As most of you already know, after nearly a decade of working together with Andrew Barnett and the team at GFA Wealth Design in the same office space, we've decided it was time to formally join our two firms together to form a better, stronger Waterstone Financial. 

Following our recent announcement detailing how we'll combine our resources, teams, and expertise with GFA, you might be wondering whether the service and experience you're accustomed to will change going forward. 

On the contrary: nothing is changing at this time, and you'll still have the same dedicated financial advisor. Instead, the expansion of the Waterstone Financial family is here to improve and expand our financial planning services to you. Today, we wanted to provide a more in-depth view of how our growth will benefit you, our treasured clients, by outlining our new and improved financial planning roadmap to success. 

Enjoy continued support with contingency planning 

As with many businesses, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the possibility of a staff member becoming ill made us confront our business model. We realized that to keep our ongoing commitment to our clients, we needed a formal plan - should anything happen to one of our team members in the future. 

This realization pushed us to grow our family with GFA and implement processes for corporate continuity to ensure our clients enjoy the same level of service now and into the future. 

Develop a roadmap to success with “The Journey”

“The Journey” is a process we have in place to ensure each of our team members understands your goals and is working towards them from every angle. It involves documenting your current situation, goals, and financial planning for key areas, including estate planning, tax planning, income planning, and investment planning. This is to ensure we're consistent, systematic, and strategic in our approach. 

Throughout this process, we gain a holistic understanding of your short, medium, and long-term goals and set out an individual roadmap towards achieving them, which we share with all of our team members. 

Keeping your data safe with client vaults

Our online client vaults safely and securely hold all of your financial data, important paperwork, agreements, and policies. If your physical paperwork at home was somehow lost or damaged, you don't need to worry. 

We safely store your data in our secure client vaults, where it's always available to you. We've also upgraded our reporting systems and now send enhanced quarterly reports, always giving you a clear view of your finances. 

Access more expertise with a team approach

Our family has grown from three people to six, the result is more attention on our clients, more availability, and more financial planning expertise and wisdom. So, rather than relying on a single financial advisor, you'll benefit from the combined expertise of our entire team. 

Though you'll have the same point of contact as always, you'll now benefit from financial planning advice and niche expertise from our other team members - offering you a fuller, more robust financial experience. 

Improve your financial know-how with webinars 

We're now offering our clients access to financial webinars that provide information, tips, and education around finance topics like retirement planning or income planning. 

We'll host these invaluable webinars in small groups with select clients who want to learn more about a particular subject. Attending these webinars will make it easier for you to understand where your money is, how you're using it, and how to create solid plans for your financial future. 

Earn more with tax savings support

When it comes to tax planning, we often focus on helping you earn a return on your savings over time (based on your risk tolerance). These earnings are, of course, a long-term objective. 

Now, we're additionally focusing on ways to minimize taxes, so you can save potentially thousands of dollars on your tax returns and pay the least amount possible. Some of these tax planning strategies include Roth conversions, charitable giving, and strategic income distribution, all of which can make a big difference.

Protect your future with SIPS software

Due to James' engineering background, he's always looking at ways to take traditional financial planning methods, break them down, and design something better, which is what he did when creating his proprietary income planning software, SIPS (Structured Income Planning Software). 

This tool helps us create a structured income plan, allowing us to virtually test financial planning scenarios to ensure that your assets will last for your entire retirement while still allowing you to enjoy the lifestyle you want.

Enhanced investment solutions

We have a ranking system that helps us identify the best investment managers for your unique financial plan and stock portfolio. We also create custom portfolios via a structured approach that allows you to pick investments that best align with your specific goals and interests. 

We base this approach around “investing with purpose” by creating “buckets” of money. These buckets relate to short-term income, medium-term income (for the next ten years), and long-term income that could be passed on to your heirs. 

We help you invest each bucket with a different strategy in mind, so you can accept more risk for longer-term buckets compared to short-term. This investment planning strategy gives you peace of mind knowing we've designed your portfolio for maximum financial protection. 

Risk assessment technology

eMoney is a cutting-edge financial planning application we're now offering to all of our families. This app allows you to see your financial status in real-time and helps you keep track of your financial goals, whether it's saving for retirement, sending your kids to college or putting a deposit down on a beach house. 

Another tool called Riskalyze, allows you to pose questions about your finances and analyse and better measure and understand your risks. In real-time, you'll see how your portfolio is compared to your assessed risk, showing you the chances of making it through your retirement. 

Welcome to the new Waterstone Financial family

We hope you've enjoyed learning more about the enhancements we've made to Waterstone Financial by combining two passionate, experienced financial planning firms. Though there are a few additions and improvements within our firm, one thing will always remain the same; our commitment to servicing our clients with integrity, honesty, and consistency.

With our expanded financial planning support, services, technology and expertise, we hope to provide you with even more confidence that your planning goals will be met now and in the future. 

Our success is directly related to the satisfaction of our clients, so if you have any questions or concerns or would like to learn more about the new and improved Waterstone Financial, please get in touch with us.