What Services Do Financial Advisors Offer?

Of all the questions that come up as we try to build a financial future, two of the most important are, "Do I need a financial advisor? What kind of services do they offer anyway?" Financial planning is not a one-size-fits-all process; it requires a personalized approach that considers your unique situation, goals, and questions.

In this episode of Capital Conversations, financial advisor Colin Day and portfolio manager Ryan Potts discuss the different services offered by Correct Capital to help our clients get from where they are to where they want to be.

For recent investment news and our take on the current market, retirement planning, and investment, listen to our podcast Capital Conversations or view our recent blog posts.

Below is the transcript for our most recent podcast, "What Services Do Financial Advisors Offer?"

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Colin Day: Hi everyone, Colin Day, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Professional at Correct Capital Wealth Management. With me today for Capital Conversation is Ryan Potts. Ryan, how are you?

Ryan Potts: I'm doing fantastic. Colin, thanks for having me back.

Colin Day: We couldn't prevent you. You just sit right over there. He popped his head in here and thought, "Hey, can we do a podcast real quick?" And we thought, "Well, we had it on the schedule so it happened to work out that Ryan was going to be here anyway."

So, today, Ryan, we are talking about financial planning services. For those of you that have never had a financial advisor before, or maybe you had a financial advisor, maybe you had to make a change at some point, every firm is a little bit different in terms of what they offer for the services for you as a client of theirs. Some people will only work in one particular fashion. Others have many different ways that they interact with folks, and we thought it might help at least by using us as the guinea pigs or as the example in this case as to what we do with the different kinds of clients.

So, Ryan, I wanted to start off with a one time financial plan. So when you think about that, or what is a financial plan to somebody coming in, and maybe why that might be important or something that a prospect that might be coming into us might be interested in.

Ryan Potts: I think a financial plan is a roadmap to try to get somebody with a question to an answer and then help kind of guide them along the way. We always kind of joke, it's getting from point A to point B and we're kind of laying out the road in terms of the route that you need to take to get there.

We have this conversation come up a lot, but some people reach out to us, who are not clients [and] who maybe have one off questions regarding when they should take social security, or maybe when they should start considering retirement, or is their portfolio allocated appropriately? There's all these one off situations. A one time financial plan is kind of a way to help us answer those questions without formally engaging with this person over a longer period of time. You might be a DIY-er. You might be someone who feels very confident in your current situation. You just want a set of expert eyes to kind of review what you've done. Or, you have that gap or that question in your plan where you're like, "I'm not sure about social security" or maybe there's other things that you need to consider. The one time financial plan is really, really great because it allows, again, kind of expert opinion on what you thought you've already done really well. And it answers questions. Most importantly, it probably just gives you a sense of confidence in what you're doing. If it's working, it'll continue to work down the line.

Colin Day: Yeah, and I'll give an example for those people that are maybe interested if they kind of fall within this category of a service that might be valuable to them.

We had somebody reach out recently. "Hey, I've got one question. And this one question is what I need answered." It's like, "Well, I think I'm qualified to answer that. However, I have maybe a dozen other questions I need answered so that I can help you with that one thing." And it's not that I want to be cagey or [hide] information from you, it's just, "Well, the answer to that depends on a lot of different variables." In this particular case, it's about retirement. It's about when to turn on a certain kind of benefit. That could mean a lot of different things depending on your family structure, what you’re trying to get out of retirement, where you’re going to retire. We have a lot of other questions that we need answers to.

And that roadmap that we're talking about, this one time financial plan, can help with that. Because it's going to answer that question, but it's probably going to answer a whole bunch of other questions that you have that maybe you didn't even think about. The way that I look at it is, if you're a DIY-er and you want to hold us at an arm's length and say, "I just need your brain, Colin." I just need it for a little while. That's how I put it to folks. I just want to borrow some of that knowledge and see how this applies to my situation. The benefit is that it's going to answer the question that's burning in your mind. Like you said, you know, whether it's, "Hey, I'm thinking about retirement," or "I want to take some time off," or "I'm thinking about moving into a different house." Well, we'll evaluate that, and then we'll figure out "Hey, what are some of the other things that you maybe didn't think about?" From insurance planning, to estate planning, to tax planning, investments, etc... Making sure that we're running the gambit of information that you might find valuable.

Ryan Potts: I think it's also really interesting for somebody who maybe doesn't have experience working with an advisor. I think a lot of times when we have conversations, we just assume that people have had an experience with an advisor along their way. Sometimes that's not the case. So I think it's a good way to almost peel back the onion layers a little bit and show them who we are, and show them a little bit more about our process. And it allows a prospective client or even someone who ends up signing on as a client, the opportunity to see what we're about in our process and our philosophies before engaging in those for a longer period of time.

Colin Day: Right. It's a good way to kick the tires on an advisor to kind of see what are their chops? What did they bring to the table for me? Do they feel like, after maybe engaging for a month or two to go through this planning process, could they be a long term partner? Or even if it's just, "Great job on the financial plan. I want to revisit this maybe in six months." And we'll talk through some of the changes that they're able to implement on that plan or maybe some of the ideas that they need to pursue going forward. Or maybe they become a full-fledged client. Which I think is a pretty good segue for the other end of the spectrum of how people work with us, which is what we call wealth management. So Ryan, do you mind maybe explaining a little bit about that?

Ryan Potts: The wealth management process has a lot more to do with the ongoing nurturing of a financial situation.

We always kind of allude to: you go to your doctors twice a year. Even if you feel great, you still go in for that checkup, that routine checkup to make sure that everything is still good. There's things that we don't all identify on the surface with our health that also correlates over to our finances. Everything might seem good on the surface, but there's things that we always need to look for and opportunities to explore and that's kind of where our expertise shines through.

With the wealth management relationship that we have here, we’re an ensemble practice. So that means that all the advisors at the firm – I'm a portfolio manager, Colin’s a financial advisor – so we're tag teaming a lot of our relationships and making sure that there's experts within certain areas within the industry. We're not all working with one client. Or at least their client relationship isn't with one person at Correct Capital. It's with the entire firm. And I think that really sets us apart from other advisors in the industry.

But also with wealth management, you do get the benefits of – Correct Capital is not only doing the financial plan, meeting with you. If it's quarterly, biannually, whatever that looks like, you also get someone to manage your money for you. It's keeping your eyes on your portfolio any given day. You get involved with our proprietary models and what we're doing with our portfolios. And you're getting what I would say [are] unique investment solutions that you wouldn't be getting on your own.

So we're bringing all of that together in kind of a wrapper product for you as a wealth management client versus maybe what you would get is just a one time financial plan.

Colin Day: Right. And if I was to distill some of that down is – what we call wealth management, which we think is our highest level of service that we offer folks, other people that are working with a financial advisor, you might be looking at this and [think], "Well, I hope this is what my financial advisor is doing for me." Because within this, the big thing that Ryan brings to the table as a portfolio manager is the investment management piece.

On the one time financial plan, just to use that as a comparison, we're not handling your investments. We can provide you general guidelines in terms of what we believe might be prudent for more strategic management of your investments, but we're not getting into the weeds of, "Please buy these particular funds in your 401(k)." That's where our expertise comes in more on the wealth management side. So for those folks that have wealth that they are stressed out about or feel like they need to have a helping hand, that's where wealth management is really gonna come in because you're still gonna get that one time plan. We're still gonna go through the planning process and making sure that we're on a journey together that makes sense [and] that then informs our decision in regards to the investment side. So whether it's, "I'm going to roll over my 401(k) when I retire in three months," or "The IRAs that I opened up years ago that I forgot about," or "Aunt Mildred passed away and I have this inherited asset." We can go through it and then figure out exactly how that fits into your plan to make sure that – whatever your goal is – that we're meeting that. I think it's pretty fair.

Ryan Potts: 100%. And I think you highlighted on this flyer that we have in front of us, but it's best for the delegators. Those who respect and understand that sometimes in life delegating to experts is the best option. And you do need to let go a little bit and have a little bit of trust in us. And that's our job, obviously, to distill that with you. But it's great for delegators. I think of business owners, maybe people who are extremely busy, higher up executives. Anyone who doesn't feel like they have the time, the resources, or just simply don't want to put in the effort of trying to do all this on their own. That's really where we excel.

Colin Day: Yeah, absolutely. We want to find people where they are. And what I mean by that is, you might be at this point where – the word we used was "delegator" intentionally. To say "Hey, you might have done really well as a DIY-er for many decades. We handle over 30 different retirement plans, 401(k) plans in the United States. And what I tell a lot of folks is that when your money crosses from a three digit number – so you're in the hundreds, to the thousands, and then when it goes from the thousands to the tens of thousands, and then tens to hundreds, and maybe even millions in the future – those types of breakpoints, so to speak, kind of trip your mind in a way that maybe you didn't realize, "Oh, shoot, you know, I've got wealth. I've got money now, and this makes me nervous." And that's where I think the wealth management service makes the most sense for folks, is when they come to realize, "Shoot, I might be too big for my britches. I might need some help. I might need some additional help." Not just on the plan, not just getting information, but also on the actual investing thing.

Ryan Potts: 100%. Now, I got to ask you, you've got a third service on here and we've talked about it quite a bit, but it's really this subscription model that we've rolled out. Talk to me a little bit about why maybe someone would want to go from that one time financial plan that we discussed at the beginning where it's really just the one time coming in and we're hopefully answering your question if not two or three for you, to wealth management where it's all encompassing and we're really taking over as kind of your family CFO, right?

Where's the subscription model come into play and who does that really fit the best?

Colin Day: If I think about that on a spectrum, on one end of the spectrum it's "I just want you for your mind for a little while, Colin," that's going to be that one time plan. And then the whole other end of the spectrum is "I want the full services of Correct Capital Wealth Management behind me." Somewhere in the middle is the subscription. This is what I am really passionate about. I'm really excited that we're getting this off the ground finally. This particular program is, as we put it, best for collaborators. You might have heard what Ryan said a moment ago and said, "Hmm, am I an executive? Am I a business owner? Do I have beaucoop bucks for Correct Capital to manage for me?" And that's not the reality of most people that are coming in our doors. They're uncertain. "Do I have the wealth that it makes sense to hire a professional manager? Maybe I make good money. Maybe I make a decent wage. Or me and my spouse, we make a good amount of money together and combined, we think we do well, but we're still growing our assets or all of our assets are in our 401(k) and that's kind of hard to touch." So that's what the subscription model is all about. By paying on a subscription basis, just like a magazine, you're basically – do people subscribe to them anymore?

That was a terrible example. Whatever it might be that you get regular orders from. We get regular orders for our furnace, our air filter. I literally just replaced it last night. I get an air filter every three months. Boom, that new one's going in there. It's the same kind of concept but for financial planning. It's the idea that, "Hey, we're going to meet and we're going to discuss things on a periodic basis." So that when we tell you [that] you're going to do something, you do it. Because you have us behind you prodding you and encouraging you and providing you [with] guidance and actually logging in with you on your program to do the dang thing.

What you don't get in the subscription package that you would get in the wealth management is investment management. That's probably the biggest difference. The other differences would be on the one time plan and the subscription because we're not managing your wealth. We don't have anything to charge. Well, you gotta come out-of-pocket. That's why we wanna make sure that you're making an appropriate amount of money where the subscription makes sense. But the idea there is you're getting the one time plan and then through regular engagements we're actually influencing you to make those decisions and make those changes over time. So for us, the subscription being a newer resource to work with folks, we're starting to attract different kinds of clients to the firm – which I think is very exciting – [instead of] the traditional, "I'm going to retire in five years and I'm going to have the wealth to be able to work with us."

Ryan Potts: Can I pry really quickly? I think it's interesting. I think it's a great model and I'm glad we're rolling it out to prospective clients.

To your point, we get to touch on different demographics than prior. Talk to me really, really quickly about the schedule or the calendar of what the subscription model might look like, and the importance of meeting multiple times a year with your financial planner, even if they're not managing your assets.

Because I know for us it's always, again, the doctor's check in, we're at least at minimum doing every six months. For the subscription, if we're not managing the the money for them or we don't have their portfolio under discretion, What does that look like in terms of, are we talking about taxes? Are we talking about insurance, estate? What are all the different avenues that they might get with the subscription service?

Colin Day: Yeah, good question. So the way that I look at this is that when we think about people that make sense for the subscription, it's going to be at minimum 12 months. That's what we want because I think that's the amount of time it takes to take people from the beginning of their journey to some kind of relative – I don't even want to call it an endpoint because there really is no end.

Ryan Potts: It's more like on track.

Colin Day: Yes, yes.

Ryan Potts: Where they're at to on-track.

Colin Day: Yeah, where we can have a meaningful impression on an individual or family to say, "Hey, we took you from this and this is what you look like. Can you imagine that that was you 12 months ago?" We want a transformation here and we need to have time to do it.

So to answer your question, well what are we doing then between point A and point B? Which is, we're going to prod you and we're going to give you some kind of feedback on what we're seeing and using our tools. to give you feedback as to where you're at right now. So, "Hey, we noticed that you're saving more. Awesome. Keep it going. Remember, this is what we want to do." If you see a change in tax rates and think, "Well, that doesn't seem right. Let's take a look at that real quick. Can we get on a call this month to do so?" But every single month, the idea is that we're supposed to be engaging with you on some type of matter.

And yes, it does change. It's not always going to be, "Hey, your investments seem to be doing well." That can get pretty boring after a while. So, "We were talking about estate planning this month. And what we're going to discuss in a phone call is what kind of documents you have in place." What would we suggest that you address with an attorney or with an online resource and then move on?

So every three months we're trying to make sure that we engage in a regular cadence meeting. But then every single month getting some new insight in regards to their information.

Ryan Potts: Great. I think that sounds exciting. It's a new avenue to help people we weren't able to help prior.

Colin Day: With all three of these services, from the one time plan to the subscription to the wealth management, hopefully this provides you some feedback in regards to what you might be looking for when you decide to engage with a financial advisor. Again, every financial advisor is a little bit different. You should him or her these questions and see what they say [are] their services. And as long as it's meeting your expectations, you understand what you're getting, which is what Ryan and I are trying to attempt to do today. Hopefully that gives you some courage and good feelings about where you're headed on what kind of service you're using.

Again, with us, if you're in the one time plan, that's awesome. If you decide after that, "Wow, we are blown away by the insights that you gave us," and you want to move up to subscription or the full on wealth management or go from subscription to wealth management, we are on board with you. We'll take you through that journey.

So if this resonates with you, I hope that you'll reach out to us and schedule a time where you can chat with Ryan or I or another member of the team. Ryan, before I bid them all adieu. Any parting words?

Ryan Potts: No. I think we did a great job of summing up the different ways that we can help different individuals and families. I think it's exciting because I think this is something the industry has been lacking for a long, very long period of time. So I think it's exciting that we're now able to help certain people.

Colin Day: Yeah, absolutely. I agree. Well, for Ryan Potts, I'm Colin Day. Thanks so much for joining us for another Capital Conversations, and we will see or hear you in the next one.

The opinions expressed in this program are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual or on any specific security. It is only intended to provide education about the financial industry. To determine which investments may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing.

As always, please remember investing involves risk and possible loss of principal capital. Please seek advice from a licensed professional. Correct Capital Wealth Management is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered.

Capital Conversations | Correct Capital Wealth Management

At Correct Capital Wealth Management, we understand that every individual's financial journey is unique, and so should be the guidance they receive. Whether you're a DIY investor seeking a professional's eye or someone looking for a long-term financial partnership, Correct Capital Wealth Management is here to guide you. Schedule a consultation with Colin, Ryan, or another member of our team today and start building a more secure and fruitful financial future. Contact us online or give us a call at 877-930-4015.