Awash in a Sea of PhDs

The vast majority of those present were highly analytical in statistics, corporate finance, Six Sigma, and various other disciplines. The conference was presented by a company called Decisioneering, Inc., which was recently acquired by Hyperion, which was then acquired by Oracle. Mine was the only presentation on financial planning so I wasn’t really sure how it would be received since it wasn’t as steeped in the details as most of the other talks. I began by saying, “I am not a PhD or even as highly analytical as most of you, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once.” With that, the room erupted with laughter and the rest of the talk proceeded very well.

The expected benefit, you ask? It’s premature to say at this point, but suffice it to say that if it materializes, it could significantly affect the way financial planning is practiced and delivered to the client.

Basically, most clients have a few questions that prompt them to hire a financial planner. In reality, though, there are many additional questions the client is not even aware of, but questions that are very important. I’ll write more on this at a later time.

I secured another financial planning client this week, a referral from an estate and tax attorney. One thing is clear. The wealthy client is very willing to pay a fee, as long as the value they receive is equal to or greater than the fee.

I should also have an RIA custodian in place very soon. Their platform should provide me with most of what I’ll need. I’ll keep you posted on this as well.

Special request: I am looking for information (from RIAs) on the agreement you have between you (your company) and the client, governing the asset management fee and structure. I would appreciate your help.

I continue to receive e-mails from many of you, thanking me for sharing my journey. It’s good to know that this is helping in some way. As always, I look forward to hearing from you.