The Weakonomist from Weakonomics tagged me for some meme action.  What we’ve got here is a case of 7 things you don’t know about Jeff Rose.  I’ve seen a few other bloggers take part in this and I’ve almost done it a few times, but never pulled the trigger.  Well, now that I got tagged, I guess I have to fulfill my obligation

7 Things You Didn’t Know About Me” Meme Rules

1. Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.

2. Share seven facts about yourself in the post.

3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they’ve been tagged.

Here are my 7:

1. I played Tenor Saxophone up until 8th grade and pretty well, if I say so myself.   Now, I couldn’t tell you the difference between between B flat or A (are those even notes?)
2. While attending college in California I would also do “extra” work part time.  You know when you’re watching a TV show or movie and you see the “extras” in the background?  That was me.  Most notable shows include: Beverly Hills 90210, Boy Meets World, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Sabrina The Teenage Witch.  Even met Robin Williams on a movie set and we did the “Nanu Nanu” thing (From Mork and Mindy for all the young ones out there)
3. I am a die hard St. Louis Cardinals fan, but would root for the Cubs if they made it to the World Series.  I know, I know.  You’re thinking what I’m thinking.  The Cubs will never make it to the World Series.  cough*Go Cards!*cough
4. I first saw my wife when she was in high school and I was a freshman in college at a  local gym we used to work out at.  She used to wear tube socks to work out in and my friends and I referred to her as “high sock girl”.   It still think it’s cute
5. My first name is Jan (rhymes with Dan).  Yes, I know.  It was a name that my grandmother liked and my parents bought into it.  My dad’s first name was Ferrell (he went by his middle name, too).  I was very conscious about giving my son a first name that he could actually use.   Do you blame me?
6. My favorite place to eat in the world is In-N-Out Burger.   Unfortunately, their only on the west coast.  Luckily, my mom is retired living in Las Vegas.  When I visit her, guess where my first stop is when we leave the airport?
7. When watching TV I can’t watch two things:  confrontation and something scary.   I always have to cover my face when either one is on.   Whenever Jason was breaking up with Melissa on the Bachelor I had to look away.  My wife gives me all sorts of crap for it.  That’s why I love her.

I’m tagging:

• Think Your Way To Wealth
• Four Pillars
• Ms Career Girl
• Studenomics
• Free From Broke
• Babeled
• House of Rose

This week’s carnivals:

• Learn The Basics of Investing – Edition #197 of Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted at Four Pillars.
• Carnival of Twenty Something Finances – Mustache Edition! was hosted at Pimp Your Finances.
• Festival of Frugality #170 – Frugal Living is Timeless was hosted at Money Ning.
• Personal Finance Blog Articles this Week was held at The Skilled Investor.

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC

Over the weekend, I had mentioned that I had an announcement.  For those that are still in suspense, drum roll please…….

Good Financial Cents is now the featured “Money Blog” of The Southern.Com, The Southern Illinoisan is our regional newspaper that provides coverage for, you guessed it, Southern Illinois. According to the online editor, the site gets over 2 million hits a day.  Hopefully, some of those visitors will find their way to my blog.

Check out the link on the site.

Happy New Years to Everybody!  Looking forward to a great 2009!

by blacksky200

Today is the big day for Alliance Investment Planning Group to move into our new building.  Yeah!  We’ve been anticipating this move for several months now, so we’re very excited for the big day to actually arrive.  Looks like mother nature is going to be nice to us and give us some sun just chilly weather (high of 36 degrees).  I’ll take it considering the single digit weather we had last week.

Special Gratitude

Special thanks to Jonathon and the boys at Reppert Publishing for helping us move our furniture today.  Don’t know what we would do without you.

Same Phone

To all that are curious we will still have the same phone number in place as we had at our own office.  Our new address is as follows:

115 S. Washington

Carbondale, IL  62901

It that’s not good enough, here are some directions compliments of Google Maps:

View Larger Map

Have a Happy New Year!

Ready, Set, Go!

Whenever I first talk to somebody that is interested in utilizing my services, I often get recurring questions into how the whole process works.  Some of the most common questions are, “How much is this going to cost?”  or “What can you do for me?”  For those that have never sat down with a financial planner before, I wanted to share an example of how a first meeting might go.

First Financial Planning Meeting

First and foremost, I do not charge anything to meet with somebody for the first time.  The first meeting is solely an interview for both parties.   I’m interviewing you to see if you are a right candidate for my financial planning process.  You are also interviewing me to see if I’m the right man for the job.  A casual sit down face to face meeting will help both of us answer this question.

Information To Bring

Typically, I will talk to the potential client and instruct them on the type of materials that they would need to get together for our first meeting.  This would include:

It never hurts to have too much information.  If feasible, I like to meet in my office, but a house visit is nothing out of the ordinary.  Actually, sometimes it’s nice to go to the home so that all the paperwork is already there and easily pulled from a file if it was initially forgotten.

Let’s Talk

The first part of the meeting is getting to know each other.  Kind of like an informal interview process to see if there is anything that I can bring to the table to better their situation.  It also works the other way in that they are interviewing me to make sure that I am the right guy to help out with their investments.  Hopefully, I make a good impression.    One of my best qualities is that I’m a naturally curious person.  I always like to find out what’s  “their story”.  Where did they come from?  Where have they worked? What do they do for fun?  What’s the best place they ever visited?  What was their first job?  It’s always interesting to find out what got that person to where they are today.

Down To Business

Then we’ll discuss their investment situation.  What’s working for them now?  Any investments that didn’t work out in the past? What do they like or dislike about their current situation? Have they ever worked with a financial planner in the past? This will ultimately lead into a discussion of what they need their investments to do for them: Fund their retirement goals. Buy a vacation home.  Pay for their daughter’s college, etc.

Crunching The Numbers

I will then take their investment information and head back to the office where I will input it into a tool to where I can analyze their portfolio to make sure they are maximizing their full potential.  Often times, people are not diversified enough or some of their current investments are lacking in performance. We will then schedule a second meeting to go over my recommendations to see where we might be able make some adjustments to put them in a better situation.

Overall, the first meeting is the most fun because I enjoy to meet new people.  I could listen for hours of people telling me all their life experiences.  That’s what makes starting the financial planning process such unique and enjoyable experience.

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC

Well, you knew that the day would come.  Since the first day that I started blogging, I have tried and tried to convince my wife that this would be something that she would be totally in to.  Of course, any time I suggest something it’s completely absurd and ridiculous (Any other husbands out there empathize?).  So I’ve been blogging for little over a month now and now who jumps on board……..the wife.  Not only has she jumped on board,  she’s blogging more often than me and I have to wait in line to the computer to get my chance.  I’m glad she enjoys it and that we have found another thing that we can do together.  Don’t tell her I said this, but she’s actually pretty good at it. Without further ado, welcome to blogging world…….my wife.

Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC

In this day and age, professionals are laden with the alphabet after their names.  My industry is no exception.  When I started my career with my previous firm, we immediately acquired the AAMS (Accredited Asset Managment Specialist) Designation.  While serving in Iraq, in my downtime I studied for the CRPC (CharteredRetirement Planning Consultant).  These are just two of several designations that I could attain if I had the time and patience to study for them.  But despite the two I had, and several I could get: the coveted marks I knew I had to have was the mark of the CFP®.

What Makes a CFP® Different?

From my perspective, the CFP® was the mark of a serious financial planner.  With countless financial consultants at other investment firms, inusrance agents offering investments and banks now having in house brokerages, I knew I needed to differentiate myself.  Many people I know are not familiar with the CFP® mark, so I wanted to share what I had to go through to get it.

Financial professionals who have earned the right to use the CFP® mark have met the following requirements:

Education: There are three ways to meet the CFP® certification education requirement:

1. Completing an education program at a college or university whose curriculum is registered with the CFP Board; or
2. Submitting a transcript of previous financial planning-related course work to the CFP Board for review and credit; or
   Showing the attainment of certain professional designations or academic degrees.
3. Examination: Individuals must pass a rigorous two-day, 10-hour CFP® Certification Examination administered by the CFP Board that covers the financial planning process and includes such topics as tax planning, employee benefits and retirement planning, estate planning, investment management and insurance.

Experience: Candidates for CFP® certification must prove they have experience in the financial planning process before being authorized to use the CFP marks.
Ethics: As a final step to certification, CFP® practitioners agree to abide by a strict code of professional conduct, known as CFP® Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility, that sets forth their ethical responsibilities to the public, clients and employers. CFP® Board also performs a background check during this process, and each individual must disclose any investigations or legal proceedings related to their professional or business conduct. Candidates must also adhere to the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility and Financial Planning Practice Standards.