Advice-Only Financial Planning Services

Advice-only planning is a term used to describe the financial planning process where a fee is charged for the development of a financial plan rather than relying on potential commissions generated from the sale of product for compensation.

It is suggested, and I agree, that this creates a relationship without any conflict of interest and the result is truly unbiased financial advice that is exclusively in your best interests.

Proper Financial Planning is exclusively about advice, answering questions and solving problems. If you have an issue that is a problem, then you need advice as to how to fix that problem. If you’re wondering how to do something, then you need an assessment of your alternatives and recommendations as to which alternative best suits you.

If you don’t know whether you’re on the right track or not, then you need a financial plan to help you figure that out. None of these have anything to do with any sort of financial product. It’s all about the advice.

Clients approach us for all sorts of plans. Everything we do is completely customized. We don’t try to fit you into a ‘package’ plan. Typically, the planning we do falls into one or more of the following categories:

Retirement (Financial Independence) Planning
Retirement Income Planning ( a spending or draw-down plan)
Investment Planning (Portfolio Reviews)
Tax Planning
Estate Planning
Cash Management and Debt Reduction
Risk Management and Insurance Planning
Education Planning

A Comprehensive Financial Plan will include as many of these areas as are relevant to your situation.

At Premier Financial Planning Services, we offer a co-ordinated, integrated planning + portfolio management experience. While we do not manage client portfolios directly, we only provide planning services for those clients who need or want portfolio management services as well. Our experience shows that this combination of planning and portfolio management working synergistically on an ongoing basis for the benefit of the client increases the success rate of clients achieving their goals.

Our Process

Our introductory session is complimentary and can take place at my office, by phone or video call. During this conversation I will not provide any advice, therefore no fee is charged for this time. The purpose of this session is to determine if we are a good fit for one another – can I actually help you or is someone else better equipped to do that? Do you like the sound of what I do and how I do it or is someone else a better fit?

Once I have a sense of the services you are requesting and your situation, I will draw up a Letter of Engagement. This is effectively a quote. It outlines my understanding of the work you are requesting and provides a price range for the services. I always quote a price range – sometimes an issue is more complex than I initially thought, or you may wish a slight revision to your plan once you’ve seen the results. Either way, the additional time is already accounted for and you know the maximum amount you would be paying for our services. If you like what you see in the Letter of Engagement, you sign it and send it back to me. I will then provide you with a list of the information I need to complete your plan and an invoice for the deposit.

Once those items are received, I start work on your plan. It usually takes 2 – 3 weeks to complete a plan once I have all the information. I contact you when your plan is complete and we set up an appointment to review it. I answer any questions as we go through the plan. I will then leave you with the plan for a couple of weeks to review and consider whether you want any revisions or if you have further questions. If so, we will address them either by email / phone or video call. At this point I send you the invoice for the balance of the plan fee.

At this point, we will have established what your money needs to do for you. The next step is to search for the best portfolio management company to take care of your investments. I have a handful of carefully selected firms that I work with and I will introduce you to 2 -3 of them. We will interview them jointly and you can then decide which one you feel is the best fit for you.

Once your portfolio is under their management, I initiate reviews and plan updates proactively and encourage you to reach out to me when you need assistance. The cost for this is covered by the sharing of the portfolio management fee between the portfolio management firm and Premier Financial Planning.

This process is appropriate for families with $1 million or greater in investable assets (excludes the value of your home). Self-employed, incorporated, professional corporations, trusts are all well within our skill set.

It has truly been a pleasure working with you; sincerely, thank you for everything. Coming into this experience, I knew we had things to improve and work on to get in better financial shape, but getting started seemed like a daunting task and quite frankly, it overwhelmed us.

You really took the time to understand our financial picture and helped make sense of our 'chaos' and provided a clear path forward. Not only that, you were also kind enough to share some useful tips and tricks that we will put into practice and be 10X better for it, down the road as we work toward our financial goals. I cannot thank you enough for your efforts!

We are approaching our retirement and I had been feeling for some time we needed to simplify our complicated financial picture. I also wanted to get a clear handle on whether we would be able to fund our retirement goals and still provide a legacy for our children.

Our financial picture is complex as we owned 3 properties, holding companies, a trust, exotic investment products, several separate investment accounts, run our own business and had some debt. I sensed our financial planning process would be time-consuming and would likely veer into areas beyond ‘just money’. I was looking for someone both I and my husband could feel comfortable opening up to as a trusted partner for us. Of course I was also looking for someone wicked smart who knows a lot about tax, corporate structures and investment and retirement planning.

We did a thorough search of advice-only financial planners and interviewed several before choosing to partner with Jacquie. She had come highly recommended.

Jacquie has been a godsend. She did a deep dive into our financial position and created an initial bespoke plan to help clarify our financial position. She then helped facilitate conversations with us as we made some tough decisions. As we shifted our assumptions about what we wanted and expected for the decades to come, Jacquie ran several fresh scenarios for us.

In the end, we felt comfortable with the final version of our plan and understood the guidelines we need to be aware of to stay on track. Jacquie then introduced us to some very smart, experienced professionals in the investment industry who we are considering partnering with to manage our portfolios.

It’s a relief to have completed this process. I sleep much better at night, literally. It is also reassuring to know Jacquie is a call away to help us think through any changes to our financial picture in the years ahead.

We hired Jacquie in late 2011 to prepare a complete financial analysis and investment plan for us. We received a detailed plan that was customized for our situation. It was complete and easy to understand. Not only that, but Jacquie took the time to explain the report step by step and was open to questions along the way. We have peace of mind knowing we have a plan for our retirement, but most importantly, we know we can turn to Jacquie at any time to ask questions or get clarification. It is truly refreshing to know that we have an advisor who reviews our portfolio on a regular basis and gives us her recommendations.

We like the fact that Jacquie is very knowledgeable and approachable. She takes the time to answer our questions and has always made us feel like an important client even though our portfolio is only an average size. We trust her advice and appreciate the personal service we have received. Jacquie is foremost a professional who cares about her clients. She is very approachable and has taken the time to get to know us and to listen to our goals and answer our many questions.

We are most pleased with your detailed outline of our financials and suggested breakdown for our retirement planning. We felt your unbiased evaluation and recommendations as a fee only planner hit the nail on the head.

While acting as Power of Attorney for my mother I consulted Jacquie for a second opinion about financial planning issues.

Jacquie quickly provided a broad overview of my concerns, printed specific examples to show the different paths I could take and offered her professional opinion on recent market trends, clearly demonstrating her wealth of experience and knowledge.

She also highlighted and summarized important points to conclude our meeting. And Jacquie did it all in one hour. I was then able to ask informed questions and deal confidently with my mother’s financial planner. It was definitely money well spent.

Jacquie was prompt, professional and a pleasure to work with on her fee for service basis. I would highly recommend her services whether you are entrusting her with your entire financial planning needs or are seeking a trusted, experienced ‘second look’.