We’d like to start the new year by celebrating and sharing a few things that we’ve been working on for our clients over the past year. We’d also like to give you a sneak peek at our plans over the next year to continue serving you better.

We’ve been working to create a better meeting experience for you

  1. All meeting materials can now be reviewed together electronically, allowing for enhanced efficiency and better collaboration during meetings while also saving a significant amount of paper each year (paper copies are still available at no cost upon request)
  2. Clients may now sign many day-to-day forms electronically (in our office or via email), saving you a significant amount of time and improving processing times
  3. We’ve added more pleasant, comfortable furniture in our conference rooms, creating a warmer and more relaxed environment without compromising meeting productivity
  4. We’ve refined and improved our ability to hold meetings online. This allows us to meet “face-to-face” for live high-definition video, audio, document, and screen sharing if you are unable to join us in our office

 

We’ve continued our commitment to a high level of service to you

We’re continuing to develop a deeper, more comprehensive service offering including:

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  1. Enhanced income tax modeling and scenario analysis around current and future years to identify opportunistic timing/strategies for you with improved integration to your investment and retirement planning
  2. Expanding our ongoing investment research on current, forward-looking market return expectations for various financial assets
  3. Further uniting financial planning with life planning to focus on what’s most important to you and clarify the true “purpose” of our planning together
  4. We’re also adding additional capacity to address more of your technical inquiries through internal process improvements and the addition of new team members with greater expertise in specialized topics

 

We’ve been building software to be more collaborative, more informed, and more efficient for you

  1. We’ve bolstered our record-keeping abilities to allow more comprehensive information to be stored, organized, and accessed faster during our interactions with you. This was made possible by constructing more robust client records and document management systems
    1. This expanded your document management options, adding the ability for you to conveniently upload documents securely on our website without needing to login, and enabling us to securely send you documents via email
  2. We’ve also developed and improved upon various pre-meeting forms that are customized for your situation, sent conveniently to you via email, and allow you to have more targeted and productive meetings

 

Other notable events in 2017

  1. We adopted the CFA Institute’s global Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct. In this announcement, Callahan Financial Planning further continues our commitment to always place our clients’ interests first and joins some of the most respected financial institutions in the world through voluntarily submitting ourselves to this highest standard of client care
  2. We completed a successful 4th consecutive year of providing 5% of our income to charities
  3. We transitioned from our previous state regulator to a national registration as required by federal law under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), facilitating a smoother service offering to clients throughout the United States

 

Looking ahead, we’re pursuing improved communication and collaboration with you

  1. We’re working to bolster the accessibility of your information online, including the current details on your total financial situation and copies of documents you’ve shared
  2. We’re focused on providing forward-looking tax analysis, identifying the ways in which your situation has changed in light of the new marginal tax brackets, new standard deduction amounts, and changes to itemized deductions and personal exemptions, among other changes
  3. We’re continuing to invest in the technical expertise of our staff, and anticipate adding additional technical experts to our staff in the near future, in addition to the three Certified Financial Planner™ professionals already on staff

Often we find that reflection, evaluation, and perspective come hand-in-hand with a new year. It is in this spirit that we desire to share with you some of our goals as a team, some of the accomplishments that were achieved on your behalf, and what we’re striving to continue improving for you over the next year and beyond. As you can see, 2017 brought many wonderful opportunities and there are still many more to pursue ahead. As we move into the new year, we’re thankful for the partnerships we have with you, our clients, and look forward to providing you continued value in the years to come.

With Great Appreciation,

The Callahan Financial Planning Team