Randy Thurman, CFP®, CPA/PFS, co-president and CFO of Retirement Investment Advisors, Inc., uses a customized approach to retirement planning that he says helps to weather unpredictable markets. “Some people would call our approach boring – and we certainly won’t be hitting any home runs – but we look for long-term relationships and not transaction-based business,” Thurman said. “We want to help our clients over their lifetimes.”

One key to maintaining those long-term relationships is to, first of all, get on the same page. “In an initial consultation with a client, it’s very important to have realistic expectations. We want our clients to share our investment philosophy so that we both can agree and move forward,” he said. “It’s important to stick to the game plan.”

Thurman’s approach includes monthly newsletters, digital market commentaries and quarterly review meetings that take place in person, in addition to checklists assessing asset allocation, re-balancing and particular product performance, so that his clients are satisfied with the job he’s doing. “We send out annual surveys to our clients and we have nearly a 70 percent response rate, which illustrates how important the job of an advisor is,” he said.   

The long-term goal is for Thurman to celebrate client successes, like a child graduating from college debt-free. “Seeing the children of clients go to college, graduate and have zero debt because of the plans we put into motion over 20 years ago, is very cool,” he said, adding that “in a lot of those situations they wouldn’t have even been able to attend college.”

Careful planning and ongoing communication is a plan that Thurman believes can withstand volatile markets. “This will be my 30th year as a financial advisor. Every year, the forecasts predict volatile markets,” Thurman said. “If a planner has a well-diversified portfolio and a solid game plan, the disasters will come and go and the disciplined advisors will still be in business helping clients become financially independent.”

Learn more about Retirement Investment Advisors, Inc., online at www.theretirementpath.com