Expectations

What you can expect from us

You can expect us to be professional, knowledgeable, thorough, honest and reliable.

You can learn more about our background by clicking on About Us.

We promise to be there when you need us.

We follow a strict set of operating policies designed to serve all clients equally well.  Please read through each of these policies carefully as they form the basis for our working together.

Communication:  We can communicate with you in person, by telephone, U.S. mail, fax or e-mail.  The method does not matter to us, just that it be efficient and productive.  While in person or telephone often seems most desirable, it is usually the most time consuming and therefore the most costly way to access our services.  

We encourage you to write your questions and concerns as this helps you to be more thoughtful and complete.  Then you can send them via your preferred channel.  Our response will also be more thoughtful and complete and provides you a reference to consult later on as needed. That’s just Financially Smart!

Response time:  Smart financial decisions are never made impulsively. This is not to be confused with making smart financial decisions quickly.   After the planning, research and deliberations have been completed, one knows exactly what they need to do.  When the right opportunity comes along, a decision can and is often made and acted on quickly.

Clients are not typically in a crisis mode (with some limited exceptions).  Therefore, our response time is typically 48 to 72 hours from our receipt of your communication.  This allows us to provide thoughtful replies and discourages impulsive tendencies. 

Please be sure you understand that our delay in responding to your communications is intentional and allows us to provide you better service than a quick reply. That’s just Financially Smart!

Urgency:  There are times when something unexpected happens (good or bad).  Often these events, while exciting/upsetting, will not have an immediate impact on the work we are doing together.  You are encouraged to let us know about these unexpected events as soon as possible, however, we may not respond sooner than our regular response time unless we deem the circumstances make it necessary. 

If you feel that your need to hear from us is urgent, please say so in your communication and we will respond as soon as possible.  Please understand that we charge a premium if you ask us to treat your communication as urgent.  In extreme cases, we will respond outside of normal business hours as the situation warrants.  So you can have peace of mind that we will be there when you need us to be.

Results:  You are most likely familiar with the following securities industry disclaimer:  “Past performance is no guarantee of future results”.    While this statement is intended to shield liability, it does let investors know that they are taking their own risk and the securities industry is not willing to accept any risk for the investor especially as the industry is not in the business of showing investors how to make Financially Smart decisions.

We also cannot guarantee you a desired result.  You are still making your own decisions and are fully responsible for those decisions and taking timely action.  We are helping you to make informed and educated decisions – Financially Smart decisions.

We can guarantee that you will have greater confidence about the decisions you make and will have peace of mind about your future.

What we won’t do:

You should also understand what not to expect from us. 

Finally, we will not create expectations that we cannot fulfill.  All expectations will be in writing, no verbal statements made by any of our staff should be construed as binding unless also received in writing.

What we expect from you

In order for you to have a successful result, you will need to accept and agree to the following expectations we have for you.  We expect that:

• you will be genuine in your desire for assistance
• you will be open minded about learning new concepts and approaches to problem solving
• you will perform the tasks and activities we suggest
• you will be appropriate in all dealings with all members of our staff
• you will fully cooperate and provide timely responses to all requests we make
• you will be realistic in your expectations about what we can do for you
• you will accept full responsibility for your results

We can only help those who truly want to make a positive change for themselves.