You are always in the driver’s seat.

When you take a trip, there are a number of ways to get from where you are to where you are going. You might choose the direct expressway or a scenic two-lane country road with twists and turns. You might encounter road construction and detours along the way. You consult your GPS or road map, adapt to the changes, and eventually reach your destination. You choose your route.

A financial plan is like a road map for your life. It is a tool that helps you to get from where you are to your destination, in this case, financial security. The key is to choose the route (the strategy) that best fits you – one that is adaptable when unexpected changes occur.

These services are designed to keep you in the driver’s seat.

Vibrant Life Financial Planning offers the following three services (read the details of each below):

Create Your Comprehensive Financial Plan
Implementation and Continuing Client Service
Investment Management

Create Your Comprehensive Financial Plan (aka Your Road Map)

Think of me as your navigator. We work together, step by step, to create a customized financial plan for you. Here’s how we begin together:

We uncover your highest goals and priorities – your needs, wants, and dreams.
We build a risk profile to find out how your feelings about risk impact the choices you make and actions you take.
We compile an inventory of your current and future resources (savings, income) and expenses.

Using this information, I evaluate options and strategies for covering your needs and satisfying your highest-priority wants and dreams. This includes saving strategies (such as retirement savings accounts, non-retirement investment accounts, college savings, etc.) and distribution strategies (IRA distributions, Social Security analysis, pensions, annuities, etc.). I show you the potential results of using a combination of individual strategies and any trade-offs that might be required to be sure your needs are met for your lifetime.

After considering your options, you choose the overall strategy that most closely aligns with realizing your highest goals and priorities.

I put everything in writing for you – goals, risk profile, inventory of resources and expenses, asset allocation for investment accounts, the position of your financial plan in your overall estate plan, and an implementation plan for your overall strategy. It is a comprehensive financial plan, customized for you based on your choices – a plan that you can confidently put into action!

The cost of creating your comprehensive financial plan ranges from $1,500 to $5,000 depending upon the complexity of your situation.

Implementation and Continuing Client Service

Once you have the foundation – your comprehensive financial plan – it needs to be implemented. You might think of this as “hitting the road” with your road map. Most people want help with this step because they want to be sure it gets done and gets done correctly. I can help you!

We’ll tackle the most critical actions first, then continue with implementing all of the actions until your plan is fully in place.

In addition, you may call me as frequently as you need to ask questions about your plan or about any financial matters that may come up – anything at all. For example, if your daughter has just told you that the wedding of her dreams is going to cost twice as much as you’ve planned, you can call and we’ll discuss the impact on your financial plan of changing the wedding budget. Or if you receive an unexpected inheritance, you can call and we’ll discuss how that changes the goals and priorities you can fund.

At the end of each year, we will refresh your financial plan based upon changes that are certain to occur along the way – changes with your needs and wants, your savings and investment performance, your income and resources, tax laws, etc.

The cost of continuing client service ranges from $150 to $500 per month, and is a two-year commitment. At the end of the commitment, you can decide whether to continue on a month to month basis.

Investment Management

Your comprehensive financial plan will include a recommended asset allocation for your savings – how much to hold in cash, how much to invest in income investments (bonds, CDs, etc.), and how much to invest in the stock market.

If you would like help with selecting investments and setting up accounts based upon your financial plan that we’ve created together, I am happy to help you.

I like to keep things simple, using investments that you can understand. This might include mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs), certificates of deposit, government bonds, etc.

If some of your savings are in accounts with limited investment options (such as a 401(k)), I will evaluate the options and recommend investments which will be consistent with your financial plan.

I prefer and generally recommend passively managed investments, that is, investments which track specific market indexes (for example, the DJIA, S&P 500, NASDAQ). The investments I recommend will have low or no costs to purchase, and low fund expenses. I recommend investments, I do not sell investment products. I receive no commissions from any investments I recommend to you.

Cost for investment management services is 0.50% of the value of the assets (an annual fee that is billed quarterly).