03/03/2019
No airplane can take off without a flight plan; no ship can sail without a plotted course; no house can begin construction without a blueprint; and no household/family can contemplate a successful financial journey, especially across more than one generation, without some sort of comprehensive financial, investment and estate plan. No one actually plans to fail financially; it's just that most people fail to plan. My job... indeed, my mission in life... is to help households/families like yours make just such a comprehensive plan... and then guide them through the completion of that plan, year after year.
At the human level; at the level of you as the family talking to me as the financial planner. Planning is almost always less complicated and easier to do than most people expect.
We start by assessing where you are, what you own, what you owe what you earn, and what your expenses are. This is simply collecting baseline data. It doesn't deal with where you're going or how you're going to get there. But it does give us a clear (and shared) understanding of the very first thing you have to know in any journey: exactly where you're starting from.
From there, we create a sort of wish list of your hopes and dreams; what you would like to accomplish financially, for yourself and for the people you care about.
This also turns out to be pretty straightforward, because it usually focuses on a very few threshold issues. When and how do you want to retire? Do you want to work forever, but in a business that you own and love? What are you going to need or want to do for your parents as they grow older? Who do you have to, or want to, educate? Children? Grandchildren? What's your philosophy about legacies: heirs, charities? What would you do if you could?
Then we get out the calculator, and see if we can turn those hopes and dreams into concrete financial goals:
1. What will the things you want to do cost, and when?
2. What's the gap between where you are and where you want to get to, and how much time have we got to close that gap?
3. Can you put away enough money, and can that money earn a sufficient return, to close the gap in the time allotted? Can we get there?
If we find that we can, then you're already got the foundation and the framework of a financial plan. If we find that we can't fund all your dreams in the time we're got, then we have to consider some trade-offs. Maybe we wanted to get you to an income of $6,000 a month over Social Security and your $401(K) payout, and we wanted to pay for the college education of your granddaughter. When we put a pencil to it, perhaps we find that we can do most, but not all, of both. $5,000 a month and the little girl's college, or $6,00 a month and half her tuition... trade-offs like that. So you have some decisions to make. But again, when that process settles out, you've substantially framed up a plan.
Along the way, as the plan takes form, we'll want to insure it's outcome against the risk that you won't be around, or wouldn't be physically able to complete it. A plan that's unsinkable unless it hits an iceberg isn't really unsinkable. And it isn't really a plan. It's more in the nature of a bet, and prudent people don't bet on the financial fate of their families.
At that point, I'll work up an investment portfolio that has some history of producing the kinds of long term returns we've calculated that we'll need. We'll let the accountants and attorneys (yours, my firm's, or both, as you see fit) work out the technical end: wills, trusts and the like. And there will be your and your family's comprehensive plan.
For whatever it's worth, I promise you I won't deliver a plan that's less than complete, or doesn't do what we agreed on, or simply isn't the very best we can do. We'll just keep sending the experts back to the drawing board, to work on it until it's right.
Then it just becomes a question of giving the plan enough time, enough money, and enough faith. We'll update the plan at least annually (more often if your circumstances really change, or when the tax laws do) but we have to try to resist the temptation to tinker with it, or micromanage it, or change it, just for the sake of changing it.
That's how it works. What I can't describe... what you may not fully understand until you experience it... is the tremendous weight of concern that's lifted from you when you know you have a first-rate plan in place. No one can relieve you of the responsibility for your family's financial success, but a plan (and if I may say so, a planner) can take away so much of the anxiety and the worry involved.
Well, that's my story. That's what I do, and I hope you can see how much I love doing it, and why. Now, before we proceed any further, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have at this stage...
And before I answer, may I have permission to answer as frankly as a doctor would a patient? Because that's how I view myself... more of a consultant/adviser than a "salesperson". A doctor doesn't sell a patient on curing their ills, any more than I'll have to "sell" you on making better financial decisions, once you become better informed (as wealthy people are).
Our initial consultation will be just that. I'll consult with you to find out where you are vs. where you'd like to be. Leave your checkbook at home. All I ask is that if I invest the my time and expertise into putting together a plan that meets your needs (of course you being the sole judge of that) that you'll put the plan into effect immediately, as I can assist anyone to some degree, on nearly any budget. I do all of this complimentary, as my compensation comes from the investment companies. All is nearly complimentary. All I charge is your honesty, loyalty and referrals.
I love what I do because it involves helping people get what they want, which in turn will help me get what I want.
Be and do well my friends. Live long and prosper! And thank you for the opportunity to serve you and your family's current and future financial needs.
Sincerely,
Chris Cobb
