Financial success begins with a clear and structured plan. That’s why we follow a comprehensive 6-step financial planning process designed to help you define your goals, make informed decisions, and create a personalized strategy for long-term financial well-being. Below we’ll walk you through each step, ensuring you feel confident and empowered throughout the journey.
Seeing everything on one place is seeing the big picture. It's hard to place a value on that
Step 1 of 6: Initial Discovery Meeting [Goal Identification]
This step is like the foundation of your house. We need to build that foundation together so we can construct a financial plan specific to to how you want to live. The better we understand your goals, the more effectively we can help you plan for them. This is no different than a tax advisor needing to understand your tax scenario or your attorney needing to understand your estate planning wishes before drafting a Trust.
We discuss your financial goals, priorities, and concerns
We’ll review your current financial situation (conversationally), and any major life transitions you’re navigating to help prioritize your areas of concern
This step is often combined with our initial consultation meeting but developed throughout our relationship
Step 2 of 6: Data Gathering & Document Submission
To build an accurate plan, we’ll need key financial details. Please gather the following:
Estate planning documents (wills, trusts, power of attorney)
Information on non-custodial assets (bullion, physical cash etc.)
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ method for gathering this data. We will provide a secure portal where you can upload these documents safely along with other data gathering forms
At the beginning of this step, expect an email for you to enroll in AdviceWorks, your new planning portal Pro-Tip: We highly recommend linking your investment accounts to your AdviceWorks portal. Not only does this provide us with current data, it eliminates the requirement for manual updates ensuring your plan always reflects the most recent investment data
Once the data is gathered, we will send out a contract outlining the scope of work to be performed along with an invoice for payment. Payment is required prior to step 3 unless discussed otherwise
AdviceWorks Secure Document Vault
Step 3 of 6: Financial Plan Development
Congratulations, the heavy lifting on your part is complete. Now it’s time for us to do ours! We may reach out for clarification on data you provided. For more advanced plans, we may even meet to go through the data to ensure accuracy. MoneyGuideElite® is our flagship planning software for traditional financial plans.
Who's Developing Your Plan?
Step 4 of 6: Plan Presentation
Expect this step between week 3 and week 6 depending on workload. This is where we meet to review your financial plan, walk through key recommendations, and discuss action steps. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and refine your plan based on new insights. At the end of our meeting, we will have a conversation about implementation. You have the option to implement the plan on your own if you prefer, or we can implement your plan. If you decide to implement your plan on your own, the planning process is finished on our end. If you prefer to have Team Hines Remer implement your plan, then we proceed to step 5 & 6.
Step 5 of 6: Plan Implementation
Don’t bite off more than you can chew! Depending on the amount and complexity of recommendations, we will prioritize them and develop an implementation timeline. We have found that if you try to implement everything at once it will become overwhelming and could prevent you from getting anything done at all.
Step 6 of 6: Review & Update Your Plan
The plan is not static and needs to be updated as with anything else in life. We will meet annually to review the plan, make updates, and adjust our implantation timeline as needed. You will have access to your plan via AdviceWorks, Cetera’s proprietary planning portal which will also serve as your online access to view your accounts.
View Your Complete Financial Picture
Creating Your Financial Roadmap
Not sure yet?
You can schedule a 15-minute appointment to speak with one of our planners directly, or take a look at some of our financial plan packages by clicking the link below.
