Our Planning Process

The strength of our firm is our well developed time tested planning process which looks at your entire financial situation as opposed to a specific transaction in a vacuum.  Our team will work dillgently with you and cooperatively with other advisors to ensure that your goals and objectives are realized and acheived.

OUR PROCESS

Discovery/Consultation Meeting:

Our first meeting will focus on discussing and developing what issues are important to you.  We want to answer any questions you may have about planning, working with an advisor, and set realistic engagement expectations.  Also, we will ask questions to gain a basic understanding of your current situation, prioritize planning needs, and learn about any gaps in your current plan that may interfere with your goals and objectives.  The planning process and compensation will also be addressed.  There is no charge for the discovery/consultation meeting and any dialogue exchanged in the meeting will be confidential.

Engagement Proposal Meeting:

After our firm has had an opportunity to review and analyze your goals, objectives, and preliminary data we will put together a comprehensive engagement proposal for your review.  The proposal will outline our scope of engagement, expectations, the potential impact and value of our services, our resources, the planning process, and cost.  A copy of our firm policies will also accompany the proposal.

Personal Values, Goals, and Data Creation Meeting(s):

Once engaged, our firm begins the process of developing the skeleton for your financial plan.  Prior to meeting, we will assign you "homework" to collect financial data for our review.  We will discuss what data is appropriate to collect and provide you with resources to achieve those goals.  Once we receive the data we will review it, develop specific questions, and schedule our next meeting.

The focus of this meeting will be the personalization and customization of your financial plan.  We want to help you identify and prioritize your financial planning needs.  Specific questions from the data will be used to dig "deeper" into your current situation and gain a better understanding of how our firm can help you.  Our meetings conclude when we have a clear picture of what a successful financial plan means to you and a developed method or course of action on how to achieve those goals.

The "Try On" Meeting or Initial Plan Review:

At this meeting, we have taken all of our notes and data and developed a comprehensive model of your situation.  The model will illustrate where your current situation may be insconsistent with your goals and objectives.  It will also project future cash flows, asset growth assumptions, and issues of taxation.  From the modeling we will test and explore strategies that our firm feels may improve your stuation.  Multiple strategies may be illustrated and the pros and cons of each strategy will be discussed. We will ask for your input on these strategies and answer any questions that you may have on the initial plan review.

Final Plan Review:

At the Final Plan review you will receive our completed financial plan.  The plan contains the strategies and tactics that we have mutually agreed will help you the most.  Specific recommendations will then be given to help you best achieve these goals.  All recommendations or advice is based solely on your personal goals and objectives and involve no firm products.

Implementation Meeting:

Once we've reviewed the final plan.  We then begin the process of implementation.  Here our firm will ensure that your plan is put into action and that each component is properly coordinated and integrated with the entire situation. At implementation we also will meet with your current advisors or recommend new advisors to make sure that everyone is communicating and working cooperatively towards achieving your planning goals.

Review and Renewal Meetings:

Our firm is interested in developing and servicing long-term client relationships.  Part of that commitment is holding regular review meetings to ensure that we are meeting the needs of our clients.  At these meetings we will measure our performance and evaluate our planning strategies to see if change is needed.  We will also address any new or pressing planning issues, questions, or concerns that you may have.  Planning is a dynamic as opposed to static process and our main focus is to make sure that our clients leave review meetings feeling comfortable, informed, and confident about their plan.