Your WFS Experience

How Money Works

Your adult money challenge is to create ongoing income that exceeds expenses, leaving enough for emergencies, cover large purchases (home, vehicle), and other needs of daily life.
Financial independence (at whatever age) requires using your financial assets carefully over an unknown period of time while managing health, family, career, and other life aspects. Investing in shares and other offerings is an option to further build your financial resources.
Your options to navigate investments are: (a) Do it yourself; (b) Hire and manage selected specialists; or (c) Work with thinking partners who join with their investment partners to navigate on your behalf.

If option 3(c) appeals to you, contact us to arrange a "good fit" call to learn how we can work together.

How We Help You

Besides the specific financial services we offer, we've learned our clients often need help in three important areas that support life purpose and legacy. We call this being your thinking partner.

Investor stamina: Financial confidence. How to balance risk and reward in a changing world. We improve your "money mindset" by helping you make sense of investing and the impact of politics, the pandemic, inflation, and the growing complexity of life.

Family preparedness. Pursuing goals. We help families work toward putting children through college. We help with longevity issues such as Social Security, Medicare, generational planning, long-term care.

Money infrastructure: Managing the money. We break down the pieces of the "money skillset" needed to handle your finances over the lifetime of you (and loved ones, as applicable).

What to Expect From WFS

Financial planning and investment mean different things to each of us. For some it’s all about a secure and comfortable retirement while others need guidance on how to invest their money or how to transfer their family wealth.

We are here to help you navigate through the difficult times and to celebrate life's milestone moments.

You have the right to expect financial and investment recommendations based solely on your unique needs and goals, consistent with the objective of enhancing your financial well-being.

Our process operates under the guidance of the above statement as we take clients through the six steps of traditional financial planning:

Establish and define the client-planner relationship. This includes disclosure and explanation of all WFS fees again as needed.
Gather client data, including goals. This includes guidance through financial transitions as they are anticipated, the prior situation ends, the changes are dealt with, and then a new “normal” situation evolves. It’s important to address the change before you make decisions about the money.
Analyze and evaluate the client’s current financial status.
Develop and present financial and investment recommendations based solely upon your unique needs and goals, consistent with the objective of enhancing your financial well-being.
Implement the agreed-upon plan.
Monitor the results and discuss adjustments as needed.

What We Ask of Our Clients

We work best with a client who is ready to work with a professional financial advisor. The client is seeking a long-term, trusted planning and investment consulting relationship with a team of knowledgeable and caring professionals.

Our client:

Provides requested, accurate, up-to-date information on a timely basis to enable us to do our best work. You know that all investment, tax, estate, and insurance advice is based on the information you provide to us.
Willingly and fully participates in the financial planning process. You are the expert on your own situation and needs. That means speaking up and asking questions when you have an idea you want to discuss, if we have confused you, or if you have questions or concerns.
Agrees we will keep each other informed in a timely manner of any new developments that might affect the planned strategies.
Agrees we will both be honest and forthcoming about your financial situation. We will work to develop mutual trust, respect, and understanding.
Understands that our recommendations are always based on your best interest. Our number one job is helping you determine financial goals and expectations that are reasonable in the current circumstances and relevant to your unique situation.
Understands that all investments contain some measure of risk. The nature of investing is that it can be unpredictable and return disappointing results, despite the best efforts of both of us.
Willingly lets us know in a timely fashion if we have disappointed you in any way, discusses the situation with us, and then allows us to do all we can to correct the situation.

How to Start Working with Waterstone Financial Services

We offer a complimentary initial consultation to learn about your goals and needs and provide information on how we work. You are under no obligation to work with WFS by having this consultation. We answer your questions and provide you details on our services and fees. This is your first opportunity to determine whether we are a good fit for you. If we aren’t, we will be happy to refer you to other resources that may be a better fit.