I have a number of firms that form my complete support team by hiring them and their expertise in their core functions to interview, hire, train, schedule and staff ... all things I don't need to do so I can focus on YOU to help and guide you towards the outcomes and desires you seek through financial planning..
Since all my focus is on you, I need support for many functions through strategic service partners so I don't have to spend time on all those other areas. Each firm below interviews, hires, trains and staffs so I don't need too. Thus, I will work solely for you, and no other firm or adviser. My support team provides all the office functions you and I need to manage your investable assets should you wish to have me work for you in such a manner. Your resources are available when you need them through their dedication and hard work.
Note that the investment support firm isn't applicable (but other functional areas are) for those who wish to hire me solely as a consultant to work for them in that more limited manner where implementation and monitoring of your plan rests solely in your hands. The choice of implementation and monitoring is your choice. We will discuss the differences when we first meet.
Buckingham Strategic Partners located in St Louis Missouri, provides support to independent advisers across the country like me who have clients just like you. Please note that Better Financial Education, Buckingham Strategic Partners, and all the firms below, are unaffiliated and separate companies, as are all the other advisors across the country who synergistically use Buckingham Strategic Partners valuable adviser support services to focus adviser attention on you.
Here is more information about my Service Partners.
Office hours are by appointment only.
You may always contact me at any time. My live phone reception team is not on site at my office, they are remote and are available anytime between 5 am to 5 pm Pacific Time (8 am-8 pm Eastern Time, etc). If you call after hours, you will get my voice mail, and your voicemail will be forwarded to me by email … I will return your call (or email) as soon as I can the next business day.
My phone reception team will transfer your call to me when I’m available in my office just like any receptionist would if they were sitting next door to me. I may be talking with another client, on a teleconference call, attending a webinar, coordinating action for another client, doing research on behalf of clients, or doing other activities where I am not able to answer my receptionist immediately.
If I’m not available, they can either take a message or transfer you to my voice mail and I will return your call as soon as I can … usually by close of business that same day (although there are exceptions if I am out of the office for an extended period of time.
My calendar, if you would like to schedule a meeting, a call, or a GoToMeeting can be accessed via this link https://calendly.com/larryfranksr.
Below are the various strategic partners I have which ensures that keys areas of needed expertise are professionally hired, trained and always staffed by talented people. This frees up my time to focus only on you!
What happens to you, if something happens to me?
This is a common question and a valid question to ask me, and any adviser, you work with. There are two (2) important parts to this simple question.
First
Something happens that interrupts normal business operations.
I have formulated a written Disaster Preparedness and Business Continuity Plan that addresses how business operations continue in the event something disruptive to business operations comes along.
I rely on other businesses for major, and key, functions, many of which are illustrated in the above graphic. These firms interview, hire, train, and deal with everyday staffing schedules and needs as things change every day. Day to day business operations, and any issues that may come up, distract from my core responsibility – client needs. The main purpose of these strategic partnerships is to take ALL these important functions off my plate so that I may focus on specific client needs.
The moral of the story so far: key business functions are designed to continue without me! They also are designed to continue operations in some form or fashion following any disaster that may come along.
Second
The next thought you may have – what if something happens to me?
I would not be much of a planner if I hadn't made plans for my clients and family too!
I have a written agreement in place with another adviser who can step in and pick up where we left off if I am suddenly “hit by a bus.” How did I pick him? First, the planning and investment approach needed to be very similar so that there may be as little change as possible for clients. Thus, he will use the same investment firms I do so that nothing materially changes for clients (other than the face of the adviser). This is quite different from the random adviser replacement process you may have experienced from financial institutions.
Secondly, and very important to me personally and my own estate planning, was the key criteria of someone that I would trust as an adviser for my wife if I’m not here anymore. I would not be here to help with her own planning needs, so she would become a client too. Finally, the criteria were who was competent and ethical to become my wife’s adviser should something unplanned happen, and my own, adviser should I retire many years from now.
Moral of the story: my job is providing advice. Should I not be able to do that, there is a seamless transition, that will be by client choice as well, to another who I view is competent and ethical enough to go over my high bars that I've described above.
