Marc D’Elia, ChFC, AAMS • Largo, FL
Premier Planning Partners • Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp.
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I like to tell new or potential clients why I love doing what I do. My goal is to help people get to a point in life where they have the luxury of deciding how to spend their time. I’ve seen many people in my family and among acquaintances that are working later in life because they have to, not because they want to. When people engage with me, I’d like them to be able to say, “I’ll work if I choose to, but I also want the option of doing things in life I never had time for before.” That could be anything from trying a new career option they have always desired, working with charities or their church, pursuing personal interests, traveling, or simply spending time with family and friends.

This objective cuts across the many target segments that I work with. A tremendous amount of planning and teamwork with my clients goes into getting to that objective. My vision for our firm is that I want to be the advisor of choice in the Tampa Bay–St. Pete area for people looking to successfully manage their financial future—specifically physicians, executives, business owners, retirees, or soon-to-be retirees.

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To achieve that goal, I am focused on developing a discernable point of difference for our practice. That starts with having a very comprehensive approach to financial planning and a strong values-oriented approach to clients. Everything at our firm starts with a rigorous financial-planning process, no matter what type of client we are working with. We analyze every aspect of our clients’ financial lives to ensure that the appropriate recommendations are being provided. This should lead to greater clarity in and understanding of their financial plan and a sense of confidence that their financial objectives are always at the forefront.

I learned early in my career that “selling product” might lead to some short-term personal success, but did not truly serve clients’ needs or lead to lasting client relationships. I feel fortunate to work with Lincoln Financial Advisors and feel we have a shared business philosophy in terms of placing clients’ needs first. They provide valuable support and consultation in many areas, which enables me to offer clients the best of both worlds: the resources of a large, innovative company and the personal attention that clients deserve.

We are happy to take on virtually any client that will benefit from our services, with one provision. I am looking for clients who have certain qualities that I think will lead to a productive and lasting relationship. I call this QCC. I want to work with people who are qualified, coachable, and committed. Our financial-planning process works best if people are committed to working as a team in developing their financial plan and are willing to be coached in understanding sound financial concepts. Those two attributes, in combination with their willingness to allow us to discover their in-depth financial-planning needs and to take an active role in the process, results in them being “qualified.”

Within this context, our primary focus is on individuals and families that wish to plan for their financial future comprehensively. They can be from all walks of life and of varying income and asset levels. I particularly enjoy working with physicians, as they frequently have complex financial-planning needs, are very interested in estate planning, and have unique risk-management needs related to their profession. We also do a lot of work with business owners, and we may start those relationships by working on business needs such as employee benefit programs, succession planning, and business valuation estimates. This may lead to a more in-depth relationship examining the financial-planning needs of their family. We also work with many business executives and have developed relationships with several companies in our area where we provide financial-planning services for their executives. That has turned into an excellent program, benefiting the company, its people, and our practice.

We have a highly disciplined but flexible process. We don’t have a set number of sessions for our financial planning—we have as many meetings as it takes for us to get all of the data and information that is required. We spend a lot of time going over a client’s situation; getting to know them on a personal level; and understanding their life, career, and retirement goals. We talk about their family situation and always want to include the spouse, and perhaps other family members, if appropriate. We conduct a detailed review and accounting of current assets, income, and expenses, and also develop an understanding of income needs in retirement. Once we’ve done a holistic audit of the client’s financial situation, we work together to develop specific financial-planning objectives. Part of that process is gaining an understanding of their risk profile and time horizon for things like college funding and potential retirement date. We use a sophisticated planning tool for analysis of their risk profile.

If it is a highly complex situation, I have the option of using case-management support from Lincoln to help with the financial-planning process. In most cases, we do the planning ourselves using our own software tools. We analyze and model a client’s current asset structure and determine the potential scenarios whereby these assets and future income streams can help the client toward achieving financial independence and meeting their legacy and distribution objectives. We build the financial plan across risk-management, tax-mitigation, investment, retirement, and legacy parameters and discuss strategic options with the client in all of those areas, and perhaps others that are specific to their situation. We want to take a comprehensive approach to their financial life, and I am always available to clients to discuss any issue that they would like guidance on.

Although I have studied the markets and investing theory for a long time, I would not represent myself as a trained market analyst or technician. We spend our time doing the hard work to shape a sound financial plan and then to build the framework for a client’s asset-allocation model. We strive to identify suitable portfolio allocations and a blend of investments that is in line with a client’s plan objectives, time horizon, and risk profile.

I rely on professional, well-qualified third-party money managers to assist in our selection and management of specific investment strategies. It is very important for our firm to conduct rigorous due diligence in the selection of those managers and then to provide oversight of their efforts on behalf of our clients. I rely on their experience, research, and staff for the actual strategy development, execution, and reporting. That frees me up for what I do best: financial planning, helping clients adopt a sound long-term approach, and building strong relationships.

A core philosophical point I often discuss with clients is whether they believe they are being fairly compensated for the risks they are assuming with their investment approach. When I analyze a new client’s current portfolio and explain that concept, the answer is usually “no.” Our broad objective is to focus on a risk-managed approach to a client’s investment plan that will provide the type of return potential that is in line with their objectives, seeking to eliminate or mitigate unnecessary risk.

My clients truly appreciate that type of approach. They come to understand that seeking to avoid significant portfolio drawdowns and attempting to smooth out portfolio volatility not only helps enhance the probabilities for meeting their long-term investment objectives, but also helps with their comfort level with their investment plan. We saw this recently with the first-quarter 2020 market slide. One of our third-party managers, in particular, was able to mitigate drawdowns for our clients. I believe that type of risk-managed approach provides clients with an enhanced opportunity toward achieving the important long-term objective I spoke of before: achieving financial freedom to do what they truly want to do later in life. I tell clients it really is a long game, and they are planning for a lifetime, not just for now.