Process

Financial planning takes work, initially on both of our parts. After we build your model, as our relationship deepens, it’s my goal to take work off of your plate, not add to it. I hope, however, that the entire process is not only educational & beneficial, but even fun as well. Working with me, at least in the beginning, will look something like this:

No matter what kind of relationship we’re beginning, it starts with data collection. We’ll have in-depth discussions about your life, your family, your money story, and your goals. I’ll ask you to link accounts and add information to your RightCapital model, because that model helps us do more than track net worth, it helps us identify what each pool of money is for, when it may be needed, and how it should be invested accordingly.

A good planning relationship should eventually help you worry less about money, not more. Part of that comes from clarity: knowing which dollars are there for near-term stability, which are there for future flexibility, and which are there for long-term growth.

If you choose ongoing advisory and want to move your investment accounts to one of my custodians, we’ll start that process as soon as possible, but keep in mind that it can take weeks (and sometimes months) to complete, based on how well your previous financial institutions play with others. Unfortunately, far too many of them would rather try to take their proverbial ball & go home.

The first several months will involve any number of meetings, via Zoom or in person, as well as phone calls & emails. There’s always more involved in the process than you thought, and if you didn’t or weren’t thinking of it, it’s my job to bring things to light. There are few aspects of your life untouched by money.

While we’ll eventually cover each of the topics below, the exact order will depend on what’s most important to you & your family. Good financial planning is as far from cookie cutter as you can get.

The words, “comprehensive,” and, “holistic,” get thrown around a lot when it comes to financial planning. While these words have meaning, they are most often used as marketing tools. Many advisor websites & brochures make their processes look as complicated & complete as possible, so people think they’re getting their money’s worth.

Spoiler alert: Only you will know whether you’ve gotten your money’s worth from an advisory relationship, and that will often only happen by surprise, like when you wake up one day & think to yourself, “I haven’t thought about money or my investments in a while, when I used to worry about them every day.”

(As an aside, have you ever received a big envelope from a financial services firm? Did it make you feel good, like they would really be able to take care of you? Ask yourself who’s really paying for that glossy marketing piece that comes in the mail in the fancy envelope.)

Financial plans for ongoing clients are living documents which change with life events. I don’t even like to use the term, “financial plan,” when working with clients. I more often refer to a client’s model, because that’s what we work within: an ever evolving and growing model of their financial lives. The model is how we look at potential outcomes & explore options that people may never even have thought they had, like early retirement, sabbaticals, charitable giving, etc. As our relationship deepens, my clients discover that planning is not just choosing the right investments. Planning is preparing for the future.

As I’ve mentioned before, I do not deliver a plan in the form of a multi page paperweight, although I will do that if you want. In the end, like any good relationship, the financial planning relationship takes time to grow, and the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

I will always do my work, as your fiduciary, but in the end, clients really do get what they give.