FAQS
We center our financial advice around you, and your unique goals and objectives. Our financial planning process offers guidance on six main disciplines: Cash Flow Management, Risk Management, Investment Planning, Tax Planning, Retirement Planning and Estate Planning. As we review these six areas, we integrate valuable advice on how these disciplines interact with one another. For example, if you make a decision regarding your investments, how does that impact your tax situation? Unintended consequences such as overpaying on your tax return may occur without the appropriate financial planning guidance.
The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) designation is a recognition of expertise in the areas of financial planning, tax planning, insurance/risk management planning, estate planning, investment planning, and retirement planning. The designation covers four areas: formal education, performance on the CFP® exam, relevant work experience, and demonstrated professional ethics. Formal education is broken into two components: The candidate must verify that he or she holds a bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited university or college recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Next, he or she must complete a list of specific courses in financial planning, as specified by the CFP® board. Candidates must also pass the CFP® exam which consists of 170 multiple-choice questions surrounding more than 100 topics related to financial planning. Candidates must then hold three years (or 6,000 hours) of full-time professional experience in the industry. Lastly, candidates of CFP® holders must adhere to the CFP® Board’s standards of professional conduct and an extensive background check. All advisors at Blue Rock Financial Group have their CFP®. We believe that true financial planning is done by a CFP® professional.
CFA® stands for Chartered Financial Analyst™ and is a globally recognized designation awarded by the CFA Institute. This certification measures and certifies the competence and integrity of a financial analyst. To earn a CFA® designation, candidates must pass three levels of exams covering areas such as accounting, economics, security analysis, ethics, and money management. Blue Rock is proud to have a Chartered Financial Analyst® a part of our team.
Here at Blue Rock Financial Group, we work for you. Our advisors have been focused on financial planning as our core competency since before the financial crisis of 2008. We have expansive experience in helping clients achieve their goals in all areas of financial planning and in all different types of market conditions. What you will find is that some firms will solely focus on managing your investments and discount the need for financial planning. Your timelines, desires and expectations should be what dictate the outcomes of your plan. We will take the time to explain the relevant details that go into all financial planning recommendations for easy interpretation of what your investments are doing. Starting with our first meeting and continuing throughout our relationship, you will find comfort in knowing what to expect and the peace of mind that comes with a comprehensive financial planning relationship. Eventually, that comfort and peace of mind will become confidence in your financial plan, allowing your stresses about money to be minimal.
At Blue Rock, we invest in long-term relationships with our clients. Our philosophy is simple. We always focus on supporting the best interests of our clients and through this process, maintain transparency, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to providing superior service. As our client, you can be certain that you'll have a life advocate that is actively looking at your best financial interests.
Yes. We place our client's interests first and make sure that our clients are held to the highest standard of care. This may sound simple, but not all practicing financial professionals work as fiduciary.
As professionals in the field of planning, we place our clients on the path to achieve their financial goals. This is our only job. Some clients have done a great job in preparing for their financial future prior to meeting us and are well educated on investments. Typically, where we add the most value is in tying the investments, tax planning and retirement income planning together. Investment planning is different than financial planning. We also enjoy working with people who have an understanding of financial topics because we tend to spend more time talking about strategies. Typically, someone seeks out a partner like us when they realize that the road ahead is different or more complex or change is on the horizon. We are fully equipped to help you prepare for that transition. In many cases we are able to shed light on strategies that some may not even know exist. We help you keep more money in your pocket than you otherwise would.
Our clients predominantly live in, work in or love Delaware (We do too!). However, there are Blue Rock clients all over the country. Our two physical offices are located on the Wilmington Riverfront and in Rehoboth Beach. These locations are where we will meet face to face with clients, but we are equipped to meet via video chat or conference call from your cell phone.
Each client has a tailored and specific investment strategy. In order to formulate this strategy, we take into consideration your age, risk tolerance, investment goals, time horizon, investment experience and amount of total assets that you have. With your input, we will generate a risk score which we will use as a guide for your investment profile. We use both quantitative and qualitative inputs from you, which we gather in our meetings to determine how we will invest your money. After establishing your diversified portfolio, we continuously update your investments, taking into consideration all evolving life factors and changing market conditions.
A registered investment advisory firm is a company that manages the assets of high net-worth individuals and institutional investors. Being an RIA means that the firm is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the state securities administrators. Blue Rock Financial Group is a registered investment advisory firm (RIA). RIA’s are independent and are not tied to a parent company. Many non-RIA firms in the financial services industry have ties to a parent company such as an investment company or insurance company. That parent typically has offerings that are pushed down to the advisor level and implemented for clients. We believe that operating as an independent RIA allows our services to directly align with our work for you. This means that in determining different investment companies, insurance solutions, and technology utilized, we get to unbiasedly pick from the best the industry has to offer, versus being tied to only what services one parent company can provide.
Being that our services are fee-based, this means that we are compensated based on a mutually agreed upon fee arrangement, typically based on a declining schedule of invested assets and complexity of each case. This ensures that we maintain a close and ongoing relationship with our clients as opposed to simply receiving a commission for being your advisor.
We have found that the first impression with a client can be very impactful, that is why the first two meetings with us are complimentary. The first, is a consultation for us to learn more about one another and determine if we are a mutual fit to move forward. In the second meeting, we typically examine a rough draft of your financial plan. This is generated to show what your situation would look like if you continued along the path that you’re on. We are also able to gain an even more extensive understanding of your financial situation through a deeper discussion at this stage. By the end of the second meeting, you will have a good idea of what we can deliver and you will know exactly what the fee is moving forward.This is the accordion body content. It is typically best to keep this area short and to the point so it isn't too overwhelming.
We will meet at least one time per year for a full review. Through this review, we will discuss the ups and downs of the plan, changes that need to be made, and recommendations to stay on track with your goals. Although it is typically only necessary to meet once a year, we are available outside of our scheduled meetings. We urge our clients to contact us at any time if they have questions, concerns, or major life changes that will affect their financial plan.
With a focus on client satisfaction, we have set out to create successful processes that allow us to make our meetings convenient for all clients. That being said, a client can choose whether they would like to have online video calls, a conference call or meet face to face in one of our offices.
We are extremely hands-on advisors. Our clients have a dedicated team of advisors and a Client Service Representative that will assistant you. At a minimum, we meet with our clients once per year for a full review. In addition, you will also have access to additional resources including exclusive insurance brokerage services, on-demand reporting, financial education center, credit card rewards points tracker, student loan analysis, and Morningstar.
All financial planning clients have access to a portal with their financial plan, which updates daily. Clients have a separate portal to view their investment portfolios and performance.
Yes, we are currently taking on new clients. The best way to find out if we are a fit for each other is to click on the Talk to an Advisor button and reserve 15 minutes. This will give us the chance to learn more about you and for you to learn about us. If we aren’t a fit, we can definitely recommend a course of action for you!
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