Binary Brew

Just wanted to post a short note about Financial Planners. We have hired one for us. I had tried unsuccessfully to talk to financial planners in the past from my bank or from my broker that runs my 401k. The first question all of them asked was: “How much money to you have to invest?” This statement always instantly pissed me off. I told all of the people I met with that I was looking to get my finances in order and wanted to come up with a plan. I never once mentioned that I had thousands of dollars to invest and that I was eager to have them earn huge commissions from the money I would invest into their funds. Every time I left feeling annoyed and embarrassed. Obviously I am not rich, or I would have no problem throwing my money at a commission based financial planner, but what I was looking for was a “REAL” financial planner. Someone who could look at everything I do financially and come up with a plan and a budget for how my family can succeed financially. This does not mean that I was looking for a plan that will make me a millionaire when I retire, i just want to be comfortable and stable. Thanks to the internet, I stumbled onto this site:

http://www.hillebrandfinancial.com/index.htm

John Vyge is the planner I am working with and he is great. From the first initial meeting, he took the time to find out what “We” wanted. He is not commission based, he is fee based. I pay him a flat rate and he interviews us, finds out what we want financially and then makes recommendations based on our current and future financial situation. We are still early in the process with him, but I can say that right now, I am very happy working with him. We have not made it to the budget portion of our planning yet, but the interviewing process has opened my mind up to the things we need to be thinking about. He is like having a coach. Trying to do it on our own, we tend to slack off here and there and lose our way. With a coach, especially one that I am paying, I have a much greater incentive to keep up the pace and make it to the finish line. If any of the 2 or 3 people out there that read my blog need some direction with finances, I suggest finding someone like John. He is part of the

http://www.garrettplanningnetwork.com/pages/splash/index.htm

If you are not in the NoVA area and want to find someone like this, I would suggest looking on the Garret Planning Network to see if there is someone like John near you.