Our Financial Planning Process
Philosophy - 1994 Revision of a speech by Stuart Smith, originally delivered 1947
By the very nature of our business, successful life insurance producers are well informed on the SUBJECT OF ACCUMULATION.
By the very nature of our business, successful life insurance producers are knowledgeable about the SCIENCE OF DISTRIBUTION.
In addition, the most successful and productive life insurance producers also practice the SCIENCE OF MOTIVATION, without which client plans would rarely get implemented.
When producers, adept at Accumulation, Distribution and Motivation, apply the estate planning process to large numbers of people, they are certain to uncover real and compelling needs for accumulation and new opportunities for improved distribution. In providing this process to many people, our producers are well paid.
To make this work in estate planning consistently successful, however, requires in addition to knowledge about Accumulation, Distribution, and Motivation, an unconditional commitment to the philosoph
y of SERVE FIRST, of “Service First, Last, and Alwayssm.”
This philosophy is what provides the estate planning process with its foundation. In applying this process, there must always be a sincere desire to do our work, and to let the pay take care of itself. The desire to help and to let the pay take care of itself must be an honest and genuine desire. We must believe in it, and it must be a CONSISTENT and CONTINUOUS operating principle, day in and day out, year in and year out.
We must believe that in helping any one person there may be no financial reward, but that in helping many people, our reward will always be substantial.
This concept to SERVING FIRST begins in thinking and results in action. The desire to serve must be so sincere and so honest that our clients not only feel it initially, but continue to feel it throughout our relationship with them.
We must motivate our clients to recognize that they have real and immediate problems, and to grasp the fact that we are the ones who can help them solve those problems. They will be sympathetic to SINCERE SERVICE the second they recognize it. They will spot insincerity just as quickly.
It is true that the sale of a life insurance policy that creates capital where there was no capital before, that creates income for a family where there was no income before, is and always will be the primary measure of our success as life insurance sales people. We must never forget this. However, we must also remember that this is the way we measure our success, and not the way our clients measure our success.
Our outstanding prestige with our clients today and our superiority over other producers in our business rests on the depth and quality of our work. It rests on our ability to focus on the interests of our clients and to solve their problems. If they find a person whom they think is better able to focus on their interests and to solve their problems, they will choose to work with him or her, and our prestige and our relationship with those clients will be lost.
Our philosophy of Serve First leads us to approach our clients with all the human understanding possible, with only one desire, the desire to do the very best job we can, without thought of pay from them.
In adopting this philosophy, we must believe that there is no such thing as a situation out of which we must get business, must sell a policy, to justify the work we have done. We must believe that, if we take the best care of our clients by consistently delivering the highest level of service and attention to them, the business will, in turn, over the length of our career take the best care of us.
As Edwin Markham wrote, “There is a destiny that makes us brothers, none goes his way alone. All that we send into the lives of others comes back into our own."
Value Realized
Benefits Our Clients Have Realized Through Their Work with Us
- Building a comprehensive game plan that truly embodies their personal values and life objectives
- Leveraging the generation-skipping tax exemption for maximum inter-generational wealth transfer
- Maximizing asset transfers with entity discounts to help meet estate-planning goals
- Organizing a comprehensive and integrated financial model as a tool for decision making
- Determining how much insurance they really need and what type is most appropriate
- Evaluating how much they could afford to gift to their children and/or grandchildren
- Providing consolidated performance reporting for their entire investment portfolio
- Evaluating specific investments considering the impact on their overall objectives
- Making informed projections on age of retirement and available cash flows
- Evaluating the feasibility of various methods of charitable giving
- Developing an exit strategy from their closely-held business
- Protecting assets from creditors, liabilities and divorce
- Optimizing the value of their employee stock option grants
- Reducing / eliminating capital gains taxes
Our Financial Planning Process
A Collaborative Approach
At Lincoln Financial Advisors, we cater to business owners, professionals, and affluent families whose financial situations have become complex and time consuming
Our financial planning services can help you pinpoint your most important financial objectives. After we identify these objectives, we will assist you in prioritizing them based on their importance to you, your family, and your business. As your financial advisors, we will then evaluate your present financial arrangements regarding their capacity to achieve your objectives. Throughout this process we will provide you with all the information, help and analysis necessary for you to make informed decisions.
Our approach to financial planning is unique in that we strive to create a living and workable strategy unique to your needs and concerns. Our objective is not to identify one particular strategy, but to clearly outline your strategic options in the scope of an integrated approach to benefit you today and in the future. Often there is not one strategy. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each is critical to your decision making. We work closely with each of our clients to identify and evaluate the appropriate range of alternatives so that each client can make informed and timely decisions regarding each of the financial strategies under consideration.
Our goal is to keep you informed during the financial planning process so that you can make sound and justified decisions regarding your financial well-being. Our ultimate objective is to become the guardian of your objectives.
Results are the reason for planning in the first place. So, in addition to the financial plan itself we can assist you in implementing and coordinating each of the strategies you select.
The work we do, however, does not replace the need for your CPA or Attorney. In fact, we strongly believe that checks and balances are an integral part of any successful financial plan. As a result, it is our intention to work with your other advisors as a team player, a team committed to your financial success.
We seek to function as a member of your Advisory “Team”, to include your attorney, accountant and perhaps other professionals. Each member brings unique expertise and perspective to the team as well as shared knowledge. The result is a system for “second opinions” as well as synergy in identifying financial planning opportunities. You benefit through greater assurance that all possible opportunities for accomplishing your financial objectives have been explored and appropriate strategies selected and implemented.
Summary
In summary, we do three things for our clients:
- Offer creative design ideas to help grow, preserve, protect, and eventually transfer your wealth
- Coordinate and collaborate with your existing advisors.
- Act as a catalyst to implement your financial plan in a timely and efficient manner.
The result of our financial planning work will be:
- Enhanced clarity for your goals.
- Increased leverage knowing that the most advanced concepts and tools have been utilized.
- Sense of security knowing you have done everything in your power to position your family for the future.
