The Brooklyn FI Client Experience
Here's a rough outline of what to expect in the first year of planning.
Get Organized Meeting
Once the contract is signed we’ll touch base via video chat to walk you through the onboarding process. Because we’re taking a top level view of your entire financial life we’re going to need a lot of documents and we strive to not only improve your financial life but organize it as well.
In this meeting we will:
Walk you through our fabulous financial planning software
Introduce you to the secure systems we use to store your data
Help you find account statements, old tax returns and other documents we’ll want to analyze
Book your Development Meetings and map out the path to completing your financial plan
Phase One: Development
Development Meeting #1
At this point, you should feel excited and confident that you’re taking the first steps towards financial independence.
In this meeting we will:
Put the numbers to the side and get to know you better
Dive into your answers to our “Three Questions”
Develop a comprehensive understanding of your goals
Review your balance sheet and current savings strategies
Adjust your 401(k) Savings and review Backdoor Roth IRA opportunities
Handle any urgent financial planning issues
Development Meeting #2
This is the part where we present your plan, a living and breathing strategy map to financial independence. The Brooklyn FI plan outlines paths for business growth, savings and investment growth, retirement planning, and so much more. Your dynamic plan will live online and will adjust with you as you make important life decisions and changes.
In this meeting we will:
Pull together a crystal ball for your current-year tax situation and any tax planning strategies
Review your familiarity and comfort with investing and fill in any knowledge gaps
Present an investment strategy that makes sense for your goals
Discuss your current portfolio and make recommendations for adjustments
Discuss your financial independence plan by showing you how it can be possible to achieve all your goals
Provide a trading plan for your equity compensation and review our core principles of managing equity compensation
Do a rent vs. buy calculation to see if buying a home makes sense
Assign tasks and recommendations
30-Day Follow-up Meeting
A financial plan has value when it’s actually implemented. We know you’re busy and want to make sure you have a clear plan for implementing our recommendations. We will have a check-in about a month after our last development meeting to check up on how things are going.
In this meeting we will:
Review any items we didn’t get to in the initial development phase: it’s common for us to discuss estate planning and life insurance in this follow-up meeting
Assign tasks to you to improve your overall financial health
Make sure your investment portfolio is ready to go
PHASE TWO: Ongoing Meetings
After we’ve developed the plan together the growth phase begins. We’ll be meeting regularly to discuss new developments, maintain your investment strategy, and make sure the financial plan is on track. Remember, you have access to us whenever something comes up but we like to meet at least twice a year.
Top of the year: We’ll focus on taxes and prepare your tax return (filing of the return is included)
Year end: We’ll focus on open enrollment and benefits and make some year-end tax saving moves
While this schedule provides an outline, we are also always available for a “transition meeting” if you change jobs, move cities, add a family member, or encounter something life-changing that we can help with!