What’s Your Process Like?

I’ve never really thought about sharing our process in a blog post, but after speaking with some men and women who are much smarter than I am, I thought it might be helpful. So, here is a little bit of background about our process and what you could expect working with us.

We serve our clients as their life advisor, with a belief that wealth management is an ongoing process in which we help and coach individuals and businesses to reach their financial objectives, including, financial independence, estate preservation, and a legacy of wealth, significance, and values. Most people don’t know how much money they need to retire, send their kids to college or plan for other important goals. We help clients achieve freedom and independence financially, so that they can accomplish their God-given calling in life.

We have a FIDUCIARY responsibility to act in the best interests of our clients. What matters most to us during the financial planning process is that we focus on what matters most to you.  There are many financial professionals that do not have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients.  Having a fiduciary responsibility means you are legally and ethically held responsible for doing what is right for the client. We treat that responsibility with the utmost respect.

Now that you have a framework for what we do, this is how we do that…..

Our first step is to meet with you in person or via web conference and gather information about you, your financial situation and your goals. We then help you align your desires with your goals to accomplish your financial objectives and stay true to your values. We need to know what’s important to you about money to construct the best financial plan. Working through the financial planning process helps determine if your desires are in line with your overarching goals and values.

Once we have all of the information we deem necessary to build a financial plan, we then go to work for you.  We take a holistic approach to financial planning. We believe that every financial plan should consist of a full review of your entire financial picture.
In one way or another, your investments affect your taxes which affect your estate which affects your insurance needs. All areas of financial planning are important and we monitor all of them. Helping you achieve your financial goals is our number one priority. We’ll create a plan that shows you where you are today and how to get where you want to be in the future. Behind the scenes we are calculating, tabulating and determining alternate scenarios for your financial plan. We utilize some of the most sophisticated financial planning software in the industry.

Now that we’ve built your financial plan and connected you with your own personal website where you can track and monitor your progress, we review the financial plan with you. This is where we show you the steps we think are necessary for you to achieve your goals.  After we’ve reviewed your plan together, we then begin to work on plan implementation.

Plan implementation is where most of your decisions are going to need to come in.  Do I pay off that loan? Do I change my investment strategy? Am I paying too much for insurance? These are a couple of the questions we might begin to explore as we implement your financial plan.

A significant portion of financial planning is investment management.  We take a comprehensive approach to managing your portfolio. First we analyze your current portfolio to see what’s working well and what needs to be changed. Then we use a three pronged approach for our continued management of your assets: We use fiduciary standards to rigorously analyze and choose the investments which best adhere to your values. We only utilize investments and companies that are the most strategically aligned with your goals and objectives and that put you first. We then rigorously analyze the performance and management of your assets to ensure the criteria we’ve set forth is accomplishing the agreed upon standards.

The framework for our entire Investment Philosophy hinges on two well known Nobel Prize winning concepts, Modern Portfolio Theory & the Efficient Market Hypothesis.
Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT) is a theory on how risk-averse investors can construct portfolios to optimize or maximize expected return based on a given level of market risk, emphasizing that risk is an inherent part of higher reward.

Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) is an investment theory that states it is impossible to “beat the market” because stock market efficiency causes existing share prices to always incorporate and reflect all relevant information.

After we implement your financial plan & investment strategies, we need to continuously review your plans and strategies to ensure you are on track to attain your goals. During the implementation and review stages, we partner with CPA’s and Attorneys to help you with your tax and estate planning concerns.

I hope this condensed version of what we do helps you understand how we help our clients.

To learn more Give us a call today for a complimentary consultation.

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Thank you,

Jose Cuevas
President & CEO
High Five Financial
847-290-0753
http://www.highfivefinancial.com
info@highfivefinancial.com