SMART Planning™
Financial Planning That Connects Every Part of Your Life
Your investments, taxes, retirement, insurance, and estate planning decisions are connected. SMART Planning™ helps bring them together into a coordinated strategy built around what matters most to you.
SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE
Understand where you stand financially, how the different pieces fit together, and what deserves your attention.
MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS
Work through important financial choices with clear recommendations that consider how one decision may affect another.
STAY ON TRACK AS LIFE CHANGES
Keep your financial plan aligned with your goals as your career, family, priorities, and circumstances evolve.
The SMART Planning™ Approach
Your Priorities, Our Framework
SMART Planning™ is our approach to understanding your complete financial picture, working through the details, and making decisions that support one another rather than compete.
Each letter represents a principle that guides our work. The framework stays consistent, while the recommendations and priorities are built around your life and what matters most to you.
Study Your Situation
We begin by understanding your financial situation, your goals, and what matters most to you before recommending a course of action.
Manage Risk
We identify risks that could affect your financial security and evaluate strategies to help protect your income, assets, and long-term plans.
Align Your Financial Life
We consider how decisions in one area of your financial life affect others, whether you're evaluating a Roth conversion, buying a home, or preparing for retirement.
Reevaluate and Refine
We review recommendations with you and refine them before your plan is final. As your priorities and circumstances change, your plan should change with them.
Tax-Aware Decisions
We consider how taxes may affect your financial decisions and evaluate opportunities to improve tax efficiency as part of your overall plan.
SMART Planning™ is also the foundation of our Wealth Management service, where your financial plan and investment portfolio are managed together in one ongoing relationship.
Curious about the cost of working together? Explore Our Fees
Our Planning Process
What Working Together Looks Like
Financial planning is a collaborative process. From our first conversation through the development and implementation of your plan, we work together to understand your circumstances, evaluate your options, and put recommendations into action.
Phase 1
Discovery & Alignment
Get to know each other, understand your priorities, and establish a foundation for working together.
Our relationship begins with a conversation. We want to understand what brings you to us, what matters most to you, and what you're hoping to accomplish. Just as importantly, we want both of us to feel confident that working together is the right fit.
- Introductory Conversation: A complimentary, no-obligation conversation about your financial concerns, priorities, and goals, and whether our approach is right for you.
- Engagement & Onboarding: If you decide to move forward, we'll confirm your services and fees in a written agreement, then begin gathering the information and documents needed to develop your plan.
- Your Advisory Team: Get to know the people who will work with you, how we'll communicate, and how we'll support you throughout the planning process.
Phase 2
Analysis & Strategy Development
Understand your complete financial picture, uncover opportunities and risks, and develop a plan built around what matters most to you.
Financial planning begins with understanding more than the numbers. We take a comprehensive look at your financial life while learning what gives your money purpose. Together, these insights help us develop recommendations that reflect your circumstances, priorities, and vision for the future.
- Financial Data Review & Risk Assessment: Examine your financial information, identify potential gaps and risks, and evaluate how your resources, obligations, and existing arrangements support your goals.
- Vision & Values Conversation: Explore your family, relationships, personal values, and aspirations to understand what matters most to you and the purpose you want your money to serve.
- Investment Approach Discussion: Review your current investments, discuss your comfort with risk, and identify an investment approach that reflects your financial goals, needs, and preferences.
- SMART Planning™ Presentation: Review your personalized financial plan, discuss our analysis and recommendations, and work together to confirm that the proposed strategies are practical, appropriate, and aligned with your priorities.
Phase 3
Implementation & Coordination
Put your financial plan into action with professional guidance, coordination, and support.
A financial plan only creates value when its recommendations are put into practice. We help you identify the next steps, coordinate with the appropriate professionals, and follow through on the decisions needed to move your plan forward.
- Implementation Support: Prioritize your recommendations and help carry out strategies involving investments, retirement, cash flow, taxes, and other areas of your financial plan.
- Insurance & Risk Management Coordination: Work with your insurance professionals to address identified coverage needs and risks, or help connect you with appropriate professionals when needed.
- Tax & Estate Planning Coordination: Collaborate with your CPA, tax advisor, and estate planning attorney to help implement recommended strategies, or provide introductions when you need additional professional support.
Phase 4
Ongoing Partnership
Keep your financial plan aligned with your life as circumstances, priorities, and opportunities change.
Life doesn't stand still, and neither should your financial plan. When we continue working together, we stay involved as your family, career, finances, and goals evolve, helping you evaluate new decisions, adjust your strategy, and move forward with greater confidence.
- Ongoing Plan Reviews: Revisit your goals, evaluate your financial progress, and determine whether your existing strategies remain appropriate as circumstances change.
- Life Changes & New Decisions: Address important transitions such as career changes, growing families, retirement decisions, or unexpected events that may affect your financial future.
- Continued Implementation Support: Receive ongoing assistance with new recommendations, outstanding planning needs, and coordination with other professionals as your financial life evolves.
Let's Talk About What Matters Most to You
Whether you’re preparing for retirement, facing a major financial decision, or wondering whether your current plan still fits your life, we’re here to help you sort through your options.
During a complimentary introductory meeting, at our Toledo office or virtually, we’ll learn about your situation, answer your questions, and help you determine whether SMART Planning™ is the right fit.