Meeting with clients annually and updating their financial plan is an important part of the financial planning process. Below are some best practice tips for maximizing your annual client review process.

Aaron Schmoekel, CFP, of Schmoekel Wealth Management based out of Woodland, CA schedules his annual reviews around his clients’ birthdays. “We have found that people are more reflective about their goals around their birthday and this helps everyone involved to get the most out of the process.”

Aaron also uses the annual review as an opportunity to reassess his client’s cash value life insurance policies, “If you have a cash value policy, it’s important to have an in-force illustration to see if the death benefit will last as long as the client thinks it will. We send an annual review package about 45 days before the client’s birthday, since it takes about 30 days to get an in-force illustration. The package contains a form letter to obtain the illustration. All they have to do is fill in the blanks and send it to their insurance carrier. When they come in for their review we are then prepared to discuss with them options for updating their policies.”

During his reviews, Stephen Krochmal, CLU, ChFC, CFP, of Kristal-Krochmal-Patch in Walnut Creek, CA provides his clients with a comprehensive list of items that have been accomplished since the client’s plan was initially implemented. “We have some clients where literally 50 tasks have been accomplished over the past 5 years. When you ask the client for a renewal fee, the list reminds them of all you have done and reinforces why you are charging them an annual fee.” Advisors who manage a substantial amount of their client’s assets may decide to not charge an annual fee. However, illustrating the annual fee as a credit on the client’s annual service agreement serves to remind the client that there is usually an annual charge for the service.

The annual review may be the only time during the year when the client visits your office. Take advantage of the face-to-face interaction and use the review to conduct a mini-training session on how to establish aggregation, utilize the Vault for document storage or to highlight new features of the system. Vince Rossi, CFP, of Inspired Capitalworks in Scottsdale, AZ has designed his office around the concept of client education. Using a state-of-the-art conference room, his team can show multiple screens of the eMoney system simultaneously on four connected flat screens. “We took the in-office review as a leaping point to begin teaching our clients the value of the system, as well as, an opportunity to gather comprehensive data so that we can prepare more useful reports.”