The QuickStart meeting allows you to ask questions to a fee-only financial advisor online. You simply pay for advice and information, and you are not required to transfer assets, invest money, or buy any products.
With this arrangement, the incentive is to provide helpful information. You’re paying a fee to get answers—not for a product or service—so there’s no pushy sales pitch or “product of the day.” With this flat-fee financial advice offering, I don’t have any reason to hold back information or steer you toward certain solutions.
Highlights: One-Time Advice
This is a one-time financial advice solution. If you’re hesitant to turn your life savings over to somebody, you can still get professional guidance.
- Fiduciary advice: I’m required to put your interests first.
- No investment required: If you prefer to do it all yourself, that’s your choice.
- Discuss non-investment topics: Want to talk about your loan choices, insurance, retirement planning, or other topics? That’s great!
- Get investment reviews and advice: I can review what you’re currently doing and share my opinion along with any pointers that come to mind.
- Specific investment recommendations: I can provide an investment model using index funds or ETFs for you to implement on your own. In other words, this is financial advice for DIY investors.
- Get a second opinion: If you want to confirm that you’re on the right path, get a second opinion on the financial strategies you’re considering or your DIY investment approach.
- Available nationwide (mostly): Although I’m in Colorado, most states allow us to work together (Louisiana is an exception, and requires pre-registration).
- Advice only: This is a way to get guidance without hiring an asset manager.
What to Expect
Not everybody needs an in-depth financial plan right now. If you have a pressing issue or you just want a second opinion on something, this is an excellent solution.
- An 80-minute phone or video call devoted to your questions and your situation.
- You can upload documents securely before the meeting so I have easy access to everything during our call.
- Ask your questions and voice your concerns. If I know the answers or can find them during our time, I’ll tell you.
- I occasionally glance at the documents you provide ahead of time, but do not count on that.
- I do not prepare reports or conduct any analysis outside of our time together.
- Fully online process, including signing the agreement and payment by credit card or bank draft.
Important: Unfortunately, I might not know the answer to every question, or I can’t complete a sufficient analysis during a brief one-time engagement. If that happens, you’re welcome to engage at a deeper level (I currently have a multi-hour minimum) or explore other ways to work with me. It’s best to tell me what you want to talk about before you sign up so that I can tell you if I’m likely to be helpful.
Payment Details
- You pay $550 before the meeting.
- Payment is typically by credit card or bank draft, although checks may be allowed.
How to Get Started
It’s best to have a short discussion to help me understand what you need. Start by scheduling a call. If you prefer to begin the process by email, you can send a message to Info@ApproachFP.com, but please don’t include any confidential information.
Who Should Not Sign Up
It’s okay if we’re not a perfect fit—somebody else out there may be better for you. Please don’t waste your time with me if you meet any of the following criteria.
- You want to invest your 401(k) or IRA savings in real estate properties that you own or manage.
- You want a detailed analysis of individual stocks or bonds. Generally, I’m not a fan of individual holdings, although I realize you may be stuck with some legacy holdings that we may need to work around (and I might be able to provide ideas on that).
- You want a detailed retirement income plan that calculates how your investments, Social Security, taxes, pension, and other resources work together. Please consider my one-time or ongoing planning services instead. I can’t pull that off in 80 minutes.
$550 Just to Talk? That Seems Expensive!
Perhaps, although it depends how you define “expensive.” Consider some of the alternatives available. This isn’t to criticize other advisors, but rather to encourage an informed decision.
Some advisors might give advice that you don’t pay a fee for, but you pay commissions, instead. Let’s assume you’re starting with something as small as an annual IRA contribution of $6,000. With the standard 5.75% upfront sales charge on loaded funds, you’re paying $345 upfront, and the broker’s firm gets 0.25% per year indefinitely (in addition to other internal costs—please see a prospectus). Plus, they might only recommend products that pay commissions, ignoring the broader universe of options available.
Some financial planners want a bigger commitment than this one-time meeting. That’s understandable, as there are only 24 hours in a day, and they might not be able to accommodate small engagements. Planners often want you to sign up for annual or monthly payments that amount to thousands of dollars, and they may prefer to go in-depth on numerous topics (instead of just answering a few questions). Meanwhile, some advisors require you to transfer assets for them to invest, with potential tax consequences and an average advisory fee of about 1% per year (and they might have asset minimums). Again, no judgment. Every advisor gets to choose their offerings, and there are people out there looking for what they offer.
When you don’t need investment management services, your $550 might buy you more clarity on when you can retire and how that might look. That might be all you need to make some decisions, or it might help you find the right path if you want to do additional research and calculations on your own.
Ultimately, I hope that the value you get out of this meeting—over the coming years—exceeds the price. But I can’t guarantee anything, so you’ll have to decide what’s best.
Potential Drawbacks
Again, I might not know all of the answers to your questions or be able to find them during the meeting. Plus, sometimes I give the best advice after I think about things for a while. Finally, I typically don’t implement things for you—you’re on your own to complete any tasks, although I do my best to coach you, and sometimes we work through everything together online.
There may be other pitfalls as well. That said, I find that clients generally walk away with more clarity than they started with, and I feel good about the guidance I provide.
I Don’t Know What Questions to Ask
You don’t need to know all of the right questions. You’re probably looking for advice because you have hopes, challenges, or goals—but it’s not clear how to get there. I will most likely have clarifying questions that help us understand the possibilities available to you (as well as your preferences).
More Information
- See the questions you should ask a financial advisor before hiring them.
- Justin Pritchard, CFP® is a fee-only fiduciary financial advisor.
- Curious why you might work with an advisor online? See the pros and cons of online planning.
- You can learn more about Justin Pritchard’s background and experience on the About page.
Not ready to talk just yet? Get your two free guides on retirement and conservative investing. You’ll also get a series of educational emails (with an easy, one-click unsubscribe) from this page. That way, we can stay in touch, and you can decide if I’m the right fit for you.