What to Expect Developing customized financial advice and recommendations isn't an overnight process – it requires commitments from both those who need advice and the advisor. We've provided a summary of our advisory process below for reference. 1. Initial Inquiry When you contact us, we'll provide a description of our services, philosophies, and fee structure. If you feel we can help you, you'll be asked to complete a Confidential Financial Questionnaire. This document summarizes your current financial status and needs to be in our office for review one week before our initial meeting.   2. Initial Meeting At this meeting, we'll answer your questions about our services, talk about your financial issues, and provide a written Service Agreement that outlines the areas we can help you in along with the estimated cost. Our fees are determined on an hourly or project basis, and depend on the complexity of your situation and what you want help with. Our hourly rate is $180. Most financial plans cost between $1,200 and $1,800, but more complex ones may run $3,000 or more. If you just have one or two financial issues, we also offer a $595 Financial Tune Up service. In every case, our fees are fully disclosed to you in advance before you hire us. Up to this point, there is no obligation between us – we are just trying to determine how we can help you. If you decide to hire us, you'll need to provide the following items so we can begin working together: a signed Service Agreement; a copy of your driver's license or other proof of identification; and an initial deposit of $500 or one-half of our estimated fee, whichever is less.   3. Plan Development Once we've received the required documents, we'll start developing financial recommendations in the area(s) you've approved. There's a good chance we'll ask you for additional information regarding specific items, and – depending on the scope of the project – we may hold a preliminary "goal and fact checking" meeting to refine assumptions, etc. When we finish developing your plan/recommendations, we'll schedule a presentation meeting.   4. Presentation Meeting We present and fully discuss your personalized plan, which in most cases includes a written summary of specific recommendations. Full payment of the remaining fee amount is due at this time.   5. Implementation and Follow Up You follow our step-by-step guidelines to implement your financial plan. If you have questions or need clarification about a specific recommendation, you can call or e-mail us for one year following the Presentation Meeting to receive follow-up guidance at no charge.   6. Conclusion Once we finish your project, there are no further obligations to work together in the future. We recommend meeting regularly for financial reviews and when major life events occur (e.g., marriage, new child, etc.), but there are no requirements that you do so.