Frequently Asked Questions
Why are you different from all the other investment advisers?
We are trying to modernize & revamp a broken system.
Financial planning and investing isn’t a skill that’s required in school. The financial industry often tries to over complicate things with lingos, acronyms, and fees to overwhelm you and make it so that you have no choice but pay an adviser to give you a cookie-cutter portfolio.
We’re the complete opposite of that.
We keep things simple at first, and get into the details if you want them.
We build investment portfolios that help you achieve your personalized goals, while reflecting your values & lifestyle.
We realize the importance of client portals and are partnering up with Altruist for a sleek and easy-to-use platform for both you and us. Our reporting is personally designed to the client, based on what’s important for them.
We aim to build a long-term relationship with our clients. Finances is a very personal subject and we’re committed to better understanding your goals, your values, and your lifestyle to make more informed recommendations.
We also understand some clients only want initial guidance and run with things on their own. We’ll make sure you have the tools and knowledge to set you up for success. We’ll be a phone call or email away if you need us.
What type of clients do you work with?
First and foremost, we’re looking to partner with clients that are eager to make a difference in the world.
Unlike many advisers, we don’t require minimum assets to work with us. That means we love to work with “early investors” (college students, early careers). The importance of proper financial planning and investments is crucial to get right early in your journey. We love to simplify things so that they make sense to our clients who are just getting started. Just because you have less assets does not mean you get less of our attention!
We also love complex financial topics. The majority of our clients are progressing in their careers, have a retirement account, a savings account, and some experience investing (whether that’s in real estate, the stock market, cryptocurrency, etc.). We help these clients assess their current financial situation, get ready for a life change (buy a home, start a family, start a business, get ready for early retirement, etc.), and prepare for the future (retirement, college funding, life insurance, etc.).
What does a financial plan include?
We’ll get as simple or complicated as you want. These will vary depending on your financial situation and your personal goals.
Most financial plans will start by analyzing your net worth (things you own minus things you owe) and your cash flow (how much you earn minus how much you spend). We’ll identify potential risks and how to prepare for them.
We’ll then get into the details of your debt (student loans, credit card, auto, mortgage, etc.) to determine opportunities to bring those down where it makes sense.
Then we’ll get into the fun stuff - your retirement and investment accounts. We’ll identify opportunities to maximize your growth depending on your risk tolerance, while ensuring your investments reflect your values & lifestyle.
Finally, we’ll get into the not-so-fun stuff - insurance, college funding, and tax planning. For many, this is perceived as an unnecessary expense to worry about. However, if you’re serious about building generational wealth, we’ll provide you with some recommendations on how to protect your family and your assets.
We’ll put all of that in an easy-to-follow report that we’ll review and discuss together.
What’s the difference between a financial plan and an investment plan?
Your financial plan will be a comprehensive review of your financial situation, where we’ll help you identify specific tactics to achieve your goals. We will provide some asset allocation recommendations for your retirement account. The rest is up to you! Of course, we’re here to help if you have any questions along the way.
Your investment plan is a separate service in which we manage your investment portfolio(s) for you. We perform the regular rebalancing of your portfolios for you and monitor the market to determine if there are any portfolio changes you should consider. We provide you with quarterly performance reporting so you can review progress along the way. We’ll always ensure your investments reflect your risk tolerance, values, and lifestyle.
What is your investment approach?
The investment approach will vary depending on your personal preferences, risk tolerance, values, and lifestyle.
We typically specialize in identifying index funds to serve as a baseline for your portfolio. We can then get a little sexy and identify specific investment opportunities that could be sprinkled additions to your portfolio. Certain clients may want more active investment management, while others want to be more passive. No two portfolios will be exactly the same.
We partner with Altruist for a sleek and easy-to-use client portal for both you and us. You’ll be able to link your existing investment account(s)* to the platform or open up a new account directly with Altruist. You’ll get real-time access to your investments, performance, billing, and much more.
How often do you typically interact with clients?
We’re going to be best friends the first few weeks of us working together.
All jokes aside, it’s important we communicate plenty and often at the start of our relationship. That way, we make sure our recommendations reflect your accurate financial situation and personalized goals.
After our initial free consultation, you’ll receive a secured questionnaire detailing your current income, expenses, assets, and debts, along with any additional detail that may be useful in building your personalized investment plan, that reflects both your lifestyle and values. We’ll likely communicate over email for any clarification as we analyze your answers and develop your personalized recommendation.
From there, we review your financial and/or investment plan together. We’ll discuss our recommendations, action items, and answer any questions you may have.
Once we’ve got you set-up with your plan, and if you’re using our investment services, you’ll get two meetings with us a year to review progress and discuss any changes or questions you may have.
For any additional questions, you’ll have unlimited email support throughout the year.
What’s your experience?
Adrien has over 8 years in financial planning & analysis related work. He has a proven track record of tackling challenging financial problems, building executive strategy & execution plans, and managing over $300m in expense budgets.
He quickly grew in leadership roles to become a Financial Analysis Director from 2019 to 2021 and manage the reporting, analytics, and forecasting of a $3b segment for an investment company. His team was also responsible for driving insights & analytics into the success of compensation structures.
In 2021, Adrien decided to take all that experience, knowledge, leadership, and desire to learn, to help others build their wealth in a responsible way. That’s when Adrien & his wife packed up and moved to Boulder, Colorado. Shortly after, Lybis Investing was created.
Adrien is dedicated to further his education in wealth management.