The Echelon Private CFO Process

The Discovery Meeting

At our initial meeting, we’ll conduct a discovery interview. This comprehensive activity helps us fully understand your values, priorities and goals. The interview will help us determine where you are, where you want to go and how we can maximize the probability of getting you there.

What to bring

  • Last two years’ tax returns
  • Current bank, mutual fund, brokerage and retirement plan statements
  • Current life insurance policies and statements
  • Any wills or trusts
  • Any other documents that would help us to fully understand your financial situation

The Investment Plan Meeting

At this meeting, we’ll present a complete diagnostic of your current situation and recommendations for how we can bridge the gaps in order to achieve your goals. This investment plan will form the foundation for the entire wealth management process. While you may be eager to implement your plan immediately, we’ll wait until you’ve had time to thoroughly review it. We’re looking for a lifelong relationship, so we want to be sure you’re completely comfortable with every step of our process.

The Mutual Commitment Meeting

At this point, we’ll be ready to make a mutual decision about whether working together can add true and meaningful value to the bottom line for you and your family and if we should proceed. If we both choose to work together, then we’ll commit to each other to work toward achieving your goals. We’ll also execute the documents necessary to put your investment management plan into motion.

What to bring

  • Any questions or concerns you have regarding your investment plan

Wealth Management Team Meeting

Once we’ve committed to maximizing the probability of your achieving your financial goals, we will meet separately with our team of wealth management experts to prioritize the next steps. This core team consists of a CPA, an attorney and an insurance specialist—other experts are called in on an as-needed basis. The end result of this meeting is a comprehensive wealth management plan that helps us address your financial challenges in order of urgency and potential for positive impact on the realization of all your financial goals.

The 45-Day Follow-up Meeting

We’ll help you organize in a notebook that we provide all the account paperwork that you have received. We’ll also answer any questions you may have, so that you understand exactly how your money is being handled.

What to bring

  • All the new account paperwork that you will receive in the mail
  • Any questions you may have regarding the execution of your investment plan

Regular Progress Meetings

These meetings, which we’ll schedule at intervals convenient to you, give us an opportunity to implement the wealth management plan that we developed with our team of experts at the Wealth Management Team Review Meeting. They also allow us to review your overall progress toward your long-term financial goals.

What to bring

Any questions you may have regarding the execution of your investment plan At these meetings, we’ll follow a road map for each area of your financial life. We’ll repeat this chain of events for each of your financial challenges:

  • Scenario Planning
    For each financial challenge you face, we’ll brainstorm with the appropriate specialists to come up with innovative solutions. Our goal is to create the best possible outcome for you and your family. Accordingly, we don’t limit our thinking in this phase.

  • Recommendation
    We’ll select the options with the most impact and present them to you for your consideration. We’ll work closely with you, staying engaged at every step, to empower you to make the smartest decisions according to your situation, values and goals.

  • Implementation
    Once we have worked with you to select each strategy, we will work diligently to be sure that the plan is fully and carefully executed.

  • Reporting
    When we present the results of the action we’ve taken, we take special care to be sure that the results you’re getting are appropriate to your needs and goals.

  • Follow-up
    We systematically review your wealth management plan and communicate any updates to you. We also maintain a dialogue with you so that we can stay abreast of any life or financial changes that may affect your wealth management plan. Any time you have a change in your situation or a new financial challenge, we’ll begin again with scenario planning.