As we kick off the beginning of the year and approach the end of the first quarter, there’s been a few points of progress at Open World. This Patch Notes will bring you up to speed. I’ve begun the update to our deliverables documents, so clients can now see more simplified snapshots of their plans. These simplified snapshots should lead to better conversations and clarity when it comes to quick updates on your financial life plans. So let’s talk changes:
Already Changed:
–Deliverables Rework: Clients who have been with Open World for more than a year will now receive a “Plan Summary Sheet” instead of the full 30+ page plan if their situation hasn’t changed drastically. Why a ‘Plan Summary Sheet’? This document condenses updated information on your plan down to one page, thereby making it easier for you to sit back and say “How have we done compared to how we thought we would?” It helps you track progress on your main quest instead of reinventing the whole thing! You’ll still receive an updated version of the plan if you request it, as well as a Quest Log detailing where you are in the process of making changes. The iterative changes to this one-pager will continue going forward, but having an example done and ready to go is still very exciting.
See an example here.
–Meeting Schedule Changes: Clients currently on year two or more of their financial life planning relationship with Open World will notice more efficient, topic-dense meetings in a new format. The schedule of meetings is updated to focus on six ‘scheduled’ meetings a year. These meetings are focused, with a semi-structured agenda to make sure we’re up to date on some very important topics. Other meetings throughout the year can and should be scheduled by our clients using the calendar link openworldfp.youcanbook.me as life happens and new things come up. Remember, you are not limited to any particular number of meetings – those six meetings are there so we don’t miss the big topics!
-January: Goal Updates for the Current Year
-March: Taxes and ‘Plan Summary Document’
-May: Cash Flow and Investment Review
-July: Estate Planning and Beneficiary Audit
-September: Goals Benchmark and Life Updates
-November: Open Enrollment, End of Year Contributions, and Annual Review
Obviously each client’s circumstances are different, so this schedule may be amended and adapted, but the hope is that having these items on our annual agenda will keep the work focused and the meetings topic-dense.
Planned Changes:
–Deliverables Rework: Just because the “Plan Summary Sheet” is finished doesn’t mean other documents aren’t up for some revision. The automatically generated plans from Advizr/Orion Planning are the next documents I’m targeting for rework. I think there’s a lot of space to improve the readability of these documents in the long-term. At a bare minimum, it would be nice to merge the Quest Log and Financial Plan into one PDF so that both documents come as an easier package.
–Content: I’ve been harping on content over the last two quarters of these notes pretty consistently. While I originally wanted to be more productive from a content perspective this year, there’s been a change to the plans. The website update we completed last quarter led to a lot more traffic than I was expecting coming into this year, which means the work hasn’t gotten done like I wanted it to. Frankly, it means I don’t really want to do the work of driving more visitors to the website than are already there. Three-to-five potential new client appointments per month is my personal maximum, and until I decide whether the team will be growing again or not, I can’t be doing too much more. So here’s what you can expect on the content front:
-One Blog Post Per Month
-One Patch Notes Per Quarter
-Updated Versions of Some of My Most Popular Videos
In Closing
This is a much more reasonable content schedule I feel like I can stick to, as opposed to the ambitious schedule I set out to enact at the beginning of the year. I hope you enjoyed this post from last week!
If this is the first time you’re seeing Open World’s Patch Notes and you’d like to see them each quarter, feel free to subscribe here.
You can always reach me at ianbloom@openworldfp.com or book a time to talk at openworldfp.youcanbook.me.
Thanks for reading! Here’s some of our recent content for your enjoyment:
