The Wealth Management Process

At our introductory meeting, we discuss what you need to know to protect yourself, your family, and your assets from a catastrophic event that could derail your lifestyle, your retirement, and your legacy. We also discuss your investment history and ask you to provide us with an overview of your financial situation. In addition, we discuss our risk management and investment philosophy and determine if our process and philosophy match what you need from a financial advisor. If we agree that we have a basis for working together, we discuss the next steps.

When the decision is made to begin working with our firm, we send you the forms to start the planning process and a list of documents needed to begin the financial planning process. Once we receive those items, the documents are forwarded to our financial planning department. Your documents are returned to you in the exact order they were provided to us.

At this meeting, we have an in-depth discussion of your values, goals, relationships, assets, advisors, risk management, estate planning, and your interests. This helps us get to know you and identify the challenges you face in pursuing all that is important to you and uncover any potential trainwrecks that could derail your ability to live out your preferred lifestyle. We examine your current situation, the goals you would like to pursue, and how we can maximize your probability of success.

After we have had a chance to input your data, a meeting will be scheduled to review the data and secure any additional information necessary to complete your financial plan.

At this meeting, we present the fully customized financial plan, which includes a detailed cash flow analysis, balance sheet, retirement planning analysis – including your probability of success, accumulation goals analysis, debt management, “what if?” scenarios, a stress test of your plan, and other in-depth planning. This plan will outline steps to be taken to help you pursue your stated goals and objectives. We also have a general discussion about a wide variety of investment vehicles available to design and construct your investment plan.  

At this meeting, we present specific investment recommendations and the action steps to help you pursue your specific goals and objectives. A written investment plan, investment proposal, and investment policy statement will be provided for your review and consideration. 

At this meeting, we are ready to make a mutual decision to proceed with our investment recommendations. If we both choose to work together, we execute the documents to put your investment plan into motion.

When you have multiple investment accounts, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork you receive. At this meeting, we help you organize your statements and other documents. We also answer any questions you may have, so that you understand exactly what is happening with your money. We also discuss part I of the Advanced Plan – review of any risks identified in the financial plan and offer guidance and suggestions on how to transfer those risks and next steps.  

At this meeting, we discuss part II of the Advanced Plan – review your current estate planning documents (if applicable). If new or revised documents are warranted, design assistance will be provided, ensuring the documents accurately reflect your goals and objectives. We also make specific recommendations as to how your beneficiary designations should be modified to conform to your estate plan. In addition, we discuss any tax planning strategies to help mitigate your tax liability and philanthropic planning (if applicable). As a follow up to this meeting, we communicate any discussion on estate and tax planning with your attorney and accountant.