Would You Want This From Your Financial Advisor?

Transcript

When a new family comes on board with us, one of the first things we do is hand them something called a planning roadmap. It's basically a document that lays out the entire onboarding experience: what we've already done together, what today's meeting might cover, and what the next few conversations are going to look like. The whole idea is that they always know where they are, where they're going, and why. No guessing what comes next.

What you're looking at is a sample version of one of these roadmaps. The family on here, Alex and Jordan Hayes, are completely fictional, but the process is very real. This is what our clients actually see when we have our onboarding meeting.

Phase one is all logistics. We want the accounts open, the transfers moving, and their financial junk drawer starting to get organized. We might open accounts like a rollover IRA, a Roth IRA, a joint investment account, or high-yield savings. We do this first on purpose. When someone comes into a planning meeting and they still have accounts scattered here and there, usually part of their brain is still on that, and we want to take that off the table before we go any deeper. It also allows us to have a much more productive debrief in phase two.

Phase two is the onboarding meeting, the first real sit-down after everything was in motion and things are starting to settle into their new accounts. We do a full debrief on the account transfers so they can see everything with their own eyes and feel settled about where things landed. We might look at an investment proposal or an investment policy statement. We walk them through the client portal, which is now their home base, because that's where their accounts live. We want to be sure they can log in, deposit money, take money out, connect bank accounts, and find statements. We want them comfortable and confident that they made the right decision and are in the right place. This is also when we walk through the roadmap together.

Phase three is a flexible one. What I mean is it's not always phase three. It might be phase one, depending on the client, because everyone is different, and we try to tailor our onboarding to that person and that family. For example, if a family comes in with a pretty clear financial foundation, things feel organized, and they're not carrying a lot of noise in their head, then maybe we get straight into this conversation and it's incredibly productive. But that might not be what's best for everyone. Some families, especially the ones whose finances have been scattered or unclear, find it difficult to think freely when the foundation isn't there yet. You ask someone to dream a little, to think about what they really want, and sometimes they don't even know where to start, or they keep it very generic. "I want to travel." So for those families, maybe it is phase three, where we can clear some of the fog, build some confidence, and then get into this conversation when they can actually be present for it.

So the moral of the story is this isn't a template. Every roadmap we build looks a little different depending on who's sitting across from us. For some, we may wait two years before we have this future-vision conversation, because they're just not ready yet, and that's totally okay. Before this future-vision meeting, we send over a short set of questions and exercises to sit with beforehand, because those answers are what we point our guidance toward. Money is simply the tool. Once we understand what it's in service of, everything that follows has a reason behind it. We're going to be doing and managing a lot of things behind the scenes, and this is how we align it all. We're just managing something a lot more personal than your portfolio.

Phase four is where the financial plan starts to take shape. Saving strategy, how much goes where each month, what the emergency reserve, or what I like to call an opportunity reserve, target looks like, and how cash flow actually moves through the household. Maybe we look at life insurance, disability, or umbrella coverage. Maybe we set up a direct indexing strategy in the joint investment account they're contributing to monthly. And because we did the vision conversation in phase three, the savings targets mean something, and they feel a lot more motivated to get things done. It might start as simple as, hey, you're overfunding retirement, you have two little ones at home, let's start putting money in a bucket that's a little more liquid.

Phase five wraps up the onboarding and bridges into the long-term relationship. We might do a full plan review, go through everything together, and make sure it's all working the way it's supposed to. Make sure accounts are titled correctly, beneficiary designations are updated, and estate planning is addressed, which is not anyone's favorite subject. Rome wasn't built overnight, and we know that, which is why we continue to review this roadmap.

Now they're feeling confident and clear, with a real sense of what they're building toward. We are a team for the long haul. They have access to us, our resources, and our professional network. We'll reach out if something is relevant. You won't have to chase us. If something changes in the tax code that affects your situation, you're going to hear from us. If a vesting date is coming up, you're going to hear from us. And we want to coordinate everything, adviser, CPA, insurance, so it's one team working together, not separate conversations that never connect.

So that's the roadmap. If you're an adviser watching this, feel free to take this framework and make it your own. The more intentional we all are about the client experience, the better it is for everyone. And if you're someone looking for an adviser, I hope this gives you a sense of what a true financial planning relationship can look like. We'd love to be that for you. If you're still here, grateful. Thanks for watching. Until next time.

Hosted byNick GeorgeCFP®, ChFC®, CLU®, IWA™FounderView bio →

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