What Is Investment Management?

You might think of investment management as the buying and selling of stocks on your behalf, particularly if you’ve worked with a broker. But we believe that the most effective investment management sells and buys stocks as part of an overall strategy. As a professional investment manager, we create this strategy based on your:

• Time horizon (i.e., when you will need the money)

• Risk tolerance (or your stomach for risk)

• Goals (what you need the money for—e.g., retirement, children’s college tuition)

• Financial situation (the balance of income, expenses, needs, and goals)

From this strategy, we build an appropriate asset allocation, monitor the portfolio’s performance, and adjust as necessary, including regular rebalancing.

Working with the financial advisors in our Kansas City, MO wealth management firm, you receive a range of other services, such as:

• Tax analysis and planning

• College funding

• Health care and insurance planning

• Employee benefits review

• Advice on stock options and restricted stock

• Estate and beneficiary review

• Charitable giving strategies

• Additional services for business owners including exit strategies and calculations of business value. 

Together, these topic areas and your investment recommendations make up a personalized blueprint for achieving your vision of prosperity.

The Investment Management Process

To achieve your long-term financial goals, it helps to follow a defined process with your financial advisor. This process will vary from firm to firm. Our process—the Prosperity Planning Blueprint™—is designed to uncover your financial obstacles and opportunities. It follows the following five steps:

1. It’s All About You

Your hopes and dreams. Your worries. What keeps you up at night. We collect your facts and figures, including important details that are often overlooked. We go above and beyond, taking time to understand your personal financial story and values.

2. BRINGING YOUR NUMBERS TO LIFE

Together we look at scenarios to envision your future. Our process is highly interactive and visual. What if you retire sooner? Or buy a second home? What happens if markets take a sudden decline? By looking at the possibilities, you can focus on the things you can control—like how much to save or spend, and how to invest wisely. You can have confidence that your financial plan is sustainable, even in a world of uncertainty.

3. WE PUT IT IN WRITING

Talk is cheap, but documentation is indispensable. Your Prosperity Planning Blueprint™ summarizes your facts and figures along with the recommendations created just for you. This helps ensure your finances are organized, coordinated, and maximized to meet your most important goals. Your Blueprint is a living document that is updated regularly, so it also serves as an essential reference for you or your loved ones in case of an emergency.

4. MAKING IT HAPPEN

We guide you every step of the way in implementing your plan. This includes fine-tuning your investment strategy, updating beneficiaries, and much more. We also proactively collaborate with other professionals to update wills and trusts, refinance mortgages, plug insurance gaps, and implement tax-saving strategies.

5. PROACTIVE UPDATES

An effective plan needs to keep up with a changing economy and life events. We monitor your investments, track your progress, meet with you regularly, and keep your Blueprint up to date. You also have unlimited access to a CFP® professional for any financial question that arises.

Investment Approaches

When shopping for a professional investment manager, it’s important to understand their approach to investing. It’s your money they’re investing, and you should know how they treat it.

Our approach to professional investment management services is straightforward. Working with you, we strive to:

• Avoid undue risks with your money

• Invest for the long term

• Reject “get rich quick” strategies

• Draw on Nobel Prize-winning academic research

• Diversify your assets

• Work to mitigate risk

• Keep expenses low

• Serve as your coach during market highs and lows

• Provide objective, empathetic guidance

In addition to the investment approach, it helps to understand the type of investment management professional you are working with. Otherwise, you could end up with recommendations for investment products that earn the “advisor” a commission without putting your needs first.

We don’t accept commissions at Prosperity Planning since they create a conflict of interest between us and our clients. Instead, we are a fee-only firm, meaning we get paid by our clients. If you want to work with a comprehensive investment management professional who does more than buy and sell stocks for you, you might consider a fee-only advisor.

In addition, we are:

• Independent: We don’t represent any financial services companies. We work for our clients.

• Fiduciary: Because we are a registered investment advisor, we have a legal obligation to always put your best interest first.

• Tax-focused: With a Certified Public Account (CPA) on our team, we build tax planning into your investment portfolio strategy so you can keep more of your money working for you.

Summary

If you want a financial professional who simply executes trades for you, then you may be happy with the services provided through a brokerage account. If you want a personalized investment strategy and portfolio to help achieve your goals, you might consider a firm that offers comprehensive investment management.

At Prosperity Planning, investment management is one part of a total approach to creating a prosperous life. We are here to help make your vision of prosperity a reality, and we will structure all your recommendations, including investment advice, to help achieve that.

GET STARTED

What does your Prosperity Planning Blueprint™ look like? Schedule a 30-minute discovery call to discuss your situation and how we may be able to help.