Cloud WealthMapping Framework

Some people just "go with the flow" and let life take them wherever it'll take them.  I often set time aside to just relax and not feel like I need to be checking things off my list.  However, when it comes to higher level life goals, I need a strategy.  Hoping things just work out is not a consistently successful strategy.

“Strategy is the difference between making a wish and making it come true." - Gregor Hohpe; Amazon Web Services Enterprise Strategist & Author.

Hohpe continues,.... "A sound cloud strategy isn’t something you can copy from a recipe book or from another organization. Diverse starting points, objectives, and constraints imply different choices and trade-offs. Instead, you need a set of proven decision models that help you analyze your specific situation, evaluate options, understand trade-offs, and articulate your choice to a broad audience.”  

My version of this reasoning also applies to my Cloud WealthMapping Framework...  

A sound financial strategy isn’t something you can copy from a recipe book or from another household. Diverse starting points, objectives, and constraints imply different choices and trade-offs. Instead, you need a set of proven decision models that help you analyze your specific situation, evaluate options, understand trade-offs, and articulate your choice to your mutual household decision-makers.

At Wealth Transition Advisors, we believe that just as corporations need a sound cloud strategy for their companies, households need a sound financial strategy for obtaining their unique life goals.

The idea of wealthmapping is surprisingly simple – the framework allows families to devise a cohesive strategy that estimates their future financial resources (income and assets) and needs (expenses) over their lifespan and designing a plan to best allocate resources to meet those needs.  While accounting for changing state and federal tax hurdles along the way.

Wealthmapping is invaluable for many reasons, but, perhaps most importantly, it helps you look beyond the here-and-now and near future to anticipate how your finances will change over time so that you can make the best decisions possible for your future self.  Unfortunately, many people never take the time to develop a strategy until they are in their 40s or 50s.

Our Cloud WealthMapping uncovers clear decision points and actionable agendas that provide Cloud Architects and their other household financial decision-makers with a structured approach for their life's journey.

There simply is no substitute for seeing my client's WHOLE picture.  WealthMapping is a framework that is based upon gathering as much information about a client as possible in seven critical areas. Once this is achieved, I have an unmatched ability to begin to see the client's whole picture....  to see their lives, perceive potential problems and then brainstorm financial solutions to present.

In essence, there are seven areas rich with wealth management information. The magic of these seven areas lies predominantly in the linkages between these seven areas.

1. Client Vitals: Who am I working with?
2. Financials: What do they own?
3. Personal Relationships: Who do they care about?
4. Goals & Concerns: What three things do they want to do in life?
5. Professional Relationships: Who do they work with?
6. Interests: What do they like?
7. Communication/Presentation: How do I best communicate with them?

In this framework, my primary responsibility is to identify the problems using the WealthMap. Then, and only then is it time to consult with our team of experts to discuss the problems and collectively develop solutions. My greatest strength is relentlessly learning about the traits and challenges of my Cloud Architect clients. No one can be an expert on all of the different areas of wealth management; they're too extensive, and continually changing and evolving.  My goal is to extensively know my clients and leverage their professional advisory group's collective expertise for specialized solutions.  For some areas of the wealthmapping framework, I'd be the specialist, however, below are the remaining areas of expertise that are leveraged with independent professionals:

• Benefit Analysis
• Tax planning
• Life insurance
• Legal Guidance
• Estate planning

I explore my client's professional relationships to determine what members of the team of the client may already have in place. For instance, if the client has a tax professional who he or she has used for 20 years, this is the person who needs to be brought into the loop very quickly. When my client has an existing relationship, I try to work with that professional whenever possible.  If a client doesn't have relationships in these areas, we have multiple highly capable professionals that we've vetted and have credible expertise in each area.

Our Cloud Wealth Mapping isn't a one-time exercise, it's an on-going framework that transforms lifestyles and guides consistent decision-making. 

Cloud Architects   l   Life Goals   l   Peace of Mind

* Some of the above were edited ideas of Brett Van Bortel from a June 7, 2007 article in Private Wealth Magazine.