Contributed by: Josh Bitel
Here at The Center, we believe financial planning requires working as a team. Given the opportunity to work with you, we want you to have a quality relationship with not only you, but also other professionals you’ve hired to work with you to assure that you have the most efficient financial plan tailored specifically for you. This is why we believe that the best long-term relationships typically occur when each team member is working to serve you and your family.
In coordinating with other professionals, The Center can be more efficient and help your plan be as accurate as possible. One example that we run into frequently is the constant open communication with CPAs near tax deadlines; this allows us to make critical decisions and take advantage of opportunities before that mid-April cutoff date sneaks up! This type of communication also helps us to get a better view of your total financial picture. We currently have nine CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certificate holders here at The Center, each with a wide variety of knowledge in many topics to allow us to leverage other advisors with specific expertise, such as attorneys or insurance agents. This helps us uncover opportunities to better plan for your future. The availability of these additional resources is another way for us to make sure nothing slips through the cracks!
Another example where this coordination comes in handy is titling of assets. We can leverage estate planning attorneys to make sure assets are in the right hands even when a client may not be around to call the shots! This is especially important when adding beneficiaries to accounts and funding trusts.
Providing referrals to other professionals for clients is an often overlooked part of financial planning that The Center takes pride in offering to clients. Often times when attorneys, CPAs, or other professionals are needed for client cases, and they may not have worked with a professional in the past, this provides us with an opportunity to refer our clients to a professional we already have experience in working with. In coordination with this, we are able to network with other professionals who have a hand in assisting clients with all aspects of their financial lives.
Coordinating with and leveraging other professionals is one of the many ways we make sure your plan is as personal and detailed as possible, which is what we strive for at The Center.
Josh Bitel is a Client Service Associate at Center for Financial Planning, Inc.®