Road to Independence

In the beginning of my independent life as an advisor, the majority of my business income came from financial planning fees and I spent a great deal of time developing my planning tool in Excel. I’m very glad I took the time because it offers a very unique analysis which my clients greatly appreciate.

Up to this point in 2009, I haven’t spent much time seeking out new planning opportunities, but I have been updating the plans of existing clients.

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My client base continues to grow, the markets are trending higher lately, and I secured another financial planning engagement this week. All of these are positive signs, but growth brings with it increased responsibility and a greater need for operational efficiencies. Growth also brings to the forefront the need to revisit the ol’ business budget to see if actual income and expenses are tracking with your projections.

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Things have been very busy lately and business is booming. There comes a time though when you need to take a breather. I decided I needed a vacation day, so I took one last Friday. While I was at home, I received a call on my cell phone from a prospective client I had spoken to months earlier.  

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To recap my journey on the Road to Independence, I began my business on April 1, 2007. In the beginning my plan was to use an independent broker/dealer. Circumstances changed and I ended up setting up shop as an RIA. For the first two months I did not have a place to custody assets so I spent my time in financial planning mode. By the end of the first year I had a couple million dollars in assets under management. Today, that number is nearly quadrupled. By this time next month I should have an additional million. Overall, things are looking pretty good.

This year I have spent much more time and energy refining the asset management part of the business since the financial planning portion is already well established. With a growing asset base it is imperative to have an efficient management process.

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