What was once strange is now commonplace.
Ok, I know, financial planning and advice is about as personal as it gets. And we like the personal touch as much as the next guy. But what I am learning as I get used to this “Work At Home” thing is that we can do a pretty darn good job as financial planners working remotely as well.
If fact, there are some advantages. For the obvious, we don’t have to risk getting infected with coronavirus. But there are other advantages to working online. Clients don’t have to leave work early, sit in central New Jersey rush hour traffic (202/206 in Bridgewater is a bear at 5:00), or deal with Highway 206 through Flanders. And as I get more competent and comfortable with online meetings, I will be better able to help all my out of state clients with their planning needs as well (since we all no that no one stays in New Jersey after they retire!) Of course I’d rather come visit you in Florida – but this is second best!
We’ve been working extra hard these last few weeks to make sure that Financial Pathways continues to function not just as well as we did before – but better! To ease data collection and document signing, we have been busy implementing a new software system that puts everything online, from the initial data gathering forms, to contract signings, to scheduling reviews and plan followups, etc. Less paper, better communication, it’s a beautiful thing.
As a team, we have been using state of the art collaboration tools which allow us to continue to work together almost as if sharing the same office (but, I find, with less wasteful water cooler banter!).
And of course, we are becoming really good at online meetings with Zoom. Even if you haven’t used Zoom for meetings before – you will find it easy and intuitive. We send you a link, you click on it, and that’s about it.
So just because we can’t meet fact to face, doesn’t mean we can’t update your financial plan, review your investment account performance, or do just about anything else that we normally do. So please do reach out and give us a call if there is anything we can do to help