James Claiborne, CFS, ChFC^®, CLU^®
Financial Partners Group

Financial Services

Our approach is goal driven and based on the particular needs of each and every one of our clients. We believe in building, monitoring and implementing a financial plan as a starting point to give us a direction we need to go to get our clients to their destination. We build a partnership with or clients and track each and every goal outlined to make sure we are accomplishing priority items that need to be addressed.

We monitor and update our client's life changes by using what we refer to as a "Client Roadmap" which is a cycle of life blueprint that shows different goals we address over various time periods. This is updated on a quarterly basis and designed to keep track of priority items to address.

We provide objective advice by aligning ourselves as an independent wealth management firm which enables us to access virtually an unlimited resource network of investment options and planning resources. Once we build the financial plan, the recommendations are implemented by finding the most competitive investment options available, explaining the differences and finding an appropriate fit for our clients.

Our business financial plans incorporate the important business planning concerns for the ownership by addressing items such as business continuation, tax planning and tax favored benefit plans that address all types of financial market conditions.

We sit down with ownership and complete a philosophical business questionnaire together that provides us with an insight as to the legacy planning intended, options for asset protection trust planning and what will happen when it is time to exit the business. Our expertise in business planning is complemented with a team of allied professional advisors who work together to build our business plan from a legal and accounting point of view.

We begin the financial security part of the plan by taking inventory of insurance policies so we can analyze and make observations that may or may not be consistent with the needs analysis we provide in the client meeting process.

The insurance need is first determined then we look at the top rated companies using a comparative side by side analysis to determine most appropriate fit. Everything is based on the outcome of our needs analysis

Strategies included utilizing the concept of dollar cost averaging, investing early and often, paying you first and taking advantage of tax favored programs available.

We advise our clients to take full advantage of tax favored benefit plans available while creating non-IRA assets for future opportunities and flexibility prior to age 59 ½.

Our Investment Philosophy is simple. There is a time for growth and a time to protect. Markets, financial goals and investment strategies change over time. Too often we see clients who have been involved in advisor relationships where investment holdings simply stay static over time regardless of the investment landscape.

Although diversification is important, it is not the only key to having a successful plan. Diversification has become too broad of a definition in the financial industry for most people to determine a true meaning of the word. Investment allocation among multiple asset classes is not enough to survive in today's financial environment due to the high correlation of global markets that have evolved over the past decade.

We believe it is imperative to have tactical strategies in place to make decisive changes in a client's portfolio based on sudden unexpected opportunities that evolve as well as protecting in times of uncertainty. For this reason, we are advocates of constantly monitoring your portfolio and making necessary changes based on the resources, knowledge and expertise of our investment management team.

Our wealth management service is more than just investment advice, as it can encompass all parts of a person's financial life. The idea is to integrate pieces of advice from a series of professionals and benefit from a holistic approach.

Your questions will be encouraged, and our answers will be straightforward. We will help you understand where your money is invested, how your investments are performing, and how much it's costing you. To address client needs for income, estate planning, gift planning, generation-skipping tax planning and philanthropy, our professionals will help to craft and implement holistic wealth management solutions.

The Estate Planning component in a comprehensive financial plan is critical to the overall success of an individual's legacy they will leave behind. Quite often when we meet with new clients for an introductory meeting, we discover there has been some level of basic planning that has been completed but typically it involves simple wills and health care directives that have been in place for several years without being updated or reviewed. There are also situations where there has been no estate planning completed outside of beneficiary designations. An overwhelming majority of people need guidance and professional help to make sure there is nothing left open for interpretation should the unexpected happen.

We work with a small group of allied professional estate planning attorneys who we work closely with to help with make sure your estate plan is in order. Based on the client's needs and situation, we will provide an informal introduction to one or more attorneys to make sure you are comfortable working the attorney who is best suited for your particular needs.

Regardless of the situation, we help take the lead role in making sure your estate plan completed or updated in a timely and fiscally responsible manner to provide you with peace of mind that your estate will be executed based on your intentions.