| 3. Our Services Financial Foundation Service |  |  | |
All relationships begin with our Financial Foundation Service. This service focuses on building a sturdy foundation for our client’s financial future as well as our relationship. This begins with a thorough process to get our client’s entire financial life in order. We gather all of the client’s financial information, organize it, store it electronically and, if they choose, make it available via our secure website for them and their advisors to view. This then becomes a secure, easily accessible file cabinet for the client and their advisors to access their key financial information.
Next, we explore what the client’s goals and objectives are for their financial lives. We focus on virtually all areas of the client’s financial affairs including insurance, investments, estate, income tax, educational funding, debt management and retirement planning.
With the client’s information organized and goals documented, we host an “Advisor Summit” where the client’s trusted advisors are invited to discuss the client’s specific situation in detail. The goal of this summit is to explore the best solutions for the client from numerous perspectives and to gain consensus among the team of advisors. This avoids the common problem of miscommunication between the client and members of their advisor team. A question asked of one advisor, in a slightly different way than was asked of another advisor may result in two completely different answers. Different answers to what the client believes to be the same question leads to confusion. This confusion makes it difficult for the client to make decisions. If, however, the advisor team is on the same page from day one, this miscommunication can be virtually eliminated by having all of the trusted advisors a part of formulating the recommendations which are initially presented to the client.
Following the summit, we present the recommendations to the client along with their own customized Valeo Financial Organizer which serves as their central reference point for all of their financial information. After reviewing the recommendations and prioritizing them, we spend the next 60 to 90 days methodically accomplishing each and every recommendation.
As part of this process, if they choose, the client's financial information will be organized in such a way that they can easily keep track of all aspects of their financial affairs, all on one screen, updated in real time, as often as they like.
Clearly our Financial Foundation Service is far more than the typical financial planning service. The service gets our client's financial lives in order historically, presently and positions them to remain in order on a go forward basis.
Proactive Financial Advisory Services
Once the Financial Foundation Service is complete, we transition to our Proactive Financial Advisory Services. These services combine to form a disciplined process ensuring proactive review of each of the areas a client needs to address in their financial lives at a minimum of once each year. Certain areas, such as investments, are reviewed much more frequently, while other areas, such as insurance, are often reviewed only once each year.
Reactive Maintenance Service
Clients not exceeding $500,000 of directable investment assets may elect to continue our relationship on a reactive basis. They are encouraged to call or email with questions throughout the year, knowing that an unbiased expert that is already completely familiar with their affairs will be able to thoughtfully answer their questions. In return, we ask they make a $500 charitable contribution to our charitable fund with the Central Indiana Community Foundation.
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