Carl Richards tells a nice story in an article in Morningstar Magazine:

Imagine two people with very similar lives. Both are busy professionals with demanding careers. Both have two kids. Both are actively involved in their communities and in their kids’ activities. After they’ve completed all the extra stuff after school and work, each still has to cook dinner, clean up the kitchen, and help with homework before checking a few final work emails.

Finally, it’s 11 p.m., and here’s where the lives of these two people diverge. One goes to bed, while the other sits down to manage the family finances.

This second person faces the following questions:

• How do I invest?
• Do I have the right kind of insurance?
• Do I need to hire an estate attorney?
• Have I saved enough to help the kids with college?
• Do I have enough saved to retire?
• Should I worry about what’s happening in the market this week?
• How do I know when it’s time to make a change to any of these things?

This person spends hours reading books, checking websites, and reviewing reports. He tries to understand every aspect of his financial life so he can make smart financial decisions. It’s a never-ending process that he repeats each night before going to bed.

Now, we know the process of financial planning is incredibly important, so how can the other person just go to bed without a second thought? She picked a different path. She built a fantastic wealth-management team, worked out a plan with their help, and communicates regularly with them. As a result, she can spend time on all the other important things, like her career, her family, and staying on top of all her other priorities.

Looking at the difference in the lives of these two people, I have one question for you: What’s that worth?

Richards goes on to say, “Our industry often gets painted as a group of people out to take hard-earned money from other people. … We know that real financial professionals are focused on providing peace of mind, so people can worry about everything else in their lives.”

The job of comprehensive wealth management is an infinite task. You could work on it all by yourself or you could seek help from a fee-only financial planner. We believe that there is great value in having a trusted fiduciary who will sit on your side of the table and provide objective advice.

The job of a fiduciary is to do whatever you would do if you had our time and expertise. The goals is to provide for you to have the time and peace of mind that would otherwise be lost to stewarding every aspect of your finances. Our only goal is to help you achieve yours.

Photo by Liz Y used here under Flickr Creative Commons.