The Financial Planning Process
Welcome Session
Our initial conversation is about identifying your unique values and goals. I'll ask you about everything in your life that has a dollar sign attached to it, and begin the exploration of the role of each asset in your life. After this I will send you a proposal letter detailing our work together.
Information Gathering
I collect and review all of your essential financial documents and begin the process of asking questions about your current finances. I create a current cash flow model to help us understand the flow of income and expenditures in the household. A balance sheet is created to present all of the your assets and liabilities.
Goal Setting and Financial Review
Initial sessions revolve around defining your goals and reviewing the current state of the five areas of financial planning. This process culminates in a written report containing both a qualitative evaluation and a quantitative analysis of where you stand relative to your goals.
Financial Planning
In this stage, we build upon the financial review to make recommendations in each area. The focus of this stage is directed toward those areas that have the largest impact on the client’s goals. A detailed written Financial Plan is presented to the client at the beginning of this stage and is revised continually as our conversation progresses.
Scenario Analysis
This stage posits any number of “what if” scenarios and shows the repercussions of each of them on your position. Typical scenarios involve considering the passing of family members, disability, dependent care costs, health care costs, inheritances, large capital gains taxes, education costs and more.
Presentation of Your Plan
I deliver the plan for you to review. We then schedule a good time meet for 90 minutes and go over the plan. In our meeting we will discuss any questions you might have and what steps we need to take to implement your plan to align your finances with your goals.
What to Expect
This process to create your plan typically takes about 4 months. During this time I am 100% available to you to ask any questions.
After you have your plan I am still here to support you.
Many clients come back each year, or ask to work with me for the year that they are implementing their plan.