Our Process
Fundamental Assessment
One common denominator for all the new people we meet, most of them were working with a financial professional of some sort or did some type of planning in the past on their own, but no one had an ongoing comprehensive plan that they could count on to help them make the best decisions for the future. They simply had nothing they could count on and felt out of control.
It doesn’t have to be that way. That is where we come in.
We start by seeking to understand how you feel about your current situation, and your point of view of the goals you have, the issues and concerns that worry you and what is most important to you today.
As a Fiduciary, to make the planning comprehensive, we will listen and bring up areas of planning that may not directly be on your radar, make you aware of those issues and see how important they may be as a consideration in your overall planning. That way you get to see your whole picture.
After building a Net Worth Statement and outlook of your current situation and planning, we use our Analysis to show the strengths of your current planning, the areas that are not in line with your goals or that are simply holding you back, and then areas of opportunity that will help you “right the ship” and get back on course to achieve what is important to you.
The Underlying value of this part of the process is the collaboration of the Client/Advisor relationship focused on the client’s concerns, needs and goals through a Fiduciary Planning Process. There is no Salesmanship, or magic product or service being pushed at our client. It is Fiduciary Guidance looking out for the best interest of the client through Financial Planning. The way it should be.
Using the Certified Financial Planning boards 7 step process of planning through the 6 major areas of planning is a baseline for all we do to create a custom planning strategy and solutions for every client.
After going through this process, I love it when I hear the new client say, “ I wish we had met you 10 years ago!” We cannot go back and change the past, but we can start from now and create a better future.
Now that we have worked together to get the foundation of your plan in place, it is time to live this new Paradigm and rediscover a new and brighter future with a clearer vision of what you can now accomplish with a proper foundation in place. You are now in control of a future you could hardly imagine before this process started. It is now time to take that out for a spin.
Exploring the possibilities.
Living the Working Plan – Be Inspired to live a life less ordinary, Dream and build your future with confidence.
For us, this is the most exciting part of the process working with our clients and these meetings make up on average 80% of our week- Reviewing and adjusting our clients planning is key to their success.
We know with that strong foundation, you’re inspired to live more, Do more and matter more, making a difference in the lives of your family, friends and community. You are able to look to discover new opportunities that inspire you and you feel empowered to act.
The Irish poet David Whyte, in his book “Consolations” there is an essay called “Courage” where he says, “… Only slowly do we learn what we really care about and allow our outer lives to be realigned with that gravitational pull.” This is really the essence of our ongoing process. If we can build a clients plan with them as they learn what is important to them over time, we can continue to present realistic possibilities they could have never even dreamed of when we started this process together. It is so rewarding for us to be a part of this process and see our clients live and inspired and Empowered life.
Starting out when we first met with our clients, they came in confused, worried and concerned about their future. After going through our process and fundamental assessment, they now come into their Strategic and Tactical Review meetings with the Confidence, Perspective and sense of security about their future. They understand where they are in life, and together we can continue to map out an even stronger plan focused on their core values and what is more important to them, their family, and their community. We LOVE hearing at the end of these meetings when the clients say, “I’m so glad I came in today; I just feel better!”
With a better vision of the future, we can help our clients grow as their new life unfolds and their needs evolve.
Our Strategic Guide- The centerpiece of our planning and analysis, the Strategic Guide is updated every meeting and is updated and adjusted as the overview of all the other analysis we are doing for our clients every meeting. It works to ensure that we are all on the same page matching the planning with our clients next opportunities and also works as a snapshot in time as we copy it and then update it every meeting.
Strategic Guide: Our clients have ongoing planning meetings 2-3 times per year to update where we are now and where they want to go. We also update any changes to their planning, look at legislative updates, tax planning and income needs we can see coming up. Our strategic guide captures all of this information and updates the objective quantitative data we need to do planning as well as the more subjective and qualitative info that makes the client’s plan their own. It is a platform designed to review the 6 major areas of financial planning that a Fiduciary Financial Planner should be watching for them at all times and a place where we can run any other changes to their planning to match their changing needs.
Summary: So after setting up a Foundation for success in our initial planning to create the Foundational plan in stage 1, then working for our clients to stay strong and figure out all of the new possibilities in their lives in Stage 2, we can eventually get to stage 3.
Every client goes at their own pace and some clients get to stage 2 and stay there for years. They continue to grow and realize more and more control of their future and we continue to look at more possibilities based on what is important to them but in some cases, they take longer in Stage 2. Our hope is eventually all our clients end up in stage 3, but it is not for everybody.
Financial Self Actualization
You’ve reached the place in life where your thoughts and what inspires you is beyond money. You continue to have many accomplishments and have comfort. You want to create a legacy to pass down your core values, provide hope, optimism and support to the people and causes you care about.
We’ve learned that Financial Self Actualization manifests itself many different ways, and you don’t need to be a multi-millionaire to reach this level. Our Empowered and Inspired client lives an amazing life of purpose and meaning, providing hope, affiliation, motivation and belonging to those around them.
They are able to create a statement of Financial Purpose; continue to explore their purpose and meaning and build this statement overtime as their life unfolds and their needs evolve.
As their advisor, we still need to all the functional work inside our Foundational framework of the process because if we didn’t, the whole pyramid would fall apart.
Estate and legacy planning become a big part of the work we do and we keep up with the internal and external forces that could alter the planning.
The Family Estate and Legacy meeting- A meeting for family understanding and awareness. We offer to meet with our client, their family and anyone close to them to present the Family Estate Plan. We cover what we are doing and why we are doing it for the efficient passing of assets and legacy to the next generation as well as the charities and causes our clients care about. We work closely with other professionals like the clients attorney and accountant for the development and maintenance of the Estate Plan.