The Financial Planning Process

We begin by establishing a relationship with you, through a no-obligation, Get-Acquainted meeting.  We’re passionate about developing relationships that work for you and for us.  We’ll describe the services and reports we’ll provide, and give you plenty of time to ask questions.  If you like what you hear, we’ll provide a quote for services which we believe is as reasonable as any you’ll find.

The data gathering process can either happen at the Get-Acquainted meeting, or afterwards.  We’ll provide you with a list of the things we’ll need in order to comprehensively evaluate your situation.

Next, we analyze your situation, develop reports, and prepare for our next meeting with you. At this meeting, we will present initial findings and will identify any gaps in the data that we’ve collected and make certain that we’re giving you what you need. We will also perform a sensitivity analysis for your plan using our MoneyGuidePro® software that helps identify the strengths and weaknesses of your situation.

We follow this with a third meeting at which we’ll finalize our conclusions and recommendations.  The recommendations always include high-level (by asset class) investment recommendations.  If you’d like specific recommendations for the mutual funds, ETFs or other funds we believe you should have in your portfolio, we can provide these as well for an additional fee.

For clients who would prefer not to manage their own investments, we offer our ongoing Assets Under Management (AUM) program.  For a fee, we will provide specific investment recommendations, and we will regularly re-balance your portfolio in light of your objectives and current marketplace conditions.  And when you’re in the AUM program you’re entitled to annual reviews of your financial plan in our software, and answers to occasional questions about all matters financial (car and home purchases, college funding, etc.).