Client Case Study #1

Business Owners – Colleen, the goals oriented CEO

With twenty years of experience in the healthcare industry, Colleen successfully launched her own company and was enjoying her fifth year of double-digit earnings growth. Highly educated, possessing a strong financial background, with graduate degrees from one of the finest business schools, she sought us out because she was upset with her former advisor. Specifically, she was frustrated with the lack of proactivity, poor service and the absence of an aggregate view of her finances from her former advisor. She felt that if her advisor could not listen and understand her unique concerns, then he or she would be of limited value in helping her achieve her goals.

Investments were important to Colleen; but, she viewed them as a means to an end. She recognized that there exists no value in spending her time discussing the merits of buying Coke stock versus Pepsi stock with her advisor. She was more concerned about making sure she would have the necessary assets and liquidity to provide for her family’s financial security. Though Colleen was doing quite well financially, she frequently worried whether or not she was on track to accomplish everything that was important to her in retirement.

To accomplish her objectives, Colleen wanted advisors that take a comprehensive approach to financial planning, looking at all of her assets and not just her investment portfolio. She felt she could not discuss this concern effectively with her current advisor, because he would end up referring her to another group inside his firm - which invariably would lead to another attempt to sell her a product.

In our Mutual Discovery Process, we spent hours listening to what was important to Colleen and her family, understanding her objectives, and comprehending her core values. We discussed Colleen’s personal interests, as well as how she would ideally like to work with her advisors. Asking questions to understand the strengths or weaknesses of her relationships with her accountant, attorney, insurance agent, and banker, allowed us to identify areas of potential concern beyond her investment portfolio.

We explored Colleen’s potential liabilities, concerns about asset protection, business succession options, taxes, and her desires for the conservation of her estate. With a comprehensive understanding of what is important to Colleen, we carefully analyzed her current resources, liabilities, investment accounts, personal tax returns, business tax returns, risk management plans (including personal insurance policies, property and casualty coverage and business risk policies) as well as her current will, powers of attorney and health care directives.

Colleen appreciated that we took the time to coordinate with her other professional advisors to make well-vetted recommendations for how to structure her financial life as well as her portfolio. The process of working with Rockwood to develop and continuously update her comprehensive wealth management plan has granted Colleen a renewed confidence about the attainment of her goals.

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