At Real Estate Wealth Planning, we believe that a financial plan is so much more than numbers and investments. A financial plan that you are excited to implement must be driven by your unique aspirations and definition of financial freedom.
Our goal with each family is to get to know you so well that we can truly customize a financial life plan that will bring you joy both now and in the future. How do we do that?
There are four distinct phases:
- Discovery
- Life Planning
- Financial Planning
- Implementation
There are two meetings in the discovery phase – a short initial consultation and an in-depth discovery meeting. We do not charge for these first two meetings. If you have a spouse or partner, we expect that both people attend every meeting during the discovery phase and the first 3 months of our engagement together.
During the initial consultation, we’ll learn a little bit about each other, and set expectations for the rest of the financial life planning process. Then, we’ll schedule a full discovery meeting, which will last 60-90 minutes.
The purpose of this second meeting is simple. Your planner will ask “What brings you here today?” and we will explore what led you to the point of seeking a financial advisor. You will have as much time as you need to share your background, current life situation, and aspirations for the future.
At the end, we will discuss any financial “hot topics” that you need addressed in the short term. We will also discuss some financial life planning homework to complete prior to our next meeting.
Finally, we will review pricing and the client contract. Pricing is usually a flat fee based on household net worth. We do not expect clients to sign the contract during the meeting. We prefer for clients to take the contract home to discuss and respond when you are ready.
Rather than simply asking you to name some far-away goals, such as retirement or education funding, we will spend 1-2 in-depth meetings discussing what truly matters to you and your family. How do you want to spend your time? How satisfied are you with your current work? What do you truly enjoy? What kind of legacy do you want to leave?
Once we have a clear picture of your heart’s core desires for your life, we will begin discussing obstacles. The reality for most people is that to achieve your definition of financial freedom, we will need to be very strategic about how we allocate your time and resources. We will begin discussing strategies to overcome those obstacles during this phase.
For more information about the Life Planning process we implement at Real Estate Wealth Planning, you can create a free account at https://lifeplanningforyou.com/.
This is the traditional part of the financial planning process that you may already be somewhat familiar with. Each family’s financial plan will be different, but expect to have an in-depth review of your savings, debts, investments, retirement plans, insurance, taxes, fringe benefits, and estate plan.
We also recognize that a financial plan isn’t worth much if it sits on a shelf once it’s created. This is why the financial planning phase of our process is actually 2-4 in-depth meetings where we will help you get organized, explore possibilities, learn about investments, and of course, discuss the actual strategies we can use to achieve your goals. We want to ensure that we are building a plan that is not only feasible for us to implement together, but one that you are truly excited about.
For clients that engage us in ongoing financial planning, we will be your guide and strategy partner as we implement your plan together. Each client will receive a personalized annual service calendar and meeting schedule. We will help keep you organized, connect you to insurance and tax professionals as needed, open and monitor accounts, give you investment advice, and much more. And of course, we will continuously monitor and update your plan as “life happens”.
Ready to learn more? Schedule a free consultation.
