In today’s increasingly complex financial world, some advisors are embracing the greater role of acting as a family’s chief financial officer rather than just being the person they go to for number crunching.

That is how Mike and Ryan O’Donnell, wealth managers and founding partners of The O’Donnell Group based in Chico, Calif., prefer to conduct their professional relationship with the firm’s clients.

“Clients want to work with us because of our ability to serve as their personal CFO,” O’Donnell explained. “It is our ability to really understand what is important to them, and them wanting to rely on someone who can provide them with the advice they need, who will also work with the other professionals they engage, to make sure that no stone is left unturned in protecting their assets and ensuring their financial futures. That is what retains our clients.”

The high level of client understanding O’Donnell refers to results from the firm’s systematic client orientation process in which five key areas of the client’s financial life are thoroughly discussed through a series of questions. Those areas are:

•    Investment planning
•    Tax mitigation
•    Wealth transfer
•    Wealth protection
•    Charitable giving

“We know that clients may not want to look into or address each of those five areas at that point, but we ask them a series of questions because we want to get to know the clients and get to the how or why they make decisions so we can begin to figure out what in those five areas they should be focusing on,” O’Donnell said. “Those five areas are critically important to long term success.”

If this seems methodical and potentially a bit slower than the way other advisors conduct business, then that is just fine with O’Donnell. He prefers clients to carefully weigh their options.

In his latest book, “Thinking Slow When Life’s Changing Fast,” O’Donnell encourages readers who may be in the midst of major financial changes – such as the sale of a business or a large chunk of real estate or the receipt of an inheritance from the death of a spouse – to slow down their decision-making process.

“What we found in each of these scenarios are common threads or themes that transpire in which there is a lot of money at stake and emotions are moving fast. People tend to make really, really bad decisions in those circumstances,” he said. “This is the time to be extra thoughtful and to realize that there is no rush to jump into anything.”

Unlike many other advisors, the O’Donnell Group, who are fiduciary-bound Registered Investment Advisors, prominently post their fees on the firm’s website. They believe hidden fees and lack of transparency is harmful to their industry and its clients.

“I think that for many advisors, the reason they are not as transparent as they should be is that then they would have to justify the value they provide a client for the fees they are charging,” O’Donnell said. “We are completely transparent about our fees because we are confident that we add value for the fees we are charging.”

Learn more about The O’Donnell Group online at: www.chicowealth.com