Putting Your Own Financial Plan In Place

Financial Advisor Discusses What It Takes To Grow Your Money

by Julia paulus ogilvie

While growing up, Brian Skrobonja embraced the opportunity to learn about what a strong work ethic truly is and where it can take you. His father, who was born and raised in Croatia, had to work hard as a child just to survive. “He modeled a work ethic for me growing up that was unmatched by anyone I know,” says Skrobonja. “He ran a small business, and I watched him connect with people and work beyond what was expected to make sure his clients were taken care of.”

So when Skrobonja was asked at the young age of 20 by his father’s accountant to come into his tax office and offer insurance and investment-related products to clients, he knew he would find success by applying what he learned from his dad to serve those clients. “That is how I was introduced to this industry and where my career began,” he says.

After a year or two in the tax practice, Skrobonja realized that in order to take his career to the next level, he would need to venture out on his own and open his own business. “I reached a point where the experiences I gained offering these products and services to clients made me realize that there was so much more opportunity in this business than what I was doing,” he says. I began to create a vision for how I could build my own practice and serve clients at a much higher level.”

Although Skrobonja began his business, Skrobonja Financial Group, by offering financial products, he quickly shifted to serving the planning needs of his clients. “What I have found to be true is that the public needs education about what to do with their money, not simply be told to buy something,” he says. “Too many financial professionals confuse financial planning with product sales. It is not the same thing.”
In addition, the public needs a plan for money, advocates Skrobonja, not simply a place to invest money. “There are many moving parts to developing a financial plan, and an investment professional is not capable of fully serving the client without assistance from other professionals,” he says. “This led me to create an integrated resource network of estate planners, tax professionals, mortgage specialists, investment advisers and insurance agents to offer a full spectrum of services to my clients for all aspects of their financial life.”

At the end of the day, Skrobonja’s primary focus is to help clients grow their money, protect its purpose and develop a financial plan without gaps or omissions. “These are not complicated ideas,” he says. “It’s just common sense.”

Recently Skrobonja spoke with Small Business Monthly about how business owners and individuals can develop and put their own financial plans into place and why it’s still important for him to see clients succeed in doing so.

Instead of offering your clients advice or selling them products, you begin by helping them find their financial identity. Why is this important to you?

Over the years I have had many clients struggle with what I call their financial identity. They are disoriented by what they hear and see other people doing, and they want to know where they should be for their age and situation. We have all heard the proverbial fish story, where each time the story is told, the fish that was caught gets bigger and bigger. Why does the fish grow bigger every time the story is told? I believe it is to hook you into listening to the story and to make the fisherman out to be better or more skillful than the next person. A 5-pound fish is not that interesting, but a 20-pound fish – well, that is impressive! It is a way to impress and grab attention. It is probably not a big deal when you are listening to a story about a fish, but what if a friend is telling you a fish story about his money? How does that affect how you view your own financial position?

For example, a friend tells you she just paid off her home. How do you interpret that? I contend that you would immediately begin to evaluate her financial situation. Perhaps you know what she does for a living, the size of the home she has, the kind of car she drives, the number of kids she has and so on. You calculate in your mind what her financial picture looks like, comparing it with your own situation. Then you determine that she must know something you don’t because your situations are similar and there is no way you could pay off your home. So how did she manage that? In other words, was the fish really that big, or is the story embellished to impress you?

It is important to point out why I believe they are feeling this way, and it begins with understanding that what you see or hear of someone else doing is not always a true reflection of their financial situation. I advise clients that instead of comparing yourself to someone else’s financial situation, setting goals and planning out your spending each year based on what you have and know to be true will provide you with the best measurement for determining your success.

Comparing yourself to others will likely only lead to a feeling of frustration. Instead, I recommend making money an area of your life managed against your own goals. Work to accomplish what is best for your family, and that will propel you toward contentment.

How do you believe self-discovery helps clients through the financial planning process?

The biggest obstacle to achieving our goals is ourselves. It is that continual conversation we have with our inner self that convinces us that we cannot do something or that it is too difficult. In order for any of us to get to where we want to be, we have to overcome the idea that the next level is too far out of reach or that getting there is too difficult and confusing. To get to the next level financially, we have to adopt new ways of thinking and incorporate new ideas into what we are doing with money.

So, when I visit with a client for the first time, I want to help them identify what they are wanting out of their financial life and assist them with connecting their desires with their actions. It goes back to the goal of growing assets but underscores why understanding the purpose of the money or how it will be used is so critically important.

The reality is that we are all being bombarded each and every day with information from social media, blogs, news articles, friends, family, etc. This information has the ability to draw us into a false sense of needing to do what someone else is doing while in fact it can actually draw us away from what we should be doing. This is why establishing your financial identity and modifying your financial behavior can assist in helping to make smart choices and avoid costly mistakes.

In your experience, how does a person’s beliefs about money guide future behavior?

We have all had experiences in our life (an event or circumstance) that has molded our belief system (how we view things) that drives our behavior (actions and decision-making), which creates our outcome (results in life). Our experiences mold us into who we are, and when there is a decision to be made we draw from those past experiences to arrive at a decision and that decision creates an outcome or result in our life.

People struggle every day with identifying why they are getting the results they are getting or why they are in the position they are in. Think about the last time you asked yourself, “Why am I struggling in my marriage?” “Why am I struggling with my finances?” “Why am I having a difficult time with my relationships?” “Why am I you fill in the blank?” There is always that question of why something is happening with little understanding of how to fix it.

In order to make changes in your life, you have to change your attitude and your belief system for how things are. So, my goal is to help clients understand that everything they have been doing has gotten them to where they are now and if they continue to do the same things, they will continue to get the same results.

In addition to helping people through your firm, you wrote “Common Sense: Your Guide to Making Smart Choices With Your Money.” What was your goal in writing this book?

Awhile back I had a meeting with a couple who were beginning to think about retirement. They shared with me that they had worked their entire life to accumulate the money they had and wanted to take the necessary steps to preserve it for their retirement and for their family after they were gone. During this meeting, questions arose like:

• What do you think of the allocation that my adviser has suggested?
• How much money do I need to retire?
• How do I take the money that I have and begin drawing income for retirement?
• What if I lose money in the market?
• Will I have enough money to retire on?

I have had hundreds of similar conversations over the years, where clients ask dozens of questions about their money, questions which I feel should have been answered by their financial advisers. However, it seems that the only thing being offered by these advisers is confusion.

What I have determined to be true is that most advisers leave their clients insecure about their investment portfolio, unprepared for retirement and disoriented about their options. This is what motivated me to write this book. I want to set the record straight – financial planning is not simply the purchase of a product. It is a mind-set for how to position and use the money you have.

If there is one overarching lesson to take away from it, what would it be?

In order for a person to make the most of the money they have, they should create filters for how they interpret the information they receive. When you hear something, how do you know whether or not you should consider it for yourself? Here are a few things to think about:

• Understand that you only know what you know. There is always more to learn. There are times when we approach something and believe in our hearts that we have it all figured out. We need to open our minds to the chance that we don’t know everything.
• Understand that the decisions you are making with money are influenced by your experiences and marketing. Identify what you believe about money, develop a plan for accomplishing your goals and stay focused. Otherwise you are likely going to be persuaded into buying financial products you don’t need.
• Understand that money in and of itself is only a piece of paper and is meaningless until we define its purpose. Not until we give money a purpose does it have any meaning. You have limited ability to make a smart decision about where to invest your money or how to manage it without knowing how you will ultimately be using it.
• Understand that not all financial advisers are the same. In my book I dedicated an entire chapter outlining what to look for in a financial adviser. Many “financial advisers” are trained to sell products offered by the company they work for.
• Understand that unless you make a change with what you are doing, nothing new can be expected. There is always a next level for all of us.