Each of us has competing lifestyle objectives — how we spend our time, how we spend our money, and how we deal with risk vs. return.
Our hopes for you.
Peace of mind
When something happens you have somewhere to turn and to ask questions
Knowing you have a plan to accomplish your goals
Someone is regularly monitoring your progress toward your goals and updating your plans
Your trusted advisor is making recommendations based upon your best interests (see our fiduciary commitment)
Advisor is competent and works with integrity
A sense of control
You know what you have, why you have it, where you are going to go and how you are going to get there
You receive guidance on how to be prepared for life’s financial challenges
You have a comprehensive summary of your personal and financial information
You’ve created a list of specific tasks to complete
You have achieved organization of all your documents
Clarity on important issues
You discover your internal motivations
You define and prioritize your goals with specific dollar amounts and time frames
You understand where you are today financially
You have, in your hands, a clear roadmap to your future
Our process: what to expect.
First Meeting
Establishing and defining our potential working relationship together.
We’ll be spending time getting to know each other. Are we a good fit for each other? We work hard to create an environment of warmth and empathy so that you can feel comfortable discussing often difficult and intimate matters pertaining to your life goals. Before we begin any work, we will define our working relationship and the cost with an engagement letter and contract.
Second Meeting
Gathering client data, including goals.
Our ability to advise you — and to do so thoughtfully — is directly correlated to how well we know you, your family dynamics and your dreams and goals as well as the specifics of your financial life. We’ll spend this entire meeting exploring those themes and information. We will prioritize the focus of our future meeting content based upon your initial needs.
Third Meeting
Analyzing and evaluating your financial status.
In between Meetings 2 and 3 we will have spent time analyzing and evaluating your financial status based upon the data we’ve gathered to develop our recommendations.
Data Review
Financial Independence is defined in many ways, but the foundation of much of the analysis is through a review of your cashflow, both current and long-term projections. How much will you need to save or how much you can spend annually if you are not earning an income from work?
Strategy Meeting
We will develop preliminary recommendations for your most immediate goals. Your information will be reviewed and confirmed and our preliminary recommendations will be discussed with you. Are they realistic for you? Will you commit to implementation? If not, what will have to change in order for you to achieve your goals? What additional information is needed to take the next steps?
We will leave the meeting with agreement on a plan of action and identify the areas of focus for the next meetings based upon your goals.These areas will generally include:
o Risk Management o Investments (including a personal risk assessment) o Educational Funding o Tax o Estate o Retirement o Philanthropy
Fourth (and Next) Series of Meetings
Developing and presenting financial planning recommendations.
We’ll present our initial findings and recommendations for your review and considerationand ask for your agreement with our advice.
Data Review
We believe that most investors should not take on more risk than is needed to achieve their goals. We’ll discuss how we use Investment Policy Statements (IPS) and Asset Allocation as central themes to drive the conversations.
Plan Implementation
We’ll begin to implement our financial planning and investment management recommendations by creating an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) that formalizes our relationship and provides the framework for our investment advice to you which will include specific portfolio recommendations.
Once your needs have been defined and your investment plan has been developed and implemented, the results are regularly monitored and adjustments made, as needed, over time. As your circumstances change (and they certainly will), your plan may need to be modified. This final phase may last years or even decades. We’ve served clients for over 25 years and now are going through this same process with their children. This is the true test of success!
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