Today, Michael, Stacey and Jag walk through the process of how they take care of new clients, in particular with the LifeArcPlan, still available for podcast listeners on our website, https://www.artofwealthunbroken.com/
This, living, breathing, document allows investors to input all of their financial information and helps Michael and Stacey work with them to formulate an overall, holistic financial plan.
As Michael says, we live in a technology world, so why not use the best technology? He even shares a story of using the program to help a client decide on a car purchase.
Again, we are leaving our offer up for podcast listeners, on our website: https://www.artofwealthunbroken.com/.
Or, to learn more, call Michael and Stacey at 855 378 1806.
Jag: Welcome into Episode 11 of the Art of Wealth Unbroken podcast. We're here each and every week to help you better navigate during these economic times. We're here to discuss thoughts and ideas in the field of finance and retirement, as well as discuss trending topics that could impact your wealth and how long it will last.
These discussions can help you make better informed decisions so you can make better financial choices with the wealthy have built and are continuing. Our goal is to help you live the lifestyle you've imagined for your retirement. Stacey Andres is a registered financial consultant and Michael Wallin is a certified financial planner.
I am Jon JAG Gay Today, we're talking about measuring what matters. Hello gentlemen, where do we start?
Stacey: Hello, JAG. Hello, Michael.
Michael: Hey Stacey. Hey Jag. How are y'all?
Stacey: Doing well, thank you very much. So, Jag, today we want to dig in a little bit more to what we discussed on last week's episode. We talked about having a plan.
And that most people's plans, well, don't exis., they're very fragmented. And so we want to talk a little bit about our process today and then how we can utilize each of those areas discussed that they have to choose from, to putting together for them a plan that is complete and is holistic
Michael: Stacey. When we look at the pillars.
Last week we talked a little bit about how we do this. Well, I was talking with a client this week and it just so happened we were talking about our six pillars and they were like, "Well, how do y'all actually manage that?" And this episode is all about measuring what matters. I shared with them that we utilize technology. We live in a technology world and we use the best in breed technology, both in the gathering of information.
And then being able to manage that going forward as the clients are actually working in tandem with us. And so as we talk about our six pillars, we look at investing. We look at tax, we look at the healthcare and income planning. We look at wealth transfer. We look at estate planning. Those are all dimensions of a person.
Like we talked about last week, we're multi-dimensional. So all of those pieces have to be considered because some of those pillars actually have an interdependency with other pillars that we're looking at. We utilize a tool, a resource that allows us to have a living, breathing document between us and our clients.
And that is a tool called LifeArcPlan. And many of the listeners last week on the episode took advantage. They went to our website, artofwealthunbroken.com. They went to that site. They went in and entered their information. We sent them a personal invitation to LifeArcPlan. They are now in the process of entering information in to the system that is going to give us a benchmark of where they are, set goals of where they want to be, and then what steps or measures do we need to take to successfully, with the highest level of probability to get them to that destination?
Stacey: So Michael let's dig in just a little bit here to what our exact process is, because for both of us, when we're working with clients, obviously our goal is to provide our clients with guidance that they can use to achieve the highest level of success possible. We want them to cheat achieve financial independence. So one of the ways we do this to avoid building a one dimensional solution that often lacks consideration of other personal factors is by following a very specific process that they will find when they log in the very first time to life.
Our plan, initially, we may have a very brief conversation with a client. We will get their email, gather that information, and we are going to have them fill out the LifeArcPlan. At this point, the client starts by taking an active role in sharing with us what's important to them. If they don't put data in there, that's something that we can't use to construct a plan in the way that it needs to be done.
Then step two is we go on to an initial review meeting, but it's all about getting your info, right? So we want to take a deeper dive with the client and the information that they've provided to us. To look at the opportunities and the conflicting goals and expectations that are resulting from that information they've provided.
The third step is we analyze the information. That's where we take it. And now we can start working on what we think. Tools that can be utilized to bring their plan together. We create a solution which is step four, it's a 360 degree perspective. And we align that with all aspects of the client's personal life and their goals in a multifaceted set of tools to bring a complete solution to the table.
And then we come back with a client. Step five. We strategize with them to implement that plan, make changes if we need to. And then the sixth step, finally, we provide ongoing monitoring and measuring of the plan to make sure that we are moving the right direction. Not necessarily going to hit a destination, but where we are moving in a right direction that we talked about last time, so that everything is working cohesively and together.
Michael: It sets a proper expectation. Clients come in our office and I've been doing this as you mentioned earlier, Stacey, I'm approaching 30 years. When I came in the business, everything was a static document. You completed information, and it went into a file that was not an effective way of building a relationship with clients and servicing them over a number of years before.
Their goals and dreams and aspirations that were written down in the initial meeting got filed away. Their fears, concerns, and the things that keep them awake at night was written away on a sheet of paper and put over into their file. And then it was the, just the managing of their assets to try to achieve some arbitrary goal.
Now by the use of technology, we are getting much more effective and efficient in the way that we are managing a client's goals, dreams, their finances, all aspects come into one area. So one of the things that I think is really important with what you had just shared was through this approach. And let's just take the current environment, individuals that they open up a statement and they're looking at their financial account or their investment account.
They're looking at it and they're like, oh wow. The market's contracting. It's down. And all of a sudden they're losing faith. They're losing the rapport that they had with their existing advisor. And they start listening to the noise. Oh, I listened to this podcast or I listened to this podcast and I need to rush out and change advisors to this other individual and that other individual takes their account and they reinvest it. If you actually took those two statements and you overlapped them where they were before and where they're going into today, when you look at the correlation matrix of that, they're in about 95% of the same positions, you have changed advisors, but you didn't change your strategy.
Because let's be honest. If we look at the companies that are out there today, Tesla, Microsoft, Netflix, Google, all of these companies that have been driving the returns of the stock market over the last decade. Do we truly believe that those companies are, because they're contracting over this last month or last two months, do we really believe they're just going to go out of business? McDonald's. Coca Cola. Are we going to cease using their services? Because the markets can contract. But yet when an individual goes out and they're changing their investment portfolio, many times they're changing from one advisor to another advisor, but they're buying the exact same goods that they had prior.
They're not really making a change. They're making an emotional decision, but they're not truly just getting... As we would say in Texas, it's getting the herd moved in the right direction. Sometimes the herd gets away and you've got to reach out there. You got to run your dogs out, get the cattle brought back into the fold, but you're not abandoning the process.
And if you have a system that where you can measure and monitor this and the clients can log in and input their information, see real time data, they're making better choices and better decisions. And that's what that technology platform that we're using is helping our clients achieve higher success.
Stacey: And Mike, I like what you said there about this being like really a living, breathing document, because as circumstances change in a client's life, they change.
From one job to another job, their income goes up. Maybe they have a job loss. They can literally, they can log in to LifeArc. They can make that change to their income, and that will populate through the entire system. And then instantly give a different output of how that is going to impact their preparedness and the solution that we've talked about with them.
To your point of yeah, moving from one advisor to another, that's keeping everything in isolation. And by bringing them into a comprehensive, holistic planning solution that sets expectations for where we are going and how we're going to get there. Working together is very important to making this entire process functional and successful yesterday.
Michael: Client called up ,to your point there Stacey. They wanted to buy a new automobile. There in LifeArc, all their information is in there and they wanted to know what the impact would be. And I said, well, let's just do a, "what if." I said, let's open up LifeArc and let's key in a new expense. So we went into the system, we put in what the new vehicle was going to cost, where the dollars were going to come from to pay for the vehicle.
And then immediately the explicit view on the left side of the screen re.totaled, tallied up all of their current position and it showed what the additional impact would be to how much more money they would need to save or actual have a higher return on their portfolio to be able to purchase that without a negative impact to the retirement years.
Those are the type of tools that is the real time data that these type of solutions are being able to provide to clients.
Stacey: Yeah. What Michael was saying. There is, as you put your information in there and we put your plan together, you are actually going to receive a financial independence score and you can be anywhere between zero and a hundred.
So if you're at a hundred, you know that you are good. There's very little that could impact or will likely impact your plan, your lifestyle in retirement. But if you are below a hundred and especially significantly below a hundred, that can, indicate, say what are some things that we can do to help bolster you closer to getting to that a hundred percent.
And every time you go in there and you can make a change that will automatically be reflected to that final number and showing you, what is your financial independence score? Where are you? And running toward that goal.
Michael: Our whole practice is built based upon goals, planning objectives. So when you're looking at. Achieving retirement. Having, as we mentioned last week, happiness in retirement, you need to have levels of success. Many people are chasing the market. You need to know what your actual rate of return is or is necessary for you to achieve your level of success and happiness in your return. LifeArc is able to give us that type of information.
And then we can measure how much risk is associated. We can measure how much contribution or how much distribution is allowable to keep us within those margins to give you the reality of a successful retirement.
Stacey: Absolutely. No, I like it. I think it's an amazing tool for the clients. When I came on and I started working with you, Michael, and started working with LifeArc plan to me, it was an eye-opener because it's an approach that you don't see by very many advisors, let alone firms out in the industry.
Jag: So we're going to leave the offer up on our website. You'll get access to the LifeArcPlan for free. If you sign up on our website, artofwealthunbroken.com, it's right there on the page. Can't miss it. And you can learn more about the plan and what it's like to work with Stacey and Michael.
And if you want to call, talk to them about the plan about planning your financial future in general, best number to reach you at is?
Michael: The best number to reach us at is 855 378 1806. Again, that is 855 378 1806,
Jag: Michael, I don't want to make you feel old, but you are the one who said you've been doing this for 30 years. This plan, this living, breathing document, as you said, that updates with the latest and greatest technology, heck of a lot better than all those folders in a filing cabinet back in the day, right?
Michael: Absolutely is. We are almost paperless in our office.
Jag: There you go. The trees thank you as well. Michael Stacey, take care. We'll talk again next week.
Stacey: Thank you, Michael. Thank you Jag.
Michael: Thank you guys.