Client Testimonials | Ideal Life Experience ltd.

CLIENTS

We signed up and said “good-bye” to confusion and hassle; “so long” to mysterious high fees; and “good riddance” to deflection and misdirection.

IS THERE REALLY A FINANCIAL ADVISOR WHO REALLY HAS YOUR BACK?
-BRENT & CHERYL

Mediocracy and complacency are the best words to describe the wealth management services we experienced from the name brand companies and their advisors. When my questions were deflected or the answers offered left me even more confused, I was motivated to take a serious look into the conduct of the Financial Services industry. That’s how we crossed paths with Ideal Life Experiences Ltd. If you, too, are serious about what’s best for your financial future and frustrated with convoluted answers to your tough questions, you might be interested in our story.

Having a good education and extensive business experience, I considered myself a pretty good steward of our resources. I thought I knew what was needed to grow and protect our family’s finances. I thought I understood the risks and rewards of the markets. But through our investigation, we quickly learned there was much more to getting it right than stock-picking “street cred”, or getting in on the latest investment products from the “gurus”. We’d become complacent in detecting another risk: that being the selective disclosure, misdirection, and sophisticated manipulations deployed by the large banks, insurers and financial/wealth management companies who are supposed to be the prudent choice of the discerning investor.

After peeling back the layers, we were very surprised to discover what was really happening behind the scenes. It was exasperating to tabulate the real cost of service. It was discouraging to discover we could not rely on their answers to our questions. And it was disappointing to conclude they did not really care about effectiveness, performance or accountability at the end of day. Our trust in these “reputable” companies and their agent’s was being misplaced.

Going forward we didn’t want to keep having to dissect the real motives behind each recommendation, keep trying to reconcile confusing fee and performance reports. And we didn’t want to be going back and forth between banks, advisors, accountants, insurers and lawyers trying to keep everyone honest and pulling in the same direction. We wanted to sleep at night knowing our interests were front and center with every decision; not simply a target for somebody’s sales ledger.

Maybe we should just do it all ourselves? But in considering the education and expertise required to keep our financial house in order and growing, we wondered whether it was practical to go it alone at this point in our lives. Would we come to know everything required to stay ahead of the game with estate planning, tax planning, investment strategies, cost management and risk? Could we get to the level of sophistication that the truly reputable professionals attain after dedicating years to their area of expertise? Not without huge effort and considerable cost.

“We signed up and said “good-bye” to confusion and hassle; “so long” to mysterious high fees; and “good riddance” to deflection and misdirection”

If we couldn’t trust the brand names, and if it was too onerous to develop my own in-depth expertise, the next option was to find a new program. But how could we find something comprehensive and effective; something managed by an expert guide we could trust? Do we simply make an appointment with a new advisor at another big company and hope for something better? How do we ensure we don’t end up in the same state of malaise? We needed to try something different. That’s when we thought to tender our business. Surely a bidding approach could bring some real competition to the table and smoke out the best advisors and suite of services to effectively address the real issues. So, we invited one leading company from each of the banking sector, the insurance industry and the investment firms to assess our current situation and offer a wealth management program we could rely on going forward.

In reviewing each of their proposals, it quickly became apparent there was no real competition between these three leading wealth management players. Nothing more was being offered than what we’d previously experienced. There were no competitive differentiators. Furthermore, there was no way to identify the true fee structure; no way to properly vet investment choices; no way to track real costs and performance; and certainly no means to align all the necessary and best components of a secure financial structure. It was the same old spin in a fresh wrapper; the same “prescription before diagnosis” approach to financial planning; the same tactical approach to investing; the same vague fee structures tied to asset values and the same silo’ed services based on in-house, tied-product sales.

To ensure I wouldn’t be misled further, I began looking for an expert to help us audit our current status and then help us choose a better package from the right provider. In our search for a helping hand, we came upon Dean Kendall’s vast expertise and Ideal Life Experiences Ltd.’s comprehensive and unique approach. Of those we considered to help guide us through this exercise, nobody else zeroed in on the real issues like Dean. Dean talked about fees and transparency when we told him we could not get straight answers around what was being charged versus what was conveyed to us at the time of purchase. He talked about reporting and performance criteria when we told him about all the deflections when trying to compare the recommended funds against relevant bench marks. He talked about suitability and allocation when reviewing diversification amongst the varied investments we had been directed towards. He talked about fiduciary responsibilities when we could not reconcile industry conduct against what we expected from a financial/wealth advisor and with what the regulations stipulated. Lastly, he talked about values and strategy when we told him we could not connect the dots between what our tax accountant was telling us, what our bank was telling us, what our insurance provider was telling us, what our investment advisor was telling us and what our estate planner was telling us; and how difficult it was to align all this activity with what we really wanted to accomplish in our lives.

"We’d found a clear path to effective financial management and are finally taking in the scenery along the journey."

It was obvious Dean and his agents had contrived a truly unique approach; one that not only made a tremendous amount of sense, but more importantly, made sense from the client’s perspective. We wanted to hear more and made an appointment to unpack the option of Ideal Life Experience Ltd becoming our family’s CFO. Here we learned about the notion of a single integrated approach using values based planning; something labelled The Financial Road Map. We learned the difference between wealth management as the industry would sell it, versus a Truly Comprehensive Financial Services program. We explored strategic approaches in aligning our values and our finances with our goals in life. And, we scoped out what it meant to provide service were fiduciary conduct actually protected the client’s interests, not the bank’s.

Once schooled in the merits of this revolutionary program, I then dug into the details. Our fee would be a flat annual charge, all-inclusive with full disclosure and significantly less than the percentage based formulae we’d just re-negotiated with our current provider. The service package would align all the tax, insurance, investment/brokerage, legal/estate and money management strategies necessary for a comprehensive life-time plan; even incorporating aspects of our small, private company. Reports would be concise and transparent, with quarterly progress reviews. Tactical experts would be brought in to execute plans; with their credentials and expertise having been pre-vetted by Ideal Life.

Lastly, I reviewed Dean’s credentials against the top names in the industry, I cross–checked all the references in his book Stop Paying Hidden Investment Fees, and I had our lawyers look everything over. What a pleasant surprise to get their seal of approval on all aspects of the program...and to hear that the Financial Legal expert of our Law firm had actually studied with Dean and could vouch for his integrity. We signed up and said “good-bye” to confusion and hassle; “so long” to mysterious high fees; and “good riddance” to deflection and misdirection. We’d found a clear path to effective financial management and are finally taking in the scenery along the journey. And, best of all, our kids will be able to avoid all the industry rhetoric that we went through.