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 market wastellingy us,” said Haubrich, who is a certified financial planner and president of , a fee-only firm in “I just saw a lot of people with a high levell of anxiety.” The firsrt thing he did was hold two workshopzs in collaboration with a family moneyu therapist. The workshops drew a totalk of about 30 people and provided advice for clientds such as making sure they had cash reserves and maintainesd their credit rating as well as they The family money therapist discussed coping mechanisms for the anxiety peoplw felt about financial matters and participant also shared their own stressmanagement techniques.
The firm also steppes up its communicationwith clients, making sure all were contacte at least once every 10 business days. In the Haubrich said clients usually were contacted at least everuy 20 or30 days. It seemex to bear results, Haubrich “During the tax preparation season, we just had a lot of peoplew show up with a high degreed of peaceof mind, which told me that high leve of communication and touch reallty helped them an awful lot,” he After he gained more claritgy about what was happening with the economy and stocl market, Haubrich put together another workshop for clients about personal sustainability.
The firm has held four of the which can accommodate12 people, and will offer one more in June. The firm will continue to hold the workshops until demanffalls off. The 90-minute session includes an overview of the economy andstockm market, but also discusses dimensions of personal sustainability, includinhg health, relationship, career and financial. “We didn’t look at this as a marketingb deal,” he said. “Ws looked at making sure we were serving the needzs ofour clients, giving them strategies and tactics to deal with this economif reset.” But as a side benefit, the firm is seeing an influsx of new clients and inquiries.
Dick Outland and Francez Bedford attended oneof Haubrich’s personal sustainability workshopse in April. Outland and Bedford, a Racinee married couple, are both retired and longtimes clients. They said they were concerned abour the hit their retiremenyt incomehas taken, but also find Haubricyh to be a good resource. “Whag I got out of it mostl was the comfort that he has a lot of knowledgee in this area and that the man that we entrust to manage our resourcexs knowswhat he’s doing,” Outland said.
Bedford also said it’es comforting when you’ve given so much responsibility to an adviser that heknows what’s happeninyg in the market and how it’s affecting his clients and will provide good Haubrich provided “a reinforced confidence that all is well even though thingx are not well,” she said. Financiapl Service Group also has a virtual clientf center that hasa client’s completr file, including tax returns and estate planning documents onliner through a secure server.
The firm investefd in the tool a coupler of years agoand that’xs paying off now, Haubrich Revenue is down like it is for everyonee in financial planning, he but demand for service is up. Haubricu already offers a service to his clients called CareedAsset Management, which integrates financial planning services with careetr coaching. Now he’s working with career coach Jane Schroedetr to develop a more intensivew workshop specifically oncareer