"Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning."
Thomas Alva Edison
 |
|
Rex Jenkins, MBA, RFC |
The process of planning has been part of my professional career for the past 12 years. Much of my background is based in planning for the utility industry which includes energy markets, resource planning, fuel hedging and asset optimization. The common theme between my experience in corporate planning and my experience in personal financial planning is that both require a long term perspective matched with short term objectives. In other words, what should be done today to achieve long term needs, wants and goals? These professional experiences have grounded my approach in planning along with providing a depth of knowledge to help clients.
To facilitate my ability to provide cost-effective hourly services and reach out to people who might not ordinarily have access to independent, fee-only financial planning services, I am a member of the Garrett Planning Network, Inc. This highly-regarded network is an international affiliation of fee-only planners who are dedicated to serving people from all walks of life.
I completed the coursework and passed the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification examination in 2004. I am working towards fulfilling the CFP® Board of Standards’ specific experience requirements. Additionally, I am a Registered Financial Consultant (RFC). I received my B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla and my MBA from the University of Illinois-Chicago.
I provide financial services on a part time basis and can only meet with clients in the evening and every other Saturday. Given this framework, clients will be taken into the financial planning process on a deliberate and limited basis. When you contact Octobers View please leave a message; I will return your phone call as soon as possible. It will facilitate the process if you provide a phone number where you can be reached in the evening or on weekends.
CFP® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ are certification marks owned by the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Board of Standards, Inc. These marks are awarded to individuals who successfully complete the CFP® Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.
October’s View Financial Planning
I established October’s View Financial Planning, a fee-only financial planning firm, to provide clients with professional financial advice focused on their goals. Individuals and families will always need clear personalized advice on a wide range of financial matters, not just a sales pitch for a financial product. As a truly independent advisor, I work to assist clients in making educated and prudent decisions to meet their financial objectives with services ranging from second opinions to comprehensive financial plans.
The name October’s View Financial Planning came from my desire to reflect the results and benefits of planning advice in the name of my practice. If the seasons of everyone’s life were broadly defined in the same terms as seasons of the year the following would be a fair representation.
- Spring would be childhood transitioning into young adulthood. A time of growing, learning making mistakes and starting to set a course for ones life. Call this period age 0-25 with virtually unlimited number of choices to be made and a seemingly endless amount of time to achieve those ever changing goals.
- Summer would be solidly set in building a career, raising a family, becoming comfortable with who you are and your life’s plan and starting to narrow those choices and focusing efforts. This time would broadly include ages 26 – 55 and incorporate the greatest earning time for most people. From a financial planning perspective these are critical years; small changes here can have dramatic effects on meeting goals later in life.
- Fall is a transition time from full time, fully engaged summer-time goals to something different. Something less about climbing the career ladder, less about raising children and more about how you want to spend your time. This might be traveling, playing more golf or even a second career that’s driven not by the annual salary but by how much you can affect your community. This time would also be broadly described as ages 55 – 75 and for many, a time of renewed energy as new goals and challenges are realized.
- Winter, the last season of life and one in which the fruits of life are reaped and the benefits of hard work and planning are realized. This season can include ensuring that a lifetime of wealth is properly passed to the next generation and that the charities and organizations that have come to provide meaning in our lives are also recognized.
The fall season of life is characterized by great change, and with great change comes uncertainty. This is why I named my practice October’s View Financial Planning. My goal is to help all clients understand what their life financially looks like at this critical point and make educated adjustments to meet their goals. This view is what I call October’s View, and my goal is to help you identify, plan for and meet your future wisely, to help my clients discover their “October’s View”.
While the best time to plan for the future and make adjustments is early in life, I realize life does not always work this way. October’s View Financial Planning provides advice to individuals and families in all seasons of life. October’s View describes an educated perspective that anyone who needs to understand their financial situation and choices can benefit from a tailored personal financial plan.
A guiding principal at October’s View Financial Planning is to build long-term relationships with clients based on trust, and to expand the business through referrals from satisfied clients. Because financial planning is a process, not an event, October’s View Financial Planning offers ongoing services and periodic reviews based on our client’s request.
Fee only financial planning provides access to advice for clients regardless of income, dollar value of investment or whether the advice is a one-time consultation or ongoing financial management advice. Clients are billed in simple-to-understand hourly rates based on portions-of-an-hour or full hours depending on time spent with a client or working on his or her project.
With this kind of a fee structure, clients pay only for the time the advisor works with them or for them. That means no hidden fees, no income or account minimums, no long-term contract requirements, and no commissions that can create conflicts of interests. Just like the as-needed, professional services provided by your doctor, dentist, attorney or CPA, you only pay the amount of time you use, when you use it.
This type of hourly, as-needed financial planning and advice is a good fit for "do-it-yourselfers" ... competent, self-directed people who periodically need or want a second opinion or validation of their current plans and/or investment portfolio. They prefer, however, to manage some or all of the implementation on their own and typically do not want to "turn-over" the ongoing management of their financial affairs to an advisor. These people can often be "just starting out" – or they can be quite wealthy.
In addition, Fee-Only financial planners do not sell financial products such as investments and insurance, and do not accept sales commissions. They work solely for their clients.There are no third-party relationships or outside influences to color their thinking and financial recommendations. With Fee-Only financial planners, all conflicts of interest regarding compensation are removed.
