In this month’s post, we pick up where we left off last month with a look at how firm owners can integrate their new planner into the final three stages of the financial planning process to help ensure that the CFP® certification can be gained in two years versus three.  If you missed last month’s post addressing the first three steps in the planning process, it can be found here http://bit.ly/attractingtop

Step 4: Developing and Presenting Financial Planning Recommendations and/or Alternatives (Plan Presentation meeting) – Following the Draft Plan meeting, have your new planner finalize the recommendations and final financial plan deliverable and then present it to you as if you were the client. This way you get an overview of the situation and they get a safe environment to practice. Prior to the actual client meeting, discuss the financial plan with your new planner, who will take the lead on each of the recommendation sections. In the beginning, you will probably be doing most of the talking here due to the delicate nature of the framing that is necessary to guide the client effectively. This is something new planners definitely do not learn in school and is only developed with time and mentoring. However, some technical areas, like college planning, might be more familiar to them and they could take this part initially.

Step 5: Implementing the Financial Planning Recommendations (Implementation meeting) – You should have your new planner oversee the majority of this. Have them prepare all the documents that need to be signed and explain to the client what they are signing and why. Coordinate with the client’s other advisors and/or any outside professionals who might be needed to fulfill the entire slate of recommendations. The new planner should also create a recommendations implementation checklist to keep track of who was supposed to do what by when.  Dealing with outside professionals can be challenging for a new planner early on, but this will give them a chance to hone their management, facilitation, and delegation skills, which they will need to fully manage the planning process without your supervision in the future.

Step 6: Monitoring the Financial Planning Recommendations (Update/Observation meetings) – Have your new planner contact the client prior to these meetings and ask what the client would like to see on the agenda. If you aren’t using an agenda for all of your client meetings, you should be. Then send the client the agenda ahead of time. The new planner should also ask if anything has changed so an accurate updated plan can be prepared, presented, and compared to the client’s original start point plan. Your new planner should also be keeping accurate records on the implementation checklist and refer to it during these meetings if items are left outstanding.

Immediately following each of these engagements and ideally any time you have a client meeting, debrief with your new planner as to what went well and what didn’t, then combine your notes to send to the client. Over time, this will become second nature to your new planner and the less involvement you will need to have, if that is your goal. Once they achieve their CFP® designation, you can hire an additional planner who works with them as they worked with you and repeat the process as your firm grows to have a new CFP® certificant every two years.