Episode 3: Who We Help

In this episode of the Life & Finances Together Podcast, Roger and Jake discuss their recent recognition as one of the fastest growing firms in the nation, how new folks find them, and what makes the Rinvelt & David process work for so many.

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In this of the Life and Finances Together podcast we find out about the folks that the Rinvelt & David team helps. And to get started we discuss their recent recognition in print as one of the fastest growing firms in the nation according to AdvisorHub.

Roger: It's pretty amazing. We've been recognized nationally with a number of awards over the years for best practices, which we're very thankful for. It's great to have that recognition. And Jake's been recognized as a top 100 next-gen advisor, in AdvisorHub, which is a mainstream publication in our industry. So what does that say? Well, what that says is this place is in pretty good hands. 

I like to think I had something to do with that, but what's great about it is that we can be confident saying regardless of what happens or what life throws us, our friends who happen to be clients, as we like to say, are going to be in good hands.  

Rinvelt & David is growing really well. So how do new clients find you? How does that work? 

Jake: One of the main ways that we've built our firm over the years is through client referrals from existing clients. 

So back when my dad and Roger first started this firm, they built a client base that primarily has stuck with us ever since and have just been great referral sources. And we’ve loved to build our firm this way because we love every client that comes in.  

We view our clients as our friends and almost family members that happen to be clients. And what we appreciate is that they appreciate the advice that we give them. They realize that we're trying, with our knowledge, to give them the best advice, the best direction on things that come up in life. And they appreciate that advice so much that they feel the desire to share that with other individuals that they see may need some help in certain areas.  

We will get some referrals from the website, but primarily it's been through referrals from existing clients, which we love because our clients are wonderful. And the people they refer to us have the same beliefs, mindsets, views, and again appreciation for the advice that we give.  

What do you enjoy most about meeting those new folks, about meeting the new prospective clients when they come in?  

Roger: We love to hear their stories. Our first meeting is an introduction meeting that is supposed to last an hour. An hour and a half. And what does it end up being? Two hours. It's just incredible to hear the stories, to get to know them on a more personal level and to connect in that way. That's probably the thing I love the most.  

It's my absolute favorite meeting - the introduction meeting. We explain about what we do, but then also just sit down and have a conversation with new folks and get to know them. And Jake and I meet all new prospective clients together. So there are multiple perspectives. There's, you know, I wouldn't say I'm an old guy, but I'm older than Jake, so with him there we also the younger generation perspective too. 

Jake:  Whenever we have this introduction meeting, we always start with the question, “what brought you here?”

And depending on who we're meeting with, that could just be, “Oh, I need some advice on how to purchase a home, or I've got restricted stock units to work that I have no idea how these things work,” and they're seeking some advice like that. But oftentimes, I would say probably nine times out of ten, that will just lead to a 20, 30, 40-minute discussion where we're getting to know so much about them. Everything that brought them to this point.  

It's really the starting point of beginning to tell us their story, which is so key in understanding what got them to this point for us to be able to then develop a financial plan to help them either continue what they're doing successfully and encourage that continuance, or to give them advice on little tweaks to set themselves up for a better future.  

No two plans are the same because no two clients are the same. Everyone's got something different going on, whether it's the type of place they work, and we’ve learned about some really interesting jobs and companies that people work for, or they're self-employed individuals. When we have them do this cash flow worksheet, which no one likes to do, I feel like we're putting them on a budget.  

Roger: Don't worry, it's gonna be okay. It's not that bad.  

Jake: It's the backbone of our financial plan, and we say we're not putting you on a budget.  

We want to know how you want to spend your money, especially in retirement. People usually don't want to retire unless they can maintain or exceed their current lifestyle, so the Cash Flow is really about understanding who they are, what got them here, what do they want to achieve, and what is important to them. And that's the biggest thing that we try to glean when we initially start this relationship. And we want to continue to understand that more and more over the years once we get started.  

So what’s that next step? What does that process look like for new folks? Because it's not as simple as just telling us your story and we turn out a plan, right? There's a lot more to it. 

Jake: Exactly. We say during the intro presentation, this is the most talking that Roger and I are going to do, and beyond that point it becomes a very collaborative effort with the client, because it's when we start to gather the data so we can create the financial plan. So we give you a homework assignment. There's a lot of different tasks that have to be completed. But it's not hard.  

Roger: Yeah, it's not hard, it's not difficult. There's no test.  

Jake: And Chelsey can even speak to it. She and I, during that data gathering process, are usually the people that you'll work with to ask any questions that you may have about the information we're requesting. But to build a comprehensive and really impactful financial plan, we need data.

Especially with the cash flow based financial planning that we do, of which the backbone is that cash flow worksheet. So we'll help you gather that data. But once we have it, then this collaboration really works.  

We start to build out the financial plan, we start entering the data that you've provided. If you want to do so, we can actually link to your outside accounts, so we get fresh data every day. And we work together to build, not only a very comprehensive base financial plan, but also to run all kinds of different scenarios and stress tests that you may want to see on top of your base plan.  

Stress tests help us prepare you for social security changes that may be coming. Also for what we call medical armageddon, which addresses the Medicare Trust Fund running out in 2028, and how that's going to impact your future. And a really big thing we're trying to prepare clients for, to and through retirement, is what medical costs are going to look like.  

And then we can add all sorts of different scenarios that you may want to see as well. What if I work a year longer? What if I save another 1 or 2 percent in my retirement plan? What if I make Roth contributions? etc. There are so many different scenarios that we can run and visually show you the impact of these different changes on your financial picture.  

Roger:  It’s amazing to think about how our process has changed. Folks used to get this big binder. Rob and I used to throw this big binder together. It was like 100 pages. Nice binder, leather, book, and everything. And we were so proud of ourselves. Look at this beautiful thing that we've created. And then we started looking at it and saying, you know what, we're not engaging with the client enough.  

So now our planning process is so much more engaging. The clients are right in the middle of the development of this plan. We're going to provide some advice on the things we think they need to be aware of. And there's really no possibility of changing on those things. But then Jake and I are sitting down with them and saying, “Hey, you're going to be involved.” It's probably the second meeting, the client is running that meeting just as much as we are.  

I mean, we're asking questions, and they're directing us, and they're providing detail. And we're making adjustments as we're sitting together. Now, this meeting is probably a couple hours long. But it's fun. I mean, it goes by so fast because they're not being told what to do because we're the so-called experts. No, they're being engaged, and they're actually telling us and directing us by saying, “Well, this is what I want to do.”  

We take a lot of time in those meetings to engage them. They're running that meeting with us. And it's probably one of the major changes we've made in the 10 years that has just made us so different from everyone else. We don't have the ego. We don't have the attitude that we're the expert.  

What we are here to do is to guide them. We're here to provide them guidance, provide them solutions, and let them be the decision maker. We work for them. We provide more than information. You get information off the internet. But the things that we do really provide them with the ability to make informed, educated decisions and be confident in those decisions.  

Jake: Once we've gotten all this data and created your financial plan, at that point, we call it our financial decision making, part of this GPS process, our goal progression system. We wait until we've had all these conversations, detailed your financial plan, looked at every single type of stress test and one-off type scenario, and have crafted, with the help of the client, this final plan that then leads into recommendations. Whether it be recommendations on getting additional life, disability, long-term care, other types of insurances, and/or the ability for us to help them manage money, and how we need to manage the money, what products to use, which strategies to utilize inside of the portfolio, what their risk tolerance is, all these things.  

A lot of advisors start there. They start there, “Hey, how much money do you have to invest? Oh, you didn't meet the minimum. We don't have any wiggle room there.” Or, “Hey, here's the money. Let's invest it. Now, maybe we'll do some planning, but we're going to charge you extra for it. And we're going to charge every time you want to update it.”  

Well, we believe that planning should be part of the process. Creating this financial plan is vital, because we can't really give adequate advice or adequate recommendations until we know your full picture, until we see the results of this financial plan that then lead to the advice and recommendations we give, whether it be on an investment perspective, insurance perspective, or other financial perspectives.  

Roger: Yeah, and our GPS is a lot more accurate than the GPS you have in your car, by the way. It’s our goal progression system that we've developed and enhanced, and it's evolved over the years from when we started almost 10 years ago. We created it to provide the guidance, the roadmap so that people can make good decisions. That's what we strive to achieve. You don't have to become an expert. We're not asking you to become an expert.  

But we are focused on making sure that you understand why you're making the decisions that you're making, as opposed to just an advisor coming and saying, “Well, you just do this because this is what I think you should do.” Well, no, that's a failure. If you're doing that, that's a failure. And we strongly believe in that.  

It's our job to engage, our job to educate, our job to guide, so that our clients can make informed decisions and then ultimately feel confident in understanding why they're making those decisions. That's what's important.  

It sounds like you’re the people to call about this stuff. And we all need that person to call when you don't know what to do. And so many of us don't necessarily know, obviously, all the things that you guys know.  

Roger: That’s a great way to put it. A lot of people call someone, and they don't necessarily know exactly what to do. You want someone who's reliable, someone who you trust, who knows the answers, so you don't have to, right? It's just another resource that is that invaluable. Another member that you put in your phone and you call when you've got a financial question. 

So for people who are looking for that next number to call, how do they get to you? How do they find you? 

Roger: You can go to our website (Thank you for being here now!). That's probably the best way to maybe even learn a little bit more about us and who we are and what we're all about and really what our values are.

Or you can just simply call us. All that information is there on the internet. The one thing that we're so committed to is making sure that we're accessible. We've got the systems in place. I mean, the people in our office are going to answer the phone. And they're going to make sure that we get in front of you. And if there's an answer that needs to be provided, well, we're going to do that on a timely basis because we're all in this together here within the firm.  

And we love to have meetings. We love to see people face to face, which is something that may be going by the wayside, you know, and we understand some people like to have virtual meetings and things. But what really sets us apart from everyone else is we love having those face-to-face meetings, interacting, getting a feel for how you're feeling or how clients are feeling by the tone of their voice and the look on their face.  

Jake: Yeah, facial expressions, tones of the voice, and stuff that you can pick up on when you're meeting with someone face-to-face.

Roger: Exactly. We feel it's very important because we're going to find those hidden things. People will say, “I'm fine,” right? We all say that, right, when we're not. And we can see through their facial expressions, their tone of voice, and everything that no, they probably aren't fine. And there's something that we've got to dig a little bit deeper on.

We also host events and workshops throughout the year. We love seeing all of our clients, part of our family, interacting with them, you know, in an educational format, in a social format, through our podcasts, and our blog. You know, you're going to see a lot of these different things.

And it's not just to do these things, you know, it's to provide a way to understand things about your financial life and maybe get to know us a little bit in different ways. It's not just that we're sending out newsletters that nobody reads. You know, we're doing things in a different way to help people understand a little bit about who we are and what we do. And more importantly, at the end of the day, why we do it.

Thanks so much for learning more about who the Rinvelt and David team helps and how they build those lifelong financial relationships today. If you have any questions about our team, about our services or finances in general, please check out our website. Send us an email, give us a call. And of course, please like and subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our next episode.