FAQs

• Check out our website to learn about us and who we typically work with.
• At What Point Am I Ready To Hire A Financial Planner?
• What Does The Initial Meeting Look Like?

After reviewing the above, click here to schedule an introductory call with us.

There are two main ways we get paid:

• Through financial planning/personal consulting and/or through investment management
• Which fee model is right for you?

We do not have a Series 7 license and cannot be compensated through investment commissions or transaction, only through our advice.

We do maintain an insurance license through Haas Financial Group Insurance Services and can be compensated through certain insurance solutions recommended within your financial plan, should you ask us to provide this service.

Our asset management fees are tied to our client's account value.  Hence, we are incentivized to help the account grow, and work to stabilize account values through difficult markets.

• We've discovered that we work best with kind, generous, and open-minded people. 
• If you're looking for a trusted partner and believe you can't do it all by yourself. You recognize the value of having personal advice from a credentialed professional.
• Ability to embrace the humility to know what you don't know, the curiosity to learn and grow, and a desire to maintain community and partnership with us as your advisors.
• We are most often found when someone is retired or close to retirement age or going through a life transition and have tough questions to answer (typically within 5 years or less of your retirement goal)
• You're interested in a long-term relationship with a proactive team dedicated to helping organize your financial life and keep it that way.
• You're willing to meet at least annually where we keep each other up-to-date.
• You don't believe in market timing and have the ability to trust our disciplined investment process.

We have no mandate to use our investment management services.  With that said, many of our best relationships leverage us to manage their investments, asking us to follow the disciplined and proactive process we outline in our financial plans.

The Haas Financial Group puts the financial planning process at the forefront of our client relationships.  Our relationships are focused on your big picture and not just investing. We believe in the purposeful allocation of your savings aligned specifically with your goals and timeline.

Managing Investments By Myself.  Should I or Shouldn't I?

• Because of our independence, we are in a position to work with your accountant, attorney, and other trusted professionals to see tasks through to completion. We are not restricted by a bank or corporate parent who may limit our ability to recommend professional resources who can help in various aspects of your financial life.
• Accountability through a concise to-do list with clear expectations on who needs to do what ,and by when, with written next steps.
• We stay current so you don't have to (unless you want to). We pay close attention to what's happening in the world, the economy, the markets and financial trends in order to provide relevant feedback for your personal situation. 
• We are cutting edge in our industry with technology, our financial planning process, and how we approach advice.
• Independently produced educational and informative content pieces authored by servicing advisors.

CFP^® stands for CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER^TM, but not all financial planners are "certified". Anyone can use the title "financial planner". Only those who have fulfilled the certification and renewal requirements of the CFP^® Board can display the CFP^® certification trademarks which represent a high level of competency, ethics, and professionalism in our industry.

An advisor holding a CFP^® designation has:

• Extensive education in investments, insurance, retirement planning, taxation, and estate law. Additionally, CFP^®s must undergo a certain amount of continuing education to retain and sharpen their skills.
• 6,000 hours of professional experience related to the financial planning process or 4,000 hours of apprenticeship experience 
• Successfully passed the CFP^® exam
• Met ethical and professional standards for the practice of financial planning, and acts as a fiduciary when providing financial advice to clients, always putting their best interests first.

Do Credentials Matter When Seeking Financial Planning Advice?

Yes, we are held to a FIDUCIARY STANDARD which means we offer financial and investment advice that is in the best interest of the client. We are required to disclose material conflicts of interest and act in an ethical manner in all business dealings. It sounds basic but not all financial professionals work as a fiduciary.  We do. A financial advisor who isn't a fiduciary may recommend products for which they receive a commission for. 

How Do I Know If I Have The Right Advisor?

The Accredited Behavioral Finance Professional℠  or ABFP℠  is the first advisor-focused behavioral financial designation from an accredited college or university. The education was developed to enhance advisors' emotional competencies, client interactions, and financial planning advice through a thorough understanding of psychological explanations for economic behavior and hands-on practice of knowledge. It teaches issue recognition and communication skills to be used when advising others. 

Kaplan's website features a video filmed by Benjamin Haas on his experience with the ABFP℠  program. (Watch the video here) Ben is a recent college graduate of the College's Accredited Behavioral Finance Professional℠  program and shares how knowledge and skills in behavioral finance helps financial advisors become better in effectively counseling clients.  Ben recognized that he needed to develop the skills to understand money behaviors through our clients' eyes and to communicate our advice in a way that led to action. We believe it's important for financial professionals to be trained in recognizing biases or fractured decision-making patterns and be ready to counsel when called up.

Ben uses his knowledge gained from the ABFP℠  curriculum to get better at asking questions and listening more attentively to responses.  He believes it's helped him be more vulnerable, authentic, and empathetic.  We believe in lifelong learning as one of our core values.  Because of this, Ben continues to hone his communication skills by participating in various study groups focusing on psychology, human nature, and the art of questions.  To learn more about behavioral finance, check out these resources:

CFP Board

Wired Planning

LPL is the broker/dealer for our business.  Their role is purely administrative: executing trades, account record-keeping, and they provide us with the technology to manage both.  They also have another very important function: they are the primary custodian for your assets.  Your assets are never physically located with us or with Great Valley Advisor Group - they are always with a custodian.

Great Valley Advisor Group is the entity through which we provide investment advice and financial planning services.