Advice for Life

A Holistic Approach to Life Planning

No matter where you are in life – just getting started or planning for retirement – you have goals and dreams.

How you envision the rest of your life might involve family members, adventurous travel or passions you postponed to pursue a career or raise a family. Maybe you're already living the life of your dreams, but thinking about your legacy.

Advice for Life is a process – a journey, really – that you and Cottrill Arbutina, as your financial guide, will undertake together.  By helping you articulate your aspirations, we are better able to understand where you are now and develop a road map to help you get there. Whatever your hopes for the future, the only way to achieve the vision of how you'll spend the years ahead is to commit to a plan that can take you there.

But it doesn't stop there. Advice for Life is an ongoing process. Over the course of your lifetime, your dreams, goals and circumstances can change. Through life's ups and downs, Cottrill Arbutina will be there to provide guidance, monitor your progress and help keep your plan in sync with your dreams.

Discovery - Before we get down to crunching numbers, we'll talk about the things that are most important to you – family, community, pasttimes, church. We'll ask a lot of questions about what you're really thinking, feeling, worrided about; your experiences with money; and what you've accomplished so far. Together we'll figure out where you are now.

Planning - Based on what we discuss in the discovery phase, Cottrill Arbutina will assess your personal situation, gauge where you are now relative to your life goals and priorities, and consider what gaps exist. We will weigh the financial implications of each goal we discuss and construct the framework for a plan that supports them.

Solutions - A benefit of holistic planning is that it provides a comprehensive view of all areas of your financial life. During this phase, Cottrill Arbutina will recommend specific solutions to help match each of your goals. This is where we implement your customized plan.

Monitoring - Just when you make plans, life happens – and events large or small can change everything. The monitoring stage incorporates tracking systems to keep your plan on target. We'll help you plan for the unexpected, anticipate change and adjust your plans over time, as necessary.

The Advice for Life approach recognizes that we're all on a special journey – and that each of us requires a road map to help us get to where we want to be. This disciplined planning process has helped other clients eliminate debt, better understand the financial decisions that support their situation and improve family communication regarding money issues.

Cottrill Arbutina believes that adopting a holistic planning approach that focuses first on your life goals and aspirations may improve the chances of achieving the future that you envision.