Planning Process

Getting Started

Your first step in our planning process is to complete our on-line risk management questionnaire called “Riskalyze.” This patented technology objectively calculates an investor’s true risk tolerance utilizing a scientific framework that won the Nobel Prize for Economics.

Introductory Meeting

Before the introductory meeting, we ask you to complete our confidential profile. We ask that you complete this profile so that we can better understand your current situation and your financial goals and objectives. We will then invite you to a complimentary introductory meeting to which you can bring the completed profile.

In this meeting we will:

• Discuss important topics such as proper beneficiary designations, the pros and cons of passing assets via the will vs by beneficiaries
  
• Discuss the unique financial challenges you will face in retirement and how they can be destructive to your wealth if appropriate actions are not taken within a plan
  
• Determine the specific strengths and weaknesses of your current financial status and plan
  
• Determine what services may be of greatest benefit to you
  
• Provide you with an understanding of how we work and are compensated
  
• Answer any questions you may have
  
• For all introductory meetings, we require that each financial decision maker be present. Introductory meetings are held at our office in Troy. We also ask that you bring the following financial information for review:

Tax return for the past year

• Investment and retirement account statements
  
• Brokerage statements
  
• Social Security statements
  
• Pension plan investment options and statements
  
• Life Insurance information and statements
  
• Estate planning documents
  
• Any other financial information that you would like us to review

Create a Financial Plan

If you like what you hear during the introductory meeting, our next step is to create your personal financial plan. The financial plan provides detailed information on how you may be able to have the income you seek in retirement and future growth in your nest egg. It will effectively assign a “job description” to each investment asset you have so that you know exactly why you own each investment and how and when each will be utilized to provide you with a greater degree of confidence in your future income.

Minimizing taxes, both during your retirement as well as when transferring wealth to your children, will also be addressed. At the fore of the planning process is of course choosing the right social security strategy. We have the ability to analyze up to all 85 ways of claiming your social security to provide you with the most beneficial recommendation as part of your plan.

Implement and Monitor Your Plan

Choosing someone to help you manage your wealth is a big decision. Prior to implementation, we will review all our recommendations including:

• What do you own…specifically?
  
• Why do you own it? (What is its specific purpose?)
  
• What is going to trigger a change? (When will you know to do something different?)
  
• Full disclosure of all fees.

At GNZ Financial, we don’t just invest, we PLAN first, INVEST second and continually MONITOR to make sure your plan stays on course.