How I Track My Clients’ Needs

One of the greatest challenges a solo practitioner has is keeping up with all of the things that need to be done in the practice. In this post, I’ll share a few of mine and perhaps you’ll weigh in on some of the issues you’re facing.

As an independent RIA, I perform two primary services: financial planning and asset management. I charge a fee for financial planning and a percentage of the assets I manage for the latter. Moreover, about 90% of those who engage me to create a financial plan also pay a retainer fee for annual updates. Approximately 60% of my clients engage me for both services, 35% for asset management only, and 5% for planning only. I say this only to lay the foundation for my topic this week. How do you keep up with all of the tasks which must be done? 

When I create a financial plan, I gather an extensive amount of information. I even compare the client’s Schedule A from their prior year tax return to the data in my planning software, just to make sure my numbers are in the ballpark. Of course, this assumes that the current year’s income is similar to the income on their tax return. Once the plan is completed there is often a laundry list of items to be addressed. In addition, some of the items require the services of other professional, and so I must be able to track everything that needs to be done, who else needs to be involved, etc.