I know it can be hard trying to find the right financial advisor to work with.

Most advisors like to use big, fancy terms that leave you itching to get out of their office as fast as you can.

Don’t worry. That’s not us.

If you’re looking for a qualified advisor to help you through the maze of investing and financial planning strategies, there’s a possibility we’re a good fit.

The outline below summarizes the typical profile of clients we work with. If you feel this describes you, we would love for you to contact our firm for an initial interview.

This isn’t a high pressured sales call. This is chance to see if we mesh well together.

I’ve had the extreme pleasure of working with an amazing group of clients over the past ten years.

While every client has a unique personality and story, the people we work with also tend to have very strong similarities.

Here’s a look at the typical clients we are currently servicing:

• Our clients are already retired or are approaching retirement (within 5-10 years).
• Our clients consider themselves to be “conservative”. That means they are much more inclined to protect what they have while generating a decent enough return to live off of without having to take an extra amount of risk.
• Our clients do not watch all day, every day, and let daily swings in the market affect their long term financial plan.
• Our clients realize that there is more to life than money. They take pride in spending time with their families, helping out the community, and living each day to the fullest.

In case that isn’t clear, here’s a typical profile of what our clients do not look like:

• Our clients do not call us wanting to buy some penny stock that their co-worker told them about over lunch.
• Our clients do not consider a rant by Jim Cramer on “Mad Money” to be sound financial advice.
• Our clients do not let one bad day in the market derail them from their long term financial goals.

I am a fee-based Certified Financial Planner™ professional who proudly acts as a fiduciary for my clients. This means I have a legal obligation to put clients’ interests far before my own in all recommendations I make.

Each client goes through our step-by-step process named The Financial Success Blueprint™ (you can learn more about our process below).

Within this process, we get to really know our client’s story inside and out. We help them identify the strengths, challenges, and opportunities they have in achieving their financial goals.

Clients will also get access to the latest technology which allows 24/7 access to all of their accounts, aggregated into one user-friendly platform –no more logging into several different online accounts to see the balances of all your investments.

We believe that our clients deserve the latest technologies so we are constantly exploring and investing into new platforms. Because of this, our planning approach tends to be more proactive than the typical financial advisor role with which most people are familiar.

 

These plans are primarily built around life events, with retirement being the most common one. Other events include: wealth transfer, risk management, succession planning (for business owners), and asset protection.

The Way We Communicate

As is hopefully evident by my blogging activities, I communicate regularly with clients via technology (email is my preferred communication medium). You can also keep track of me on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

My experience is that it is very, very difficult for financial advisors and investment managers to actually perform their job if they are on the phone or in meetings all day, every day.

Because of this, I block off 2 1/2 days per week to handle client meetings. I also have a trained financial advisor on staff that is able to meet with clients and deliver our process effectively.

The rest of my days are spent doing research and producing more valuable content that will benefit my clients.

I, or someone on my team, visit with each client twice per year, and we provide unlimited email support between meetings.

Many of our clients are local to Southern Illinois, but many are from all over the United States, and we work together virtually. Under this arrangement, we use web conferencing (like Skype), phone, and email to regularly communicate.

To ensure that my time is best spent handling the essential client issues, our firm has built a support system that takes pride in customer service. Our staff is trained to always put the client’s needs first.

If you’re the person that feels the need to be constantly on the phone with their advisor director, then we probably aren’t going to be the best option for you.

It has been my experience that phone conversations without a clear “plan of attack” often deviate me from what my primarily role is: helping my clients achieve their goals.

That is very different from having a scheduled phone appointment where we have a specific list of criteria that we need to address on that call. Those calls are highly efficient, and are strongly encouraged.

For those interested in working with us, we came up with a simple yet powerful process.

This process is called The Financial Success Blueprint™. Here is a brief rundown of our step-by-step process.

Step 1: The Discovery Call
This is where we learn more about your situation and your financial goals. We’ll take a close look at your current strengths, opportunities, and challenges in you reaching those goals.

Step 2: The Recognition Factor
We’ll deliver your goals in a format that helps you better understand where you’re currently at. and what you need to do to get there.

Step 3: The Simplified Data Solution
By using Blueleaf as our integration partner, you’ll be able to access all of your accounts in one place. We’ll also be able to sync with Instream Wealth Solutions so that you can monitor your investments and make sure they are truly working towards your future goals.

Step 4: The Clarity Road Map
This is where we deliver the results of your comprehensive financial plan. We’ll help you identify any tweaks in your portfolio that need to be made today in order to have a positive impact on your portfolio down the road.

Step 5: After Action Review Two to four weeks after we deliver the plan, we schedule a follow-up meeting to see what questions you have on the plan and if you need any further assistance implementing our recommendations.

 

For clients who want ongoing help managing their investments, fees are based on a percentage of assets under management. In some cases where the client is in need of an income guarantee or insurance for estate planning, commissions may apply.

Our investment management services are competitive, and we do our best to make sure that our clients keep more of the return. If interested in these services, feel free to contact us, and we’ll explain more in depth on how to proceed.

Please note that we never take custody of the assets. We always use a third party custodian to execute our trades and produce our client statements. What this means for you is that there will always be a record produced for any transaction we do.

Most importantly I feel that clients and their advisors should get along and work as a team. Good financial planning and investment management doesn’t work overnight. It takes time, patience, and trust.

I’ve done the best I can at structuring my work and services in a manner that gives clients personal attention and financial management support. I know there is always room for improvement, and I strive to get better at what I do each day. My uncompromising promise is to take the thousands of hours of research I do each year and leverage it to benefit those who place their trust with me and my firm.

Due to advancements in technology, I’m happy to work with investors all over the United States (as briefly mentioned above). We have a wonderful web-based virtual meeting program that allows me to work with clients in a very personal manner despite being hundreds or even thousands of miles apart.

If you’ve never thought about working with an advisor virtually – I think you’d be pleasantly surprised at how easy, efficient, and enjoyable it can be. If you live near the Southern Illinois region, I’m more than happy to meet you at our location personally.

Could We Work Together?

After reading above, if you’d like to have a conversation about working together, I’d be happy to invest 30 minutes of my firm’s time getting to know you and your financial goals better, and help determine if there’s value I can provide in your life.

One of my advisors or I do all of our initial appointments via phone and/or web conference. To set up an initial meeting, have your questions answered, and to see if we could be a good fit – just use the “Schedule Appointment” button below.

Thanks for checking out this tab and learning more about who I serve, and how we work together.

No problem! You can ask us any question on retirement. We do our best to respond to questions via email within 24 hours, and while we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to help everyone, we do our best to at least get you the answers you need so you don’t make a long term commitment to a complicated financial product you might later regret. Just use this form to ask a confidential question to the Good Financial Cents team and someone will get back to you shortly.