How we help you


 

WHAT IT MEANS TO WORK WITH US

Your family is unique.

That's why we use a holistic five-step method to ensure we are understanding and acting on what is most important to you and your family. By getting to know your family authentically (your values, priorities and aspirations), we help you define and design your own "abundant life."

Step 1: Discuss

To help you decide whether the Blanchard Group is right for your family, we start off every client relationship with an "Understanding You" meeting. This meeting is simple. You talk. We listen. If you like, we will share what it's like to be our client and answer your questions. If you are interested in becoming a client and we also feel there is a mutual fit, we move on to Step 2. The Discuss meeting typically takes 1-3 hours.

Step 2: Decide

Once we've both agreed to move forward, you sign a Service Agreement and we begin our official work together. We'll gather some core personal and financial information and walk you through the steps of signing custodial account paperwork and transferring assets. We'll also make sure that you fully understand and feel comfortable with our fee structure.  The Decide meeting typically takes 1-2 hours.


Step 3: Dream

Now the real fun begins as we start to design the financial house of your dreams. Together we'll go room by room to discuss your desires and our recommendations. This stage of the process typically occurs in 2-5 conversations over a 3-4 week period. During these discussions we will address the following four key areas of your financial life:

  • Your future 
    We will ask you detailed (and fun!) questions about your dreams, hopes, plans and desires. We use a variety of innovative tools to understand your financial aspirations.

  • Your current financial situation  
    We will create a concise financial report to understand what you have, what you need, what type of insurance you have, where you are in terms of tax and estate planning as well as other special concern you can have.

  • Your behaviorial insurance
    A portfolio strategy is useless if you do not stay the course during market fluctuations. We will ask you a series of questions to understand your behavioral tendencies. This will allow us to help you achieve your dreams in a way that feels comfortable for you, allowing you to stay the course during a storm.

  • Your proposed Financial Independance Plan 
    We will present our initial financial recommendations and we will have a warm and honest conversation to make sure you are comfortable. We view this conversation as a creative collaboration and will adjust our proposed plan according to your feedback.

  • Your formal IPS and Financial Independance Plan 
    The culmination of the prior steps is the creation of two documents: 1) your Investment Policy Statement (IPS), a concise document summarizing our game plan for investing your funds; 2) your Financial Independence Plan. We like to think of this as the architect's blue print that we will use as a backdrop to help ensure your financial house is built out the way you like it. These two documents will guide our financial recommendations and will evolve over time along with your life.


Step 4: Design

Next up, we begin to carefully move your portfolio to the ideal position based upon the IPS we created together. At this point in our relationship, we also begin to address in more details the other pieces of your financial life such as insurance, estate planning, taxes, etc. This entire process can take anywhere from 1-6 months, depending upon the complexity of your financial architecture and your comfort level with change. We will move at the pace you feel comfortable with, educating you every step of the way so you feel engaged in the process.


Step 5: Execute

Knowledge is power. So once a quarter we will reach out to see if anything in your financial life or personal goals have changed.  Once a year we will also take a wide-angle snapshot of your entire financial house by reviewing together your portfolio, your retirement projections, your investment policy statement, and your financial plan. We also use a concise and visual tool called "Dashboard" which depicts your financial house on one simple page. Taken together these series of interactions enable us to continue to get to know you so we can make sure we're keeping the personal in your personal financial plan.

 


And of course, in between these 5 formal steps, we are always available whenever you need us. As part of your annual fee, you and members of your immediate family are entitled and are welcome to call us when financial questions or issues arise.

Our goal is to help you "simplify your finances and simplify your life." As a result of working with us, we want your financial well-being to lead to a life that excites you.