Year: 2013

By Ed Morrow After reviewing over a thousand personal financial plans, I am amazed at how few of them attempt to relate the time, trouble and fees of the plan with the ultimate benefits that are achieved. Suppose the client paid a fee of $1,000 and we do not include all the time gathering facts, determining objectives and reviewing the Plan documentation. If the recommendations achieve an improvement of $10,000 in ten years, we might say the present value of that is $5,000. If a client pays $1,000 and receives a benefit of $5,000 then we have an improvement of…

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Thanks to Steve Bailey and his review of what makes a comfortable, workable and professional office environment… When meeting the public – first impressions count and can make a difference. A successful person needs to LOOK successful. A competent person needs to LOOK competent. What about your office? Have you looked around with an objective eye and taken stock of your important surroundings? Imagine yourself as a client coming in for the first time and then review this list. Location – How easy is your office to find? Is it accessible? When choosing a location remember that if a client…

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Recently the IARFC published and mailed to its members, a new issue of the Journal of Personal Finance (JPF). When asked for comments regarding his recent work on the publication, Dr. Finke, JPF editor, had this to tell the IARFC members… IARFC: Dr. Finke, how did you go about selecting the four papers for the recent JPF or papers in general? Dr. Finke: Papers submitted to the Journal are first given a quick review by me to determine whether they are suitable for the journal and contribute enough to the literature to warrant an evaluation by a reviewer. In general,…

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The only real product you have to sell – to any consumer, professional or business owner – is yourself. You must differentiate yourself and the core of these differences must be reflected in your brand. Since nearly all products and services are available from your competitors – what makes you different? Financial Products are now all commodities – look-a-likes to consumers! There are many providers of similar products with features that appear almost identical to the untrained consumer. Large organizations offer packages of financial services that all seem very much alike – and which are presented to the public in…

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By David Stitt For professionals who believe in the need for having a plan to guide an individual, it is important that young people entering the industry have knowledge and experience in how to develop a comprehensive financial plan that informs, educates, and motivates clients to take appropriate action in order to meet their goals. Every profession needs a steady stream of educated new entrants in the field to replace those who leave. The average age of planning organizations is getting older and there is a real need for new, fresh blood to reenergize and to be ready to carry…

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