Building Trust Through Service

January 31, 2022

BUILDING TRUST THROUGH SERVICE is more than a long-time firm motto.  It is key to the success of our clients and our firm.

As a financial planning firm, the primary services Financial Plans & Strategies, Inc (FPS) provides to you are:

Goal based planning:

Helping you identify and specifically define your financial goals. These may include:

  • Developing an initial detailed plan to help quantify these goals and building an action plan to achieve them.
  1. Planning for and funding a secure retirement
  2. Education planning for children and grandchildren
  3. Leaving a legacy for your heirs and favorite charities
  4. Funding short-term goals such as a down payment on a new home, renovation project or vacation 
  • Reviewing and updating this action plan. With your assistance the FPS planning team prepares for this review by obtaining information of any relevant changes since your prior review.  This updated information would likely include current statements on accounts for which FPS does not manage (including your retirement plan at work), updated information on income such as social security, pensions and income from part-time work, and details on any debt. We also want to obtain any other information which would affect your financial goals or action plan to achieve them.

  • Once the plan is prepared, one of our Certified Financial Planning Practitioners reviews and updates this information, preparing final documents for your meeting.

 

  • Prior to your review meeting, we provide you with the plan documents through your secure client portal. If you do not use the portal, a copy can be sent to you by email or mail.

 

Investment Management:

  • We determine an appropriate asset allocation target with you based on your goals, time horizon and risk tolerance. Then we invest your assets to this target, checking in annually with you to ensure this mix is suitable and meets your needs.

 

  • For clients who have $150,000 invested under our management, FPS provides our daily asset monitoring service. This is a dynamic approach to asset allocation and rebalancing, which allows us to take an active approach to managing your investments. Using your target allocation of stocks and bonds, we receive daily alerts and rebalance your portfolio to keep you on target. FPS charges no commissions or additional fees for rebalancing but you may incur small transaction fees from TD Ameritrade. Visit our blog to learn more -The Rebalancing Act.

 

  • We provide all clients who have assets under management of at least $5,000 with transparent quarterly consolidated report to show the advisory fee you pay our office, transaction fees paid to TD Ameritrade and the net return on your investments. These reports can be found in the vault of your secure client portal (Account Access).

Security:

  • In this age of identity theft, our firm maintains a dedicated commitment to security for our company and clients. Our computers and all the programs we use operate under the added protection of a cybersecurity portal. Our employees follow a variety of security procedures; and we highly encourage our clients to adopt these important security practices as well.
  • We provide all clients with a customized secure client portal. The portal includes the below features:
  1. Secure document storage in the vault with access to documents from your annual financial review, statements and tax forms from TD Ameritrade, and a shared documents folder where you can securely share documents with our team
  2. Budgeting tool
  3. Ability to link your outside investments and view your net worth daily

 

Communication:

  • Timely and helpful communication is critical to your PEACE OF MIND and the quality of our service. During business hours our phones are answered by a well-trained, caring, and knowledgeable person who can assist you or connect you with someone who can assist you.

 

  • Our commitment to service through teamwork allows for all questions and requests to be answered in an efficient manner from an extremely qualified source.

 

  • FPS uses our blog articles to leverage our ability to communicate with all clients in an efficient manner. Our blog discusses important topics in a modern world. You can subscribe to our blog by visiting our website at www.finplans.com and entering your name and email at the bottom of the home page.  For each article you receive an email notification from fps@finplans.com that provides a preview and a link to the full article.

 

  • Your increased understanding of our firm and how we can serve you should provide greater PEACE OF MIND.

 

Thank you for passing our name along to your friends and family. Most of our clients come from referrals and we appreciate the trust you place in our team and the opportunity to help you.

Please also read PEACE OF MIND, the first blog of this two-part series (https://www.finplans.com/blog/peace-of-mind).