There are a number of reasons we ask you to meet with your wealth advisor on an annual basis. The most basic reason is that things change more than we might think over the course of a year, and even minor changes can have big impacts on our lives – and our financial plans. A less-than-expected bonus or raise, or a higher-than-expected bonus or raise, can really effect financial projections, and hence our investment advice to you. Major expenses, such as a wedding, lifestyle purchase (boats, vacation house, expensive trips, etc.), changing employment conditions, unexpected medical situations, and more can put larger-than-expected dents in our budgets, and will want to be accounted for in your financial plan. By sitting down once a year, it gives us a chance to review all of these life changes and make necessary adjustments to your financial plan. It also gives us a chance to review overall market and economic conditions with you, and allows us to ascertain if your current investment objectives are in line with your current strategy.
By meeting with us annually, you also help us meet our Fiduciary obligations to you. A Fiduciary is someone who must always act in your best interest, which means that we need current, relevant information in order to make those Fiduciary decisions on your behalf. We cannot continue to offer you investment advice based on out-of-date information. So that means that we need to be continually updating your information with the latest, most relevant, information. And an annual meeting is the best way to do that.
We know meetings are time consuming, but we can be as efficient as need be based on your time constraints. We are also flexible in how and where to meet, offering meetings in our office or in your home, video meetings via a variety of platforms, or even old-fashioned phone calls. Though if you do come into the office for your annual meeting, you leave with an SBC cookie, and having eaten a number of these over the years, I can assure you that they are worth the trip.
However you choose to satisfy your annual meeting obligation, please know that this meeting is an important component of what we do, and a vital way that we help meet our fiduciary obligation to you. So the next time one of our Client Service Associates calls to set one up with you, please keep these things in mind, and accept our thanks in advance!
