What It’s Really Like to Be A Client Of A Financial Advisor

Here on the show, we often talk about what it’s like to become a client. But what about what it's like to be a client of a financial advisor? Tune in for a behind-the-scenes look at what it looks like to be a client at Tax Doctor Inc. Important Links: Website: http://www.yourplanningpros.com Call: 844-707-7381 ----more---- Transcript: Walter Storholt: Well, here on the show, we often talk about what it's like to become a client, but today we're going to talk about what it's like to be a client. On Plan with the Tax Man, what's it really like to be a client of a financial advisor, we'll give you all the details coming up. I'll grab Tony and we'll get started. It's another episode of Plan with the Tax Man, I'm Walter Storholt filling in for Mark Killian, but as always, joined by Tony Mauro, a certified financial planner and CPA with more than 30 years of financial planning experience. Find us at Yourplanningpros.com. Based out of the Des Moines area in central Iowa, serving everyone throughout the community there, you can find him certainly via the phone as well, 844-707-7381, all the contact information for Tony is in the description of today's show. Tony, before we dive into the topic today, everything going okay with you? Tony Mauro: It's going good for us, just got back into town from a family wedding, and yeah, still tackling fall, so everything's good. Walter Storholt: Nice. Where was the wedding? Tony Mauro: It's actually over in Chicago. Walter Storholt: Nice. Good trip to the city? Tony Mauro: It was. I don't get over there very much for as close as we are, but there's a lot of stuff to do, a lot of stuff to eat, and all that, so yeah, it's always a good time. Walter Storholt: Did you get down to the riverfront or down to the lakefront at all? Tony Mauro: We did, we went down to, familiar with the Navy Pier area. Walter Storholt: Yeah. Tony Mauro: We were there a little bit, and then kind of walked around downtown a little bit. It's spent a long time since I had a good old-fashioned deep dish pizzas, so we had a little of that. Walter Storholt: I was going to say. Who did you use, was it Lou Malnati's or what's the other one- Tony Mauro: Yes, it was whatever that one is. It was highly ranked, so we thought, well, we'll go try it, and it was very good. Walter Storholt: Yeah, it's hard to beat a meat pie, right? Tony Mauro: That's right. Walter Storholt: Pretty good stuff. One of my favorite things ever was doing the river tour, the riverboat tour in Chicago, just the architecture tour from the boats, I think it's just one of the- Tony Mauro: I've never done that. Yeah, but that sounds good. Walter Storholt: Oh, you got to do it. Next time you're in the city, just do the riverboat tour, the architecture tour, and they take you all up through the river, and they point out all of this just fascinating information, all about the architecture of all the buildings right there along the river front. And it's a fun ride, they put on a great show, lots of amazing information. Every time I've gone to Chicago, I've done the tour, so. Tony Mauro: I'll have to do that. Yeah. Walter Storholt: It's really cool. I think you can pick it up right there from Navy Pier too, so you hop on the boats that are right there, they take you right through, and just easy. Tony Mauro: Cool. Walter Storholt: Very cool. Tony Mauro: Yeah. Walter Storholt: I would do it when the weather is warm. It'd probably be a little brutal in the colder temperatures, but good summer activity for sure. Well, let's dive into our conversation today, Tony, what it's really like to be a client of a financial advisor. So, again, a lot of our focus is on becoming a client, but let's talk about once we've turned that page and we are a client, set some expectations for folks, what's that relationship then going to look like beyond just the first couple of visits and meetings? So, when somebody's been a client for many years and they already have a solid retirement plan in place, what are your discussions look like when you get together for periodic reviews, and how often do those happen? Take us under the hood, if you will. Tony Mauro: Sure. Well, normally, depending on the client's situation, how complex it is, and really whether they're in the... I try to divide it up into two main areas. You're either in the accumulation stage or the distribution stage, that's what our clients are in. So, that number one depends on how many times a year we get together. It's anywhere from one to four times that we'll get together, because some clients will say, believe it or not, hey, I think four is too much, I don't really want to get together that often. And some really like it. So, everybody's different there, but once we get a plan in place... And for us, a plan isn't just lip service and talking, we actually use, and I think a lot of advisors do today, some sort of formal ...