The Invest With A Plan^SM process is rigorous and well-defined, but while the overall process is the same for every client, the experience is customized based on your individual situation and goals.  Here is an overview of what you can expect:

Initial Phone Call

Every relationship starts with an introductory call.  The goal of the call is simple - to make sure there is a solid match between the services you are looking for and the services I provide.  I'll ask you some basic questions about why you are looking for a financial advisor, what your concerns and challenges are and walk through my Three Foundational Rules.  If we both agree that we have a good match, we talk about next steps and I'll send you a meeting preparation checklist.

Discovery Meeting

We have two goals for this first meeting.  I need to get educated on your financial situation and goals and you need to learn enough about my process to be able to make a hiring decision.  To get educated, we review everything you've collected on the preparation checklist; I ask a lot of questions and let you do most of the talking.  I want to hear not only about the mechanics of your financial life, what you've got and where is it now... but I also want to hear about your goals, your concerns and learn the role that money has in your life.  I do not bring any paperwork to this meeting; this is NOT a sales meeting.  We walk through my process, get an overview of the Tax-Smart Planning Concepts and how we use them to guide our ongoing discussions.  We walk through my fees so you have a clear understanding of your costs.  If you decide to proceed, we start down two parallel "paths".

Paperwork Path

We start the process of detailed data collection and I will walk you through all the necessary paperwork and the mechanics of the account transfer process.  The transfers often take several weeks, so we start here to get this kicked off and quickly shift to the Planning Path.

Planning Path

We work from the base information gained from the Discovery Meeting and start to build a baseline eMoney plan.  We work together to make sure the plan accurately and completely reflects your goals and priorities.  We prioritize our projects around the Tax-Smart Planning Concepts and setup our schedule of ongoing conversations.

Ongoing

I review your complete plan and portfolio each month looking to make that both the mechanics of our relationship are working well (e.g., monthly contributions or distributions, cash levels, open action items, portfolio stance, etc.) as well as whether your plan is still on track given what has happened in the markets.  As often as once a quarter, we have a scheduled review of your overall progress towards your goals and work on open financial planning projects guided by the Tax-Smart Planning Concepts and your priorities.  We review your portfolio performance in the context of your overall plan to chart progress towards your goals.  We look at what the market has given (or taken away) and together decide whether any adjustments need to be made to your plan.

As you can see, the overall process is well-defined, but customized to your specific situation and goals.  The best client-advisor relationships are grounded in open, honest and regular conversations.  In addition to the regular, scheduled communications, I am available on-demand because life has a tendency to get complicated and throw the occasional curve ball at you.  Are you ready to get started?