Blogged Business Planning

The Briefcase Office

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:28:53 +0000

Today’s blog post is more a question to my readers than any great insight. One of the goals of my practice is to be completely portable and virtual. In my mind, I think of this idea as the briefcase office. I would like to be able to be able to do virtually any business function necessary in my practice from any location (with wifi) using nothing more than what I can easily carry in one briefcase.

The first requirement I identified in order to achieve this is to make as much software choice available in the cloud as possible. The second requirement is to be as paperless as possible.

So, what’s third?

Here’s what I think needs to be in my briefcase and on my laptop right now:

Laptop
Notepad (sometimes I need the flow of that pen to get ideas going)
Pen & Pencil
Financial calculator
Smartphone
Headset for phone and laptop

On the laptop or in the cloud:

Google Apps
Dropbox
Evernote
Google Voice
Cloud-based planning software (e.g. MoneyGuidePro, Interactive Advisory Software)
Cloud-based CRM (if not built in to planning software)
Bookkeeping software

What am I missing. What would you need in your briefcase office?

My True Vision Statement

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:05:27 +0000

It has been some time since I’ve added anything here. That is not because planning is not going on, but because I am working through some minutia and details that really would not bring much value nor interest to the community. I am, in fact, getting very close to launch.

A couple of weeks ago I did strike upon what I believe to be my true Vision Statement, which I will share below. It is certainly very non-traditional, and I will continue to maintain my prior Vision Statement in some manner, but it is a Vision that can help drive much of my business decisions-making.

Vision Statement

Our practice will have had such a positive impact and held such a valued place in our clients, partners and colleagues lives that many of them would want to and would choose to attend our funerals.

Achievable? Maybe not. It speaks to me, nevertheless, and will provide a great guide when deciding what path to take. What are your thoughts? Is it too “out there”? What is your first impression when you read it?

Couples Financial Needs Survey

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:41:33 +0000

Yesterday I posted a survey on my Living Financially Aware blog polling about the financial concerns and needs of my target market. I thought I would share that survey here today, as well. The purpose of this survey is to gain an understanding of the financial concerns and needs of newlyweds and other young couples. The information provided will help me create a financial planning service tailored to the needs of these couples.

I would greatly appreciate your participation and sharing of this survey with other couples.

Click here to take survey

I May Have Missed Something

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 13:23:07 +0000

Over the past couple weeks, I have been working my business plan and business model through my head and have also begun the process of registering as an investment advisor with the state of Wisconsin. This weekend, while traveling, some of my thinking was challenged by a fellow road-warrior and financial planner, Chad Nehring, CFP® of Conceptual Financial Planning, Inc. in Appleton, WI. During this thought-exercise, it dawned on my that my model has a major flaw, or at least a major flaw when it comes to my strengths and weaknesses.

In a previous post, I discussed being an introvert. During that thinking, I realized that it would be important for me to build a practice based on developing long-term relationships and even friendships with clients. It is in these types of relationships that I do my best work and will be able to provide the deepest and highest value service to my clients. My current practice model is not designed to establish these types of relationships.

The difficulty is, I strongly believe in the model I have designed. I want to provide a service that can impact a great many people and that is affordable and within reach of most couples. Unfortunately the model I have put to paper so far does not play to my strengths and I need to revise the model.

I will be blogging my thoughts on this revised model over the next couple weeks. I would welcome your thoughts and ideas in the mean time as well. I also want to put a question out there:

Is it better to take the time to overcome a weakness or better to play to strengths and simply ignore a weakness?

My “Come To Jesus” Post

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:25:06 +0000

It’s time for me to come clean…I am procrastinating. I could launch my practice today but I am not doing it. There are still things to be worked out, things that are better figured out during the course of running a business. I am procrastinating and it’s all because of one issue…should I register as an investment advisor?

The Argument Against Registration

My gut tells me no. I have a practice model that does not require investment advice to be delivered. I do not put a great deal of value in investment advice to individuals beyond the most basic advice. My marketing plan includes referrals from investment advisors and financial planners who are unable or unwilling to take on clients in my niche. Will they be comfortable turning prospects to me if I have capability to deliver their bread-and-butter service?

Most importantly, I do not see myself as an investment advisor and do not see the services & value I will delivery to clients as including investment advice. I have a fundamental objection to being labeled “investment advisor” because I will not be delivering investment advice. I do not believe I should be subjected to the same compliance regime and hurdles that a practice providing investment advice is subjected to. I am deeply opposed to this notion. As I have written previously, I am not opposed to some regulatory body overseeing my practice…I am just opposed to it being this regulatory body.

The Argument For Registration

BUT, I do want to be able to help clients pick investment advisors and financial planners whom I think would fit them well. I want to be able to discuss that I believe that an individual can basically manage their own portfolio with very little effort by diversifying as cheaply as possible, by understanding cash needs and maintaining that cash, and by mostly leaving the damn portfolio alone. I want to speak generally about investments and offer basic investment education. Some of this explicitly requires registration, some treads the line between requiring registration and not. I do believe there is value in offering this to clients, but I question whether the value exceeds the cost of being able to do so.

They Both Make Sense!

So, it’s time for me to choose. Do I launch my practice and stick to my guns by simply not providing any investment discussion in my practice? Or do I set aside a fundamental belief I have in order to provide my practice a bit of leeway when it comes to investment topics? Or do I select a third choice: launch now and see if my current plan is manageable and adjust if necessary? Or do I consider a fourth, high-risk choice: tread the line of allowable investment discussion without registration? As an aside, I am not a big risk-taker, choice four is not really something I would consider.

I have turned to my practice values and mission statement to help reach a decision, but continue to find myself torn.

What are your thoughts? How do you overcome a decision which requires deep compromise? How do you balance between two alternatives which both benefit clients? How do you make this choice?

Who Will Regulate Me?

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:16:41 +0000

I would like to have a board or regulatory authority to that provides oversight of my actions and services. Unfortunately, no body currently exists with any true authority to act in this role. My practice will operate without any meaningful oversight…and I don’t like it.

What About Securities Regulators?

I am working on building my practice in a way that avoids the necessity to register as an investment advisor with either state regulators or the Securities and Exchange Commission. While I would like the ability to provide my clients basic investment education as a part of my service, the costs of registration and compliance are simply too high to work in my practice model. I do not want to act as an investment advisor to my clients and, therefore, do not want to bear the cost of maintaining registration as one. Those costs would flow through to clients in the form of increased fees for a service which did not return equal value. I cannot justify this to myself nor my clients. I will have no discretionary power of client assets, no distribution authority, no access to account names or numbers. I will not be placing trades for clients nor selling securities to them. How can I then subject my practice to the same rigors set forth for someone who does all those things?

I Do Want To Be Covered

So who will regulate me? I am a financial planner offering financial planning advice. By removing the investment discussion, I am working in a largely unregulated space, yet I would like some regulation. The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. regulates my use of the CFP® marks and can revoke them, but even if that happened I would be able to practice the next day anyway. I am not held to a fiduciary standard although I will be providing advice on matters equally, if not more, powerful than investment advice. I should be held accountable by some authority that has true power over me.

My Call To Action

I am calling for an authority to be formed that can regulate financial planners, an authority that recognizes there are financial planners who provide general investment education to clients which is incidental to the primary services delivered but who are not investment advisors. The Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 passed by the Senate yesterday provides for a study of the creation of just such an organization. I support the concept strongly and urge you to consider it, as well.

Website Sneak-Peek

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 12:05:13 +0000

This morning I thought I’d share a sneak-peek of my practice website. There is really nothing super exciting here, hopefully just a simple and clean design. I am working on reducing the wordiness – clearly a bad habit of mine. Let me know your thoughts in the comments if you would like.

Values

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:52:05 +0000

Today I thought I would dive into the values that I will run my practice by and use a guides when making decisions. These are all values I feel strongly about and do not want to lose focus of as the practice ages. Some may not precisely be “values”, but are more ideals which I value highly and I believe will make for a better practice for clients.

Honesty – Honesty in the way we act and honesty in communication between members of the practice and clients
Integrity – We will always put our clients interest ahead of all others and always treat clients, partners and others with the highest degree of professionalism
Education – Education of our clients is a keystone of our service. We expect employees to maintain the highest level of financial education.
Judgement-free – It is not our place to judge clients financial histories nor financial decision-making. We do not judge a client’s chosen path, but will help them craft a way to follow their path and achieve their goals.
Accessibility – The services delivered by our practice should be accessible to virtually any couple seeking them regardless of income or asset level, race, sexual orientation or other factor.
Transparency – This practice will be run with unprecedented transparency and openness. This website provides the beginning of that transparency.

Fighting the Perception that My Practice is Competition

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:53:57 +0000

I received a bit of offline response to me last post detailing the services I will offer in my practice. The comment was made on several occasions that I should be concerned that other financial planners or financial advisors would lure my clients away as the initial engagement with me ended. These comments made me aware that I have been unclear about one important aspect of my practice: I do not intend to maintain clients for life and plan to refer them to other financial planners whom I feel strongly about as my clients move beyond the niche market I hope to serve.

I Am Not Competing With You

My services will not be in competition with other financial planners. I will not offer investment advice. I will not offer planning suitable for a long-term engagement. My planning will only focus on early couplehood issues. Clients will need deeper financial planning services after a year or two than I offer.

We Can Work Together

As a part of my service, I plan to provide clients with helpful hints on selecting other professionals and will refer clients to other professionals, including financial planners. We can work together. I have a suspicion many of the clients I seek will not make ideal clients for other financial planners. I submit that you can feel comfortable referring these clients to me to work with until they are ready for less specialized, broader financial planning services.

My practice is not competing with other financial planners. My goal is to bring services to newlyweds and other young couples, and to work with them in bringing their finances together and to create a unified vision for their lives and partnership. Once this process has been completed and my services have been delivered to their fullest, I plan to help clients find a financial planner with whom they can build a long-term relationship.

I am not in competition with you.

Services To Be Offered (Draft)

Nathan Gehring, CFP® — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:32:39 +0000

Today I thought I would put some of my services-offering thinking to paper. As stated previously, I do intent for my practice to be very much out of the “financial planning practice” norm, assuming a norm exists. Let me know your thoughts, poke holes in my thinking and give me your honest impressions. Your being candid will be greatly appreciated. Do I have any blatant omissions in my model? Oh, and don’t expect to see anything about investment advice below. My practice is designed to not require investment advisor registration and I am unwilling to risk approaching the line requiring registration too closely to begin.

Jump Start Coaching ($200): One 1.5 hour meeting to review the basics of all six financial coaching courses. Includes do-it-yourself guides to complete much of the work covered in the Financial Coaching Courses. This makes an ideal wedding gift.

Financial Coaching Courses ($300/course): Each coaching course includes homework to be prepared and delivered to Couples Financial Planning & Coaching, LLC prior to the 1 hour coaching session. The courses include an educational element focusing on the given subject matter as well as financial planning documents prepared by Couples Financial Planning & Coaching, LLC to supplement the educational discussion. Courses also include advice on selecting professionals and referrals to professionals where appropriate.

FC 101 Goal Setting (individually and as a couple)
FC 102 Cash Flow (Merging two budgets into one, taxes, debt management, creating a spending plan designed to reflect your values and reach your goals)
FC 103 Planning For Goals (car or home purchase, finances with children, education funding, saving for retirement, etc…)
FC 104 Savings & retirement vehicles, employee benefits, other financial products (mortgages, health-savings accounts, etc…)
FC 105 Risk/insurance review and planning (Property & casualty insurance, life insurance, disability insurance)
FC 106 Estate planning basics (wills & guardianship, powers-of-attorney, beneficiary designations and other will-substitutes)

Financial Planning ($2,000): 12 month engagement includes face-to-face meetings covering all six financial coaching courses delivered over two 2 hour meetings, one 1 hour meeting for delivery of a written financial plan including recommendations and an action plan, one 1 hour review meeting six months after plan delivery, and on-demand telephone and email based financial advice for the duration of the engagement.

Financial Maintenance ($500/year): Only available following a Financial Planning engagement. Includes two 1 hour meetings annually and on-demand email-based financial advice.

Hourly Project Specific ($100/hour): We are available to work with couples on an hourly basis on financial issues that would not be better covered by one of our above services. Services are billed in 15 minute increments.