by matthew d. edward
FINANCIAL PLANNING OVER ADHOC INVESTMENT ADVICE Looking beyond stocks, bonds, and 401(k) Today’s investors need more than piecemeal stock-bystock advice and cookie-cutter asset allocations. Longer lifespans, long-term care, and an ever-lengthening list of investment products require a skilled financial planner to ask the right questions and guide investors.
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e often run into prospective clients who are surprised at what we can do once they meet with us,” said Andy Schelitzche, CFP®, ChFC®, a partner in Manifest Wealth Management. “Most still view our industry as ‘I need somebody to help me invest this account,’ and once they realize how much more we can go into, or what other help they can get, they are pleasantly surprised – there’s not a lot of information out there explaining to clients what financial advisors can do. Manifest Wealth Management’s advisors, with offices in Maple Grove and Duluth, Minnesota, can offer (through Waddell & Reed) comprehensive, customized financial planning strategies to investors across the income spectrum. The advisors offer estate, investment, retirement, insurance, and other planning services, covering the areas clients need to consider to achieve the financial future they want. Opting to work with any “engaged” client who shares their values, the advisors do not maintain a minimum to invest. To help clients identify financial goals and manage
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expectations, the advisors with Manifest Wealth Management start with the big questions, and then hone in on which tools can provide answers, Schelitzche told “Advisors Magazine” during a recent interview. “We try to create a comprehensive view of everything the clients are doing and what is important to them, then working backwards to create a plan to pursue their goals,” he said. People often delay dealing with their finances, either because they feel intimidated by the industry’s penchant for jargon or the opaque, numbers-heavy explanations often thrown at them by advisors. Manifest Wealth Management works to break down financial decisions into comprehensible language so that clients can understand how their money is working for them. And while some clients may be more handson than others, Schelitzche puts education at the center of everyone’s financial plan. “I think a lot of people end up coming to us because they may have some interest in investing or personal finance, and they
ADVISORS MAGAZINE - JAN 2019
want a professional they trust who is knowledgeable and can guide them,” Schelitzche said. “Our philosophy has been to tell clients upfront that we’ll give them as much, or as little, information as they want, but we want them to understand why we might make a recommendation or how something fits.” Schelitzche has recently taken this focus
on education to the community, speaking at high schools and small businesses. Few people receive a genuine personal finance education anymore, regardless of whether they went to high school, college, or even graduate school, he said. Most people even lack an awareness of basic financial tools like saving strategies, meaning that