make a commission.

We also do not accept referral fees.

It’s a priority that our planning and investment management fees are straightforward, transparent and easy for you to understand. When it comes to money, we are not shy talking about it. You will get the disclosure.

As a fee only advisor, we charge a flat hourly rate for our financial planning consulting services and a flat percentage for assets we manage.

You may see financial advisors refer to themselves as “fee based.” Fee based advisors are paid a mix of commissions and charge a flat rate for services that may include a percentage of assets they manage, an hourly rate, or a monthly retainer.

If you are looking for a non-commissioned advisor, then you are looking for a fee-only financial advisor (that’s us!), not fee-based.

The lingo can be confusing since they sound similar, but the distinguishment is whether one gets paid a commission.


The primary difference is that we do not file taxes nor do accounting for clients.

We coordinate and collaborate with our clients’ CPAs, bookkeepers, and attorneys to inform them of your overall financial plan and investment transactions throughout the year. Your tax advisor then takes the information we provide to file your taxes and report to the IRS accordingly.

We do tax planning to the extent of making recommendations that can help lower your tax liability such as implementing a retirement plan and tax-loss harvesting in relation to your investments.

Most people think all financial planners are “certified,” but this is certainly not true. While others may call themselves financial planners, only those who have met the rigorous requirements and standards established by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. are rewarded the CFP® distinction. Those who have acquired the designation are held to a much higher standard of professionalism, competency, and ethics than a typical financial advisor.

To obtain the distinguished CFP® mark and become a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional, an applicant must:

Hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
Complete a CFP® Board-registered education program
Pass the 10-hour CFP® certification exam
Have at least three years of qualifying full-time work experience in financial planning
Pass a professional fitness standards and background check
Once appointed, a CFP® professional must meet continuing education requirements every other year in order to maintain the certification.
Read more about the CFP® designation by visiting http://www.cfp.net

Links are being provided for information purposes only. Capital Benchmark Partners, LLC (CBP) is not affiliated with and does not endorse, authorize or sponsor any of the listed websites or their respective sponsors. CBP is not responsible for the content of any website or the collection or use of information regarding any website’s users and/or members.

We manage our clients’ accounts and investments at TD Ameritrade and Charles Schwab.

Yes, we work with clients throughout the United States.

We also work with clients who are green card holders who reside outside the United States.

In short, as long as you have a US social security number, we can work with you.

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