Ian discusses how the team will proactively stay in touch so you feel secure and taken care of.
Ian Munro:
We know it's important for you to know where you're at financially and to have personal communication with the people you've trusted your finances to. So we follow three key principles in communicating with you. We make sure it's personal, customized and proactive. In addition, you'll always have online access to conveniently view your portfolio. And we also post monthly commentary to our R&R blog, so you feel comfortable with your financial trajectory and that the process is explained in context. So, you know if you're on track to hit most of your important financial goals.
We also post mid-month blog commentary on real life issues, such as education accounts, vacation property, the keys to a happy retirement and so on, but we don't stop there. We also meet with you regularly, according to your preferences, whether it's in person, on video chat or on the phone, but most importantly as your needs and preferences change, so do we. We also know that life is anything but static and if you need anything around communication, please feel free to reach out to us at 403 260-0472 and we are always happy to help.
Randy and Ian elaborate on fee transparency or, more precisely, how fees work for the services R&R Investment Partners provide.
Randy Yozipovic:
Clients often ask how they will pay for our services or basically how fees work.
Ian Munro:
In similar situations, the payment structure for advisory fees can often be more complicated than it needs to be. Instead, we aim as simplify by being completely transparent about it costs for us to serve you. And also about any other cost you may have that do not involve fees or payments to us.
Randy Yozipovic:
For example, outside of our institution, a competing advisor might tell you that they are charging you 1% of the value of your portfolio annually. And in fact, it's the law today that they must disclose this information.
Ian Munro:
And what can, unfortunately, be confusing is whether or not that 1% is being charged on top of the investment products that already have an embedded cost of an additional 1%. That would actually bring the total cost to 2% annually, and that can be surprising if it wasn't what you were expecting. It's not that these in investment products are good or bad, it is simply that the lack of explanation keeps you from making a fully informed decision. And we all deserve transparency.
Randy Yozipovic:
For this reason, we've chosen to offer an all inclusive fee based on the assets we're managing for your family, which includes everything from customer reporting, proactive reviews, financial and estate planning reviews with our wealth strategists and all administrative support from our entire team. In addition, we do not charge fees on cash that we hold or GICs, guaranteed investment certificates. And we do not participate in hidden new issue commissions.
Ian Munro:
And because of this, you can feel comfortable that if we recommend an investment product that has a built in cost, that product and its worth will be fully explained, and the decision to invest in it will be completely in your hands.
Randy Yozipovic:
In our opinion, the problem we all have as customers is when we think we're paying one amount only to find a higher amount on the bill at the end of the day. We all want fair value for any fees we pay or any service that we sign up for. And our aim is to serve you in a way that makes you and your family feel valued, kept in the loop and well taken care of. Fee transparency is a big part of that.