As a CPA, you probably frequently come across clients that have questions related to saving for retirement, college, or other investment goals. Your clients don’t necessarily know that while this is peripherally related to your services, it really is a specialty of its own. But they trust you, and so they ask. In most cases, the best way to help your client in this situation is to refer them to a specialist financial planner, wealth manager, or investment advisor that you yourself trust. This is because while regularly saving an arbitrary amount is better than doing nothing, your clients cannot achieve their goals if they have not defined them and constructed an appropriate plan to pursue them. They will need professional assistance to help them quantify their objectives, determine what is realistic, and develop a flexible systematic investing plan for execution. Their financial services professional should follow a process like that described here:
- Determine goals and quantify them: Retirement accumulation, educational savings, home ownership, starting a business
- Assess resources and perform cash flow analysis: Look at income, savings, and assets. Make projections.
- Determine allocations, strategies, amounts, and direction: Construct a conceptual roadmap to follow to success.
- Implement your plan and build your portfolio: There are many ways to do this, but which is the right one?
4Thought Financial Group Inc. is an independent SEC Registered Investment Adviser that can guide your clients through this process, as well as provide implementation and ongoing investment advisory services to further increase the likelihood that they actually reach their objectives. For more information, or if you have clients that might benefit from our services, please contact us.