Client Update - Summer/Fall 2020
August, 2020
Dear Clients,
Welcome to the client blog post! Let's try this out to see if it's a more efficient way to communicate. I have a lot of news to share with you so I'm going to get right into it.
- Ongoing Financial Planning Education - In July I successfully completed a course for an advanced retirement planning designation. I can share more details about that officially beginning in September. I can announce that I will be offering clients more financial planning services going forward. The first new service I want to offer you is more help with Health Care Planning in retirement (see more about this in the Financial Planning Services section below). It’s vitally important and likely to be the largest retirement expense for most people.
- New Regulation and Increased Disclosure Requirements - You have received mailings from Royal Alliance as well as Focus Financial recently. This is due to Regulation “Best Interest” which came into effect June 30th. I won't go into the details of the regulation here but it has some effects that are important to be aware of. In short, it supports the importance of providing more financial planning to you, and, the convenience of electronic delivery of disclosures.
- I will be providing complimentary personalized financial planning and analysis for clients to help ensure that I have all the information required to make recommendations in your best interest (see more about this in the Financial Planning Services section below).
- I’m requesting that you register for online delivery for receiving the new required disclosures. Certain conversations we have will “trigger” the required disclosure and I’m required to log all disclosures sent. The e-delivery system is set up to make the process more efficient for you and me. You can access the eQuipt registration link (HERE) or from the "Client Center" page of the website. I can help you get set up so you can still receive the paper statements you want just contact me to schedule a time and I'm happy to help.
- Financial Planning Services - As a client with investment and/or insurance products with me financial planning services will be complimentary and anyone you refer to me will receive a 50% discount on any financial planning package or hourly services. Here is a listing of the services I am now offering and will be publishing to this website in the near future. These range from comprehensive financial planning to modular planning for specific goals or services.
- Full Financial Plan
- Retirement Income Plan
- Federal Employee Benefits Analysis + Social Security and Medicare
- Education Savings
- Financial Planning Basics for New Families
- Social Security Analysis and Enrollment
- Health Care in Retirement and Medicare Enrollment
- Financial Planning Basics for Singles
- Federal Employee Benefits Analysis
- Educator's Analysis
- Hourly Planning Fee for Ad hoc Services
- Social Security Enrollment
- Medicare Enrollment
- Medicare Annual Review
- These services will be offered as a fee for financial plan to those who are not clients. If someone doesn’t have an Advisor, their Advisor doesn’t offer planning or if they just want another pair of eyes to look at their plan and offer advice, these programs are a great fit. Again, anyone referred by a client will receive a 50% discount to help serve your family, friends, co-workers, etc.
- Why charge a fee?
- You are my highest priority and serving you is my greatest responsibility. Taking time away from attending to your needs has a value that needs to be recognized or I feel I am doing you a disservice.
- Seminars and Educational Programs – I will be hosting online seminars and programs beginning later this summer. I will send invitations to you so you can take part and/or share it with anyone you know who might benefit.
- The first ones will be geared toward understanding Medicare and Social Security. This should be timely for people turning 65 who would like help with navigating the complexities of these valuable retirement systems and need to make sure they enroll in Medicare during the annual enrollment period beginning in October.
- Introductions - You’ve probably noticed that I don’t often ask for introductions. That’s because I don’t want to make you uncomfortable by making you feel obligated or putting you on the spot. At the same time, given all the upheaval in the industry the last few years, I see some things that concern me. I see a lot of people who aren’t getting the level of care or advice they need or deserve. Many firms focus solely on very wealthy clients and have very high account minimums which leaves a lot of folks out in the cold. For those reasons, if there is anyone that you care about, who could benefit from another pair of eyes, I would be glad to help them.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for your time and attention. If you have questions be sure to contact me so I can help. Please watch for future blog posts with important announcements for how we do business together, opinions, commentary, tips and guidance on personal finance as well as messages of a more personal nature.
In Closing…
This has been an unusual and busy year on many levels. More so than any other I can remember. There certainly is a lot of change brewing in the world from how we work, shop and socialize, to broader social policy and politics, taxes and regulations, technology and business, and subsequently, the capital markets. I hope you know that you can count on me to do my best to keep up to date and provide my best advice and guidance personalized for you and your loved ones. I consistently monitor your accounts, investments and insurances. I’m committed to continuing my professional education. I will continue to work in a proactive and consultative manner to try to give my best advice and guidance for your unique needs, wants, goals and objectives. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions at any time and please don't keep me a secret.
Sincerely,
Jay
