Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Schedule an Initial Consultation?
You can schedule by clicking here.
How Do You Charge for Financial Planning?
We charge a simple, low, flat fee in most cases for financial planning. For clients that want ongoing help managing their investments, we typically charge a fee that is based on a percentage of assets under management. For asset management, we strive to keep costs as low as possible, so clients can keep more of their potential return (the way it should be). When we manage investment accounts, it is done through LPL Financial (our Third Party Custodian) we don't take custody of client assets.
What Should I Expect From an Initial Consultation?
You can expect our meeting to be informal and focused as much on "getting to know you" as it is about you learning about our firm. During our meeting, we will seek to understand your unique goals and objectives by asking questions that cause you to think about "money issues" in ways you may have never thought before. Of course, we will also briefly review details pertaining to your assets (what you own), liabilities (what you owe) and your insurance (what protects you and your family from risks).
How Often Do You Meet With Your Clients?
At Redwood Financial Network, the number of meetings/reviews is left to the discretion of our clients. Oftentimes, we find that clients prefer to meet 3-4 times during the first year, and then 1-2 times in years that follow. Our contact management system ensures that we schedule an appointment with you at least annually so that we can both review your personal financial situation, and learn about changes that may have occurred in your life.
What Can I Expect After an Initial Consultation?
At the conclusion of our meeting, we will:
- Review your goals and objectives — We want to be sure we heard you correctly
- Review our process for preparing a financial plan — After all, you should know what you are buying
- Review our costs — We charge a financial planning fee to prepare a custom analysis, executive summary letter, and recommendations
- Following our initial meeting, we will dictate a memo to your file so that we can remember all the specific facts pertaining to your situation.
- Other items of importance.
What Is Your Research Process?
Many clients ask us how we're able to manage so much money AND maintain such personal relationships with our clients. We are able to do it because of the relationships with maintaining with LPL Financial's Research Department. Comprised of over 40 independent analysts, economists, strategists and CFA's we rely on their independent assessments of the global economic environment as a baseline for our client portfolio construction. In addition, they offer recommendations and insights on specific investments and other securities. While we regularly incorporate our own firm's perspectives and judgment on which investments to utilize in a client portfolio, it is nice to have a full-time research department supporting our practice.
I Just Want Help With My Investment Portfolio. Will You Help Me?
Sorry, we won't do that. We simply don't believe that it is possible to place the interests of our clients first without initially capturing both a snapshot of their financial well-being, as well as a clear understanding of their financial goals and objectives. Unfortunately, we've witnessed too many advisors focus first on YOUR INVESTMENTS before ever considering how they weave into your overall financial circumstances. We believe this approach is quite dangerous, and oftentimes leads to changes to your portfolio that could have been avoided had the advisor better known your overall objectives first.
Are you ready to get started? – Schedule a meeting today