Thank you for your interest in me and our firm. I truly appreciate your being in touch and asking what I do for my clients.
In a sentence, I see my role as helping take away the stresses caused by money. This of course changes from one individual to another. As a result we work hard to focus our attention at the core of the “stress” and begin building from there.
The majority of my clients are professionals and business owners with strong family incomes, and keen desires to achieve their goals. The key areas of focus are generally cash/debt management, real estate purchases, retirement savings, living benefits and life insurance, education savings, and business management issues (where applicable.)
With regards to our planning process, we are very systematic. After our Introductory Meeting, and assuming you decide to work with me, we would plan to meet for 1.5 – 2 hours to go through a Discovery Meeting. This meeting is a chance for me to ask questions about you and your financial life, and allow me an understanding of where you stand personally, professionally, and financially. We will also spend a good period of time discussing the goals you have for the future; primarily in the next 3 years. This is not to say we don't plan for 30+ years down the road, but it can be very "gray" the further out we look. 3 years is far enough to have an impact, and close enough we can just about touch, feel and taste it. Any planning directed at goals further out than 3 years is done with the knowledge that the goal will require further definition as we get closer.
The next meeting, the Planning Meeting, is when I report back to you with an outline of where you stand today and what strategies I would recommend for us to connect points A and B. In outlining these strategies I will lead you through what strategies exist and why I recommend the ones I have. The goal is to start building a framework or a Plan.
From there, the reporting is for you to take away, to think, and to discuss with the key people in your life. The primary plan may only serve as a benchmark for discussion and we may revamp the plan in certain areas. But, often it is the blueprint that we use to move forward. Bottom line, we have to have a point of reference with which to begin and the initial plan is just that.
Our steps from here will vary depending on the circumstance and how involved you would like me to be. At minimum we generally meet a third time to review/revamp/confirm the plan according to your thoughts, opinions, and/or ideas.
If this is where we stop and you are going to implement the strategies on your own, I work on a fee for service basis. The fee for my time is $400 (+GST) per hour and to complete the process to this point is generally 4 - 6 hours of time.
On the other hand, if we are involved in the implementation of the Plan, there is only a one-time planning fee of $1,000 (+GST), no hourly fees, and we ask that you are comfortable with us being compensated via commissions or investment management income. Most often this compensation comes from the investment and/or insurance companies we work with; however, occasionally nothing is paid from a company and we must come to you for compensation (ie. stocks, bonds, ETF's). In these instances we will fully outline the options you have, and the associated costs, before implementing anything.
As a fully independent firm/advisor we/I have no direct tie to any one product or service provider. As a result, companies that pay any form of compensation generally pay the same amount for each given product or service. This allows you the comfort of knowing my advice is not driven by who will pay me the most; from a compensation perspective, it makes no difference to me. I do have my favourite companies in each area based on what they provide, how they provide it, how efficient they are, and their level of service, but income is not a decision-maker.
The latter option is how I work with ~90% of my clients. This way it is part of my on-going responsibilities to keep your financial situation moving and growing in an efficient, directed manner. As a result we will have regular follow-ups based on when we see the next steps coming into play. Typically this means connecting every 6 - 12 months. And of course, if situations arise that warrant discussion before these follow-ups, we react accordingly. In this way it is a team approach. We each take our roles together with the idea of making your goals a reality.
Ultimately, my goal for you is that you will know where you money is going, why it is going there, and what the end result is expected to be. When these things are known, generally the money-related stresses are relieved and you are able to live a life free of financial worry.
In the end, I hope that I have done a good job outlining what we do, how we do it, and what you could expect from us. Please feel free to email/phone me with any questions and/or if you would like to arrange a time to meet. For further back-ground information on myself and our firm, please feel free to go to our website www.rgfwealth.com.
In the meantime, I hope that all is well and I look forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
RGF Integrated Wealth Management
Bryson Milley, BA CFP CIM
RGF Integrated Wealth Management
Financial Advisor
Director