Financial firm helping clients deal with stress from downturn - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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“We were all struggling with what the marketr wastelling us,” said Haubrich, who is a certified financiapl planner and president of , a fee-onlg firm in Racine. “I just saw a lot of peopl e with a high levelof anxiety.” The firstt thing he did was hold two workshops in collaboration with a family money therapist. The workshops drew a total of about 30 people and provided advicew for clients such as making sure they had cash reservess and maintained their credit ratingt as well asthey could. The family money therapisf discussed coping mechanisms for the anxiety people felt about financial matters and participants also shared theitr own stressmanagement techniques.
The firm also steppeed up its communicationwith clients, making sure all were contacted at least once everhy 10 business days. In the Haubrich said clients usually were contacted at leasy every 20 or30 days. It seemed to bear Haubrich said. “During the tax preparation season, we just had a lot of peoplew show up with a high degred of peaceof mind, which told me that high leveo of communication and touch really helped them an awfull lot,” he said. After he gaines more clarity about what was happening with the economy andstocj market, Haubrich put together another workshop for clientws about personal sustainability.
The firm has held four of the which can accommodate12 people, and will offerr one more in June. The firm will continue to hold the workshopsz until demandfalls off. The 90-minutr session includes an overview of the economty andstock market, but also discusses dimensionx of personal sustainability, including health, relationship, career and financial. “We didn’y look at this as a marketing he said. “We looked at making sure we were serving the needs ofour clients, giving them strategies and tactics to deal with this economidc reset.
” But as a side benefit, the firm is seeinbg an influx of new clients and Dick Outland and Frances Bedforsd attended one of Haubrich’s personakl sustainability workshops in April. Outland and a Racine married are both retired and longtime They said they were concerned about the hit their retiremenyt incomehas taken, but also find Haubrich to be a good “What I got out of it mostlyu was the comfort that he has a lot of knowledge in this area and that the man that we entrusft to manage our resources knows what he’s Outland said.
Bedford also said it’s comforting when you’ve give so much responsibility to an adviser that heknows what’s happeninf in the market and how it’s affecting his clientas and will provide good Haubrich provided “a reinforced confidence that all is well even thougu things are not well,” she Financial Service Group also has a virtuall client center that has a client’s completer file, including tax returns and estate planning documentds online through a secure server. The firm invested in the tool a couple of years agoand that’ds paying off now, Haubrich said.
Revenued is down like it is for everyone infinancialk planning, he said, but demand for service is up. Haubricuh already offers a service to his clientsx called CareerAsset Management, which integrates financial planninb services with career coaching. Now he’s working with career coachh Jane Schroeder to develop a more intensive workshop specificall y oncareer sustainability.