An ongoing relationship starts the same way as a one-time consulting relationship - with a thorough understanding of your situation and the development of objective recommendations tailored to your financial and life situation. See that page for information on this initial stage.
In an ongoing relationship we provide additional help to you:
- Assistance in implementing our recommendations in the most cost-effective manner appropriate for your circumstances
- Ongoing monitoring of your situation to make any adjustments that become necessary because of developments in the financial markets, with the laws or in your life
- Continuous measurement of your progress toward the long-term goals that we have mutually established
Personal service is a buzzword in financial services; everyone promises to deliver "exceptional personal service". But what does that really mean? In our case it means that we consider ourselves "on retainer" to help you explore and address any financial issue that comes your way; sort of like your own, personal family financial office. Our doors are open to you at any time to discuss any matter of concern to you no matter how large or small. And it means that we get to know you very well so that when financial recommendations or decisions need to be made, we can put ourselves in your shoes and reach the decision that is perfectly suited to your particular situation.
You can retain as much or as little involvement with the responsibility of your ongoing financial management as you desire. Most often our clients choose to enjoy the freedom of focusing on other interests or priorities in their lives and leave their financial management responsibilities entirely to us. In these relationships, which would be completely inadvisable with most other kinds of financial advisers, we establish a mutually agreeable goal in advance and meet periodically to report our progress. In the meantime it is our responsibility to take all actions necessary for our client's circumstance dictated by our professional judgment. Other clients prefer more "hands on" involvement with our recommendations and decisions. We work under whatever arrangement you find most comfortable for you.
Here are some examples of how an ongoing financial advocacy relationship differs from most other advisory relationships when it comes to, for example, helping you with investment transactions:
Mutual Funds - Where mutual funds are the best investment vehicle for your situation, we research the entire universe of available options. Our ultimate recommendations to you are true no-load funds no commissions to get in or out and low to below average annual fund expenses. We also monitor recommended funds going forward and recommend changes to alternative funds if problems or issues develop.
Stocks - If your stock portfolio is large enough, we prefer to use portfolios of individual stocks; sort of a personalized mutual fund. This gives you more control of your capital gain consequences and eliminates the ongoing expenses that erode your return even in the less expensive mutual funds. Your return is dictated by your decisions (with our help); it is not affected by other investors' decisions as it is when you invest in a mutual fund. When stock trades are placed, as your advocate we employ strategies to reduce your trading costs; we negotiate rates with the broker placing the trade and we group trades for several clients together to add leverage in those negotiations.
Fixed Income - In most cases we use a laddered maturity schedule of high quality fixed income instruments to achieve a client's fixed income exposure, if any is appropriate for their circumstance. In this regard, our desire to minimize client transaction costs leads us to group trades together where possible to gain leverage and then conduct a private auction among a national network of brokers to obtain the best possible purchase or sale pricing for our clients.
We are available to act as an investment advocate for any pool of money that you may have; an IRA, 403(b), trust account or personal investment account. Clients often have issues - known or unknown to them - about which "pool" of money to most appropriately use to achieve their desired investment exposure. We help them make those decisions and manage that process for them going forward.
View our On-Going Advocacy Agreement.
If you would like more information about ongoing financial advocacy services, Click Here