We take advanced planning to a whole new level

We have some very specific thoughts on how advanced planning should be done.

We discovered that for a lot of individuals and families advanced planning was a road paved with good intentions. However, our clients count on more than just good intentions. In the Private Client Group we have developed an interactive, ongoing process to help our clients address their advanced planning concerns.

The first component is our professional network. We work very closely with our clients and their other professional advisers to identify potential gaps and needs in their current situation.

The second component is our professional network meetings. These meetings take on two different forms based on our client's needs. The first is an interactive meeting with the client's current advisers to discuss their current situation. While this may seem like common sense, prior to our involvement, very rarely had all of a client's advisers actually sat down together and developed a cohesive plan. The other type of professional network meeting involves our experienced team of professionals that we have built. This session is formatted to be in a study-group format, where each professional gives input based on their knowledge.

The third component of the process is the client commitment. The usual outcome of the professional meetings is a list with a number of things a client may want to address. Our role in "quarterbacking" the entire process is to help our clients decide what areas are most important to them and help them prioritize the list. We then commit the resources of our organization to help our clients work through their priorities.

The fourth component is the client progress report. This becomes the central repository of all of the issues our clients and their advisers think need to be addressed. It's also the tool that we use to "keep score" to monitor the issues and concerns that have already been addressed.