Over many years working with clients, what’s become very clear is that the earlier someone engages in our process, the more beneficial the impact on their financial life. One of the biggest advantages a young person has is time. To truly harness this benefit, one must engage in proper financial and investment behaviors as early as possible, and let the benefits of those actions compound over as much time as possible. Modest improvements in behaviors can have monumental long-term effects. The problem is, most people wait too long to engage a planner, often having made a myriad of prior financial missteps. A typical client who comes to us in their 40s and 50s often has a financial picture that is, to varying degrees, unfocused, disjointed, and unaligned with their stated goals. If is far better to avoid making mistakes in the first place, and set in place, proactively, a solid financial foundation on which to build.
Picture this: You’re in your early 30s, having spent a decade grinding and establishing your career, and the hard work is starting to pay off. You’ve been promoted, maybe changed jobs a couple of times, are moving up in seniority or are pondering going out on your own. Your income is growing, and you can envision a strong trajectory for future advancement and income growth. You’ve made some headway in your finances, perhaps saving a bit, paying down student debt, and contributing to your 401K. Despite this, you have the unmistakable sense that your life and your finances are gaining complexity and of being increasingly overwhelmed. You know that with more money comes more responsibility and missteps carry bigger repercussions. You feel like you have neither the time, experience nor the inclination to do this on your own. What’s worse, you see friends and colleagues around you who do seem to know what they are doing: buying houses, or making a lot of money in the stock market, or living large. The subconscious sense of “Am I doing something wrong?” or “Am I missing out?” starts to build.
I can speak from experience. In the late 1990s I was in my late 20s, and working at a boutique West Coast investment bank. I was doing well and progressing in my career. The firm I worked for was in the center of the dot com bubble, taking nascent tech companies public virtually everyday. The amount of big money being minted all around me was palpable. There is nothing worse than seeing peers, family members, and friends, many with little investment experience, making, supposedly, massive gains in the market. I was inexperienced and rudderless without any serious financial or investment anchors. FOMO continued to mount until finally I couldn’t resist it anymore and, in late 1999, plunked a considerable bonus payment into a bunch of speculative and unproven tech IPOs. Within months, the bubble, and my portfolio, were nosediving. It was a sobering and painful lesson that could have been avoided with the right financial counsel.
This realization prompted us to launch our Foundation Program, which while geared toward our traditional client niche, professionals and business owners, focuses on the unique needs and wants of younger clients in their 30s. We place a special emphasis on planning and investment education and coaching. We focus on the issues that young people face as they start to build their financial foundation: from managing monthly cash flow and spending, to financial organization and simplification, to identifying near and long-term goals and building a plan to achieve them. We help Foundation clients through the host of transitions they will face over the next decade, from career changes, to planning for a house purchase, to the financial implications of getting married and starting a family, to building a sound investment framework, managing debt, among others.
Our Foundation Program is streamlined to meet the busy schedules of people in their 30s. In year one, we typically meet with new clients 4-6 times, with 2 meetings per year thereafter, either in person or on a video call. We connect Foundation clients to our industry-leading online portal that serves as the dashboard for their financial life, aggregating all of their financial accounts in one intuitive interface. With regard to fees, Foundation clients pay a one-time upfront planning fee plus a manageable monthly retainer fee. Foundation is open to clients in their 30s with over $250,000 in annual household income.
If you think Foundation might be right for you, please connect with us at www.dolanpartners.com to learn more and to set up an introductory call.