How I work
with clients.
Thanks for reaching out! It's always exciting to meet someone new, and I'm looking forward to meeting you.
Before our phone call, I wanted to send over how I work with clients: who I work best with, what the process looks like, what it costs, and what I'll need from you.
These questions have commonly come up on client calls, and since we have just 30 minutes to talk, I decided it'd be better to answer them ahead of time.
If anything in here doesn't sound like what you're looking for, feel free to cancel the call. And if it feels right, even better. I'll talk to you soon.
If this sounds like you, you're in the right place.
I'm probably not the right fit if you're looking for…
- Stock picking, market timing, or active trading strategies.
- A single quick answer or a few hours of consultation — even my one-time plans go deeper than that.
- Someone to make decisions for you, rather than think through them with you.
And even if we're not a fit, I'm more than happy to refer you to my network of other financial planners.
Getting started, step by step.
Today
- A Welcome Email with the Core Planning (the financial planning co-op I'm part of) privacy policy and disclosures. Questions about these documents? Just reach out.
- An Advisory Agreement for your review and signature.
After you sign the advisory agreement
- Our admin, Krissy, will send an invoice through AdvicePay. This can take a few days to arrive, since it runs through a third-party billing system.
- You'll get an invitation to your client portal in Right Capital, the financial planning software I use. You'll enter some information and upload financial documents to its secure vault. If that feels confusing, we can schedule a "Get Organized" call to do it together.
Your first meetings
We'll schedule our first meeting — a longer "getting to know you" conversation — and then move into topical planning meetings. The exact number varies; I tend to focus on one or two topics per meeting. With my most recent one-time-plan clients, that was five meetings total: cash flow, insurance coverage, taxes, investments & retirement, and estate planning.
What's included, and what it costs.
What's included
- Retirement planning & pension analysis (CalPERS, CalSTRS, 401k/403b/457)
- Investment strategy & tax-efficient investing
- Cash flow, budgeting & debt strategy
- Risk management & insurance review
- Estate planning coordination
- Tax planning & return review
- Life transitions & values-aligned goal planning
What's not included
- Tax return preparation
- Legal document drafting
I coordinate closely with your CPA and attorney, and can refer you to people I trust if you don't have them yet.
What I'll need from you.
Early on, I'll share a checklist in Right Capital to help you gather "everything in your life with a dollar sign on it." This typically includes your most recent two tax returns, paystubs, insurance policies, your employer benefits booklet, estate documents, and account statements.
The heaviest lift is the first few months, as we'll be pulling documents together and working through the initial planning phase. After that, it's much lighter, settling into two check-ins a year.
Between meetings, email is how most of my clients communicate with me, but for those who prefer auditory or visual communication, I'm happy to jump on a phone or Zoom call. (And if your question is better served by thinking it through together, I'll point you toward a call too.) I keep my client list small on purpose so I can go deep and personal-to-you rather than give surface-level answers.
What happens next.
Show up to the intro call.
Thank you for reading this all the way through. If after reaching the end of this document it doesn't feel like a fit, please cancel the call. And if it does feel right, come with any questions you have left. I'm looking forward to hearing more about what you're trying to figure out and if I'll be the right fit.
Korinne Sugasawara, CFP® Founder, Kite & Compass Financial