Looking Forward into 2011

As another year nears its close and Everyday Money Matters celebrates the culmination of its second full year of existence, I look ahead to 2011 and wonder what this New Year will bring.

Part of contemplating the New Year is reviewing the present year of 2010. Do I consider this year a success? Were the services that I offered useful to my clients? Were there changes in my services as defined by the clients that I worked for? Was I successful in rearranging my originally offered services for the personal fit requested by my clients?

Based on the increase of the number of clients that I have now compared to the number if clients that I started 2010 with, I have to say that yes, the work that I’m doing for my clients has satisfied both them and me throughout this year.

Originally, the services that I offered revolved around bill pay and financial (document) organization. As I worked with individual clients, the services expanded to phone calls made to hospitals and doctor’s offices to question bills; phones calls made to various professionals (lawyers, banks and other various appointments) as well as making trips to the clients banks with deposits and other bank related errands.

I’ve been hired by Financial Advisors working with their own clients on projects that required major research and document searching on the client’s part. I take that burden of uncertainty and time consuming searching away from the client by working closely with the financial advisor and the client to get the job done as painlessly as possible.

I’ve been hired by Trust companies needing a liaison closer to where the client lives to help them work on financial matters.

I've also been working with residents of Independent Living Facilities whose adult children are happy to let a professional who they know and trust take care of their parent’s billing and organizational needs. Some of these clients are living independent lives in beautiful cottages provided by these facilities while others demand more extensive care due to illness as well as the onset of Alzheimer’s. To read an article related to the onset of Alzheimer’s in those that we care about, click on the following link.

For clients such as the latter, I work with the entire group of professionals that are involved with the client. I develop relationships with their bankers; their lawyers; their trust officers as well as family members. This way, the client’s entire financial “picture” is streamlined and understandable to all involved.