The first in a three part series of whiteboard animations that explain Monument Wealth Management’s process. In this video you will meet Blake & Sandra Shepard – fictional characters who represent typical Monument Wealth Management clients.
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Meet Blake Shepherd. Blake’s a smart guy. He owns a data privacy and security firm in Reston, Virginia where he also lives with his wife Sandra and two kids. Blake started this successful business about 15 years ago and has worked hard to build it into something great. He’s proud of his success.
Blake’s about to turn 45, and a major defense contractor has approached him with an offer to buy his business. He’s super excited — his whole life will change.
Blake knows he’s on the cusp of this massive liquidity event, and now he has to get more serious about planning for his future. Blake and Sandra already have a financial advisor at one of the big Wall Street brokerages who manages their portfolio of assets, but as for a proper financial plan for the future — well, they feel a little bit in the woods.
Whenever Blake meets with his current advisor at the brokerage, he feels like he’s getting the same plain vanilla asset allocation strategy steeped in an ongoing sales pitch
to buy the brokerage’s products. He feels like it’s the same guys in the same suits pedaling the idea of the day, without much concern for his personal situation, or doing real financial planning to chart a long-term course for Blake and his family.
Blake’s got a lot of friends who are entrepreneurs like him. One of his friends — Kevin — told him a story about the day a few years ago when he sold his own business and came into a financial windfall much like the one Blake is about to experience. On the brink of this major event, Kevin made a very strategic decision about financial planning. In fact, he felt so good about it that he recommended the same course of action to his own mom and dad. So what, exactly, was the decision that left Kevin feeling prepared, comfortable, knowledgeable, and armed with a dedicated partner who had his back?
He enlisted the team at Monument Wealth Management.
Blake was all ears. He really values Kevin’s opinion and was intrigued by his story, so Blake and Sandra decided to go visit the guys at Monument. Blake booked the appointment, and they went in the following Monday.
Blake and Sandra were immediately impressed that they met all four founding partners — Dave, Dean, Tim and Tim – at their very first meeting. They also learned that they would continue to have direct access to all of them through the course of their relationship with Monument. The guys explained to Blake and Sandra exactly what it would be like to choose Monument as their partner. The team explained their independent model, which allows clients to access investment strategies from all corners of Wall Street. Then, the team walked through their process which would include understanding Blake’s family situation and financial goals for the future. Part of the process would be to develop courses of action for them, and corresponding investment strategies. Monument also clearly understood the need to be fast-paced and nimble with regard to technology. They struck Blake and Sandra as really ahead-of-the-curve, and super focused on reaping the benefits of quickly-evolving technology for their clients — whether it be improving user interfaces using account aggregation technology, providing mobile apps, or simply communicating insights and intelligence to their clients via social networks. The meeting was really resonating with Sandra.
Not only was the family’s current advisor at the brokerage constantly trying to get them to buy his company’s own proprietary financial products, but he also seemed way more focused on asset allocation versus true forward-looking financial planning, which is what they really wanted and needed.
Monument seemed totally different and the perfect fit.
The guys were also really transparent with Blake and Sandra about their fee schedule and structure. An annual planning retainer fee would ensure they weren’t “running up a tab” every time they picked up the phone to ask a question or talk to the team, and what’s more,
they never felt pressure to move their assets over to Monument.
Blake and Sandra walked out of that first meeting feeling really good about Monument — not only were these guys smart and savvy, but they seemed united as a team and totally committed to achieving the best results for their clients. This was the first time they felt the power of a collegial team, four equal partners, banded together to help them achieve their goals.
Blake and Sandra couldn’t help but feel that Monument wasn’t just a better vanilla — it was an entirely new flavor.
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