We believe that financial goals and dreams are realized over time with planning, diligence, and hard work. Like the laws of the harvest, success doesn’t come overnight. Successful financial plans come from diligent planning and management of each step — the preparation of the land, the selection of the seed, the planting, the tending, and ultimately the harvest. Knowing that successful plans are realized with long-term commitment, we believe the best way to help our clients achieve their goals is within a long term, client-centered relationship. We stand alongside each of our clients, strive to truly understand who they are and what they hope to accomplish. Then we stick with them through both the good and bad times.
Our Process stems from our understanding of you and your situation and
your goals. It can be described in three basic steps:
Plan design is about understanding your current financial situation, being able to identify your personal goals and then determining a best approach to get from here to there. Common goals we help plan for include retirement, estate planning and taxes, education planning, tax planning, cash flow management, and insurance planning. Good plan design should factor in everything from your personal feelings and experiences, to current tax law and state of the art financial planning concepts.
Many a financial plan look like the typical fitness plan – the design was good but failure was a result of implementation and on-going management. Although some clients seek our council for just plan design, clearly the majority ask us to come alongside them for the long run to help them implement and manage their plans. It is in these long-term relationships that we are able to truly partner with each client and play a major role in helping them successfully meet their goals. We are able to bring to the table state of the art technology to help our clients actively manage all parts of their plans.
Life changes. Goals and priorities change. Many a great financial plan falls short simply because it isn’t updated regularly. We meet with each client no less than annually. We ask key questions to evaluate 1) is the plan doing what is it is designed to do? 2) Have we accounted for significant changes in tax and estate planning law? 3) What has changed in your life and does the plan continue to meet your goals and priorities? Inevitably plan review leads to potential changes in plan design and ultimately in implementation and management. The planning process is clearly very dynamic.
We approach fees in two different manners:
Flat fee for plan design or consultation: We typically begin all relationships by doing a consultation and plan design. We want every new client to feel that they were clearly understood and real thought and care went into the design of their plan. It is important that compensation does not bias the plan at all.
Asset based management fees: For those investments for which we come alongside and help manage the portfolio, we charge to the account a fee as a % of the funds we manage. The goal is to truly tie our interest with that of each client. We are compensated not only for success in growing our client’s portfolios but for providing ongoing and outstanding advice and counsel.