What is the initial meeting process for Investment Services?

Investment Services

What is the initial meeting process for Investment Services?

 
 

What is the process for new clients?


At Vermillion Financial Advisors, our Investment Service process always starts with you and your objectives. Your first meeting will be with one of our Certified Financial Planners® and is always a complementary initial consultation designed to answer all your questions.

What is the initial meeting process for financial planning

Initial Meeting (Getting To Know Each Other)

The initial meeting is your meeting. It is an exchange of questions, concerns, ideas, and a discussion of your investment goals. It is during this time that you have a chance to ask one of our advisors all the questions you may have, such as:

 
• How can VFA help me get better understanding if I am assuming too much risk?
• How can VFA help me learn what I need to do in order to retire comfortably?
• How can VFA help me know if I have proper investments for my stage in life?

This meeting has a singular purpose, and that is to help you determine if you can invest on your own, or if your investment needs are more complex; meaning that you can benefit by working with the help of a Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®). The initial meeting will give you an opportunity to meet and interview one of our CFPs® without the requirement of bringing in all of your financial papers or the pressure of being asked to make any commitments. Hopefully this will be your first step in creating a bond of trust between you and Vermillion Financial Advisors.

From our perspective, we want to learn about you, your family, and your goals:

• How large and complex is your current portfolio?
• How did you accumulate your current portfolio?
• What do you feel are the biggest investment challenges you face now, or will face in the future?
• What is it that you wish to accomplish with your portfolio?
• What do you expect from an investment advisor and a registered investment advisory firm?

By asking these and other questions, we will be able to determine if we can truly assist you in meeting your investment goals and long-term objectives. If our advisor feels confident that Vermillion can meet your expectations and properly service your needs, you will be offered the next step in our investment process – a complimentary discovery meeting.


Discovery Meeting (A Cursory Review of All Your Investment Data)

Our CFPs® use the discovery meeting to review all of your important investment information, to verify your current investment holdings are as described in your initial meeting, and look for any investment exposures that will need to be addressed through the investment planning process. This is where we determine if our services can ultimately be beneficial to you, and we can truly help you meet your investment goals. This no cost, no obligation consultation is a second opportunity for you to meet with one of our Certified Financial Planners®, to ask additional questions, and to raise your level of comfort with Vermillion Financial Advisors and the services we provide. You will learn more about what you can expect from our staff, our advisors, and our firm, starting with the potential benefits of our investment planning process, the service options available to you, and finishing with the costs involved.

Should this consultation solution successfully meet your expectations, a preliminary action plan will be discussed. A possible follow-up may be the creation of a personal investment policy statement and risk profile assessment, or it may be one of our Target Investment Portfolio, or it may be a Customized Designed Portfolio. Regardless of what the service options may be, one thing for certain is the next step will be your decision.


The Creation of a Personal Investment Policy Statement (Your Baseline Analysis – It All Starts Here)

All comprehensive investment planning starts with an Investment Policy Statement (IPS). Once you have decided on this service and your investment documents have been collected by one of our Vermillion Financial Advisors in your discovery meeting, your data is processed by our information technicians. Key investment information is entered into our investment planning database. An initial IPS draft is prepared and reviewed by your Vermillion Financial Advisor for corrections and recommendations. A final draft is then prepared and presented to the entire advisory team for peer review process. Our peer review provides an added level of consideration and recommendations. The end result is an IPS that is your baseline for all investment analysis and projections. An Investment Policy Statement will include the following:

• Portfolio Primary Objective
• Portfolio Risk Tolerance
• Portfolio Distribution Plan (if applicable)
• Capital Preservation Plan
• Asset Restrictions
• Asset Allocation Methodology
• Investment Product Preferences
• Description of Portfolio Assumption Used
• Proposed Asset Allocation
• Investment Management Criteria
• Rebalancing Procedure
• Asset Review and Replacement Criteria
• Duties and Responsibilities
• Criteria to review your investment holdings
• An initial list of action steps required to address investment goals and exposures
• Targeted Investment Return

Recommendations vary from client to client. They may involve setting up your investments differently, opening new accounts, consolidating old accounts, starting new saving habits, changing current spending habits, or possibly all of the above.


Investment Policy Statement Follow-up Meeting (What do you want to do next?)

Once your IPS has been completed, you and your Vermillion Advisor will carefully address the following:

1) Answer any questions raised since your last meeting, relating to either the Investment Policy Statement or the services available through our firm

2) Discuss and determine your current and future investment goals and prioritize them

3) Formulate a plan of action to help you achieve your goals

4) Discuss your interest in taking additional steps and any future services you may now feel may be beneficial to you and your family.

At the conclusion of our discussions, the gathering of information, the presentation of our findings and recommendations, you are now ready to begin the real work of the investment planning process, as you move forward toward achieving your goals and objectives.

 


Learn more about the Vermillion Advisors and our initial meeting process,
contact Vermillion Financial Advisors today.

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