WHAT DOES WORKING WITH A FINANCIAL PLANNER LOOK LIKE?

Let’s say you have purchased a piece of waterfront property to build your dream home on.

The land slopes gently downwards to a natural sandy lakeshore, dotted with swaying white birches and towering pines. You can picture yourself sipping coffee on your deck in the morning, watching the mist evaporate from still waters in the dappled sunlight. This is going to be where your family grows up, where you live out your days.

You wouldn’t dream of digging a hole just anywhere, pouring the foundation and whacking up some beams just to get it done.

Even if you were handy, you would take care to consult experts.

This, after all, is your dream home.

Otherwise (as any of the “disaster DIY” shows on HGTV should show you!), you may end up with windows facing the wrong way (no morning view!), a deck that needs constant fixing because of the underlying soil, a frustrating kitchen layout, bad water pressure, and all sorts of other disappointments.

For your dream home, you would hire experts.

You might hire an architect to draw up the plans for your home based on an extensive analysis of your property. You might decide to work with a contractor to actually execute the architect’s plans instead of spending months on site yourself, dealing with trades. You might decide to hire a designer or landscaper on a yearly basis to make changes to your home and property as your tastes change.

Depending on your own comfort level and skillset, you may hire one, or all three.

But what about your dream life? Who do you hire to build that?

A financial planner.

What does working with a financial planner look like?

That depends on the planner.

When you work with me, you can hire me to design, build, and maintain your dream life, or just one of the three.

You can work with me as your architect.

Through a 5-step proprietary process that includes five 90-minute sessions with you and an incredible amount of analysis, I will create a step-by-step plan. This plan will take the form of a 30-60 page bound document that includes all the analysis, reports, and projections I used to create the plan. Consider this the “blueprint” of your financial future.

You can then take that blueprint to another advisor to implement or implement it yourself. Or, you can have me implement it!

You can work with me as your contractor.

I will implement all the steps of your plan for you. I will make all the small tweaks that need to be made as things play out and monitor the progress on your behalf. I will make sure the house gets built to spec.

Once the house is built, you can then work with me as your designer.

Your tastes and preferences will likely change over the years – when you built the house, “greige” was your preferred paint colour, but now you want more vibrant colours, more modern furnishings, and a sauna!

Every year, I will check in with you to see what has changed. Do you have a new job, new baby, new business or new goal? If so, what changes need to be made to the plan to reflect that? I will review the plan with you, suggest any areas to pivot, and then make the changes. This yearly check-in ensures your life continues to reflect your dreams.

Depending on your own skills and comfort level, you can work with me in any of those capacities, or all three. This is your life, after all, so the consequences of not consulting experts are far more consequential than a subpar view out your kitchen window.

Book a call to learn how you can break ground on your dream life.