FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If you have questions that are not answered here, please contact me at bob@prudentmoney.com or call me at (972) 386-0384. These are the questions that most people have before becoming a Prudent Money Client.
Bob, how can you help me?
I can help people in 1 of 3 ways.
1) Investing and Managing Money
My clients depend upon me to invest and manage their money.
I have found that most of my investment clients found themselves in the following situations before becoming a client.
- Left a company and need to roll over a 401 K plan
- Not happy with their current financial advisor
- Received a lump sum of money and need direction
- Have investments spread out over many accounts and need organization, an investment strategy, and a management strategy.
2) Hourly Fee Planning and Consulting
Many times people just need advice. I have developed a program where I can help people strictly on a hourly fee basis. This is for someone who just needs advice or direction on financial and money issues. I can help in the following areas:
- Retirement Goal Planning – (I implement my benchmarking system as a way to help you stay on track!)
- College Planning – (I can help you determine the best type of account and help figure out your college planning goals)
- Estate Planning – (I can help you determine the right amount of life insurance for your family. I can also refer you to an attorney for any legal help.)
- Debt Planning – (I don’t offer debt consolidation. However, I can help you determine your options and develop a game plan)
- Boundary planning (I will teach you my boundary planning system. It is a substitution for budgeting. I don’t believe in budgeting!)
- Small Business Consulting – (Through the years I have consulted with business owners on a variety of different issues.
- 401 K risk assessment - (I can conduct a risk assessment and recommend the best strategy for your company retirement money.)
3) As a resource
Whether you are a client or a Prudent Money listener, I am available as a resource as well as to refer you to resources. For my clients, I am always available to find resources for you. For listeners and anyone part of the Prudent Money family, Ask Bob is always available for an answer to a question. I personally answer every e-mail.
Most importantly, I am always available for an initial consultation over the phone at no cost to assess your situation. The objective is to determine if I am a fit for your needs.
Bob, how are you compensated?
I get compensated from fees charged for money management or hourly consulting. The fees come straight out of the investments and clients don’t have to write separate checks. Unlike most financial advisors, I am completely independent. I am of the opinion that the fee based approach is the most objective, client oriented way to handle investing and managing money.
Bob, who do you work for?
I work exclusively for my clients. This has been the motivation for being independent and registered with the Securities Exchange Commission as a Registered Investor Advisor. I don’t have sales quotas to meet or a sales manager to keep happy. It is real simple. I work for a win/win situation. If my clients are not happy, then they can leave. We both have something to lose.
Bob, do you have a minimum account size?
I want the freedom to talk with anyone who desires to be helped. As a result, I don’t set out to limit my services through account minimums. I just want to hear your story and see if I can help you. If I can’t, I want to figure out who can. Although there are account minimums on various programs, there are still good solutions for everyone.
Due to being independent, we have the flexibility to adapt to your situation versus you adapting to our minimum requirements.
In other cases, it will make sense for us to consult with clients on an hourly basis. The bottom-line is that we want to make sure everyone has the opportunity to receive help in some fashion.