VIP Members FAQ's

1. What do you do?
2. How do you deliver on that (what you promised to clients)?
3. What kind of clients do you serve best?
4. What keeps you in this business?
5. Exactly how do you charge?
6. What exactly do your clients get for what they pay you?
7. Why should I work with you (over other advisors)?
8. What is the process if I become a client?
9. What makes you think I would be a good client?
   
10. How can I be certain I can trust you (your firm)?

1) What do you do?

We help people make smart choices about their money so they can accomplish their goals for the reasons that are important to them.

We founded our comprehensive financial services firm about eighteen years ago to help business people and their families totally and completely get their "financial house in order," and keep it there, so that they can create the greatest probability they accomplish their goals and make smart choices about their money along the way.

 2) How do you deliver on that (what you promised to clients)?

Our job is to orchestrate the written plan we help every client create & we hold everyone involved accountable, including you, to ensure the greatest probability the plan unfolds well.

It all starts at our first meeting with a simple conversation about what's important.
Having this experience in our first meeting, which takes an hour, is a very good way to determine if we might be a good fit in working together. And… that's the primary issue I ponder with anyone interested in our firm. Will this be a good fit or not?

3) What kind of clients do you serve best?

We have a small community of business people and retirees.

We have a specific client profile, but it's fair to say we work with financial delegators who are passionate about their goals. The clients we serve best have well-over $750k.

4) What keeps you in this business?

 We've been helping affluent clients make smart choices about their money and accomplish their most important goals for almost 18 years now.

We originally started this firm with a simple idea to help people in business which then expanded to help them create a comprehensive financial plan and manage their money so they could do all the things they wanted and not worry about running out. After many years in this business, the financial issues have become the easy part, what motivates us now is empowering clients to make smart choices with their money, fulfill their aspirations and seeing them experience genuine happiness and security in their lives.

This gives us a sense that we're making a difference helping coach people who believe money is important but that there are things in life more important than money.

5) Exactly how do you charge?

We charge a single simple fee which is a percentage for the assets under our management according to a schedule outlined in our Financial Services Guide.

Our minimum fee is $7,800 per year ($650/mth), so the clients we serve the best have combined financial assets exceeding $750,000.

6) What exactly do your clients get for what they pay you?

We provide ten services, which involves an annual checklist of well-over 100 checkpoints we cycle through for each client. We have a team of the best-in-class subject matter experts in town across every area of finance. In essence…

• For every client our job is to ensure there is a fully-updated written and comprehensive lifetime financial plan at all times.
• We hire and then oversee the money management, and make sure that the fees are as low as they can be for the most suitable investment strategy our team recommends.
• This kind of peer-review oversight is designed to protect you and your assets.
• One person on our team ensures that your tax return is filed on time, takes advantage of every opportunity and that there are never any major tax-surprises.
• We have a person whose job it is to ensure that there is a plan for what happens with your assets when you're gone, and as importantly that there is a clear plan in place to manage your assets if you are unable or unwilling to manage things yourself.
• We have people on our team that review all your insurance, look for gaps and make recommendations about how much you need, or if you need it at all.

These ten services we give to every client in our Private Client Services, because we've learned that clients who achieve their goals had a comprehensive checklist-driven annual process like this to make certain nothing falls through the cracks and that the plan is on-track. In short, to make sure their financial house is in order.

7) Why should I work with you (over other advisors)?

It depends (let's not get ahead of ourselves). At this stage, it's not about whether we do business together or not. Our process is focused on establishing whether there will be a good fit in working together. If we both agree that there is… then great. If not… our process is designed to give you clarity about your situation. So if there's not a fit, we will have added-that value for you.

 8) What's the process if I become a client?

depends (let's not get ahead of ourselves). At this stage, it's not about whether we do business together or not. Our process is focused on establishing whether there will be a good fit in working together. If we both agree that there is… then great. If not… our process is designed to give you clarity about your situation. So if there's not a fit, we will have added-that value for you.

• The first step is to schedule an appointment with me, at no charge, to get your Financial Road-map™ done.
• If it's a good fit & we move forward, we then spend two weeks getting the first draft of your financial plan completed.
• We schedule a meeting to immediately begin implementing the elements of the plan that our team of best-in-class subject matter professional feels need the most attention.
• We ask every client to schedule 3 meetings over the next 12 months (meeting once every four months is the minimum number of meetings needed to get the information we need from you).
• The first of these meetings is called a Comprehensive Safety Review™ (CSR) where we review all the action items identified to create the greatest safety to your plan (within that meeting, our team will have reviewed all your insurance policies and will report on any recommendations that come from that).

 9) What makes you think I would be a good client?

 Let's go through our client profile & see if you think you meet the profile of the client that we serve the best.

10) How can I be certain I can trust you (your firm)?

Trust is an interesting thing… it is both earned & given. It's a requirement of any meaningful business relationship… any relationship.

We complete your Financial Road-Map™ in our initial meeting. The reality is that the highest purpose of that meeting is to determine if it will be a good fit for us to work together or not. If after an hour, it seems as though things should move forward, it will be obvious to both of us. If things are not going well, it will be obvious to both of us. Our process for that meeting is designed to determine if we can establish a relationship where we trust each other, and to decide if it is a good idea to begin moving forward together.