Truepoint Incorporated 2008 Annual Meeting
Article contributed by Alexandra H. Ollinger
In the midst of significant turmoil in the financial markets, we convened our second annual client meeting at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Nearly 250 clients and guests attended and heard a brief recap of our firm’s progress, achievements and strategic plans. For obvious reasons, the program focused on the current state of the market, Truepoint’s analysis of the situation and the safety of our clients’ assets. Jason Zweig (download pdf link of his presentation here), our guest speaker and the personal finance columnist at The Wall Street Journal, provided interesting insight into the psychological impact of the crisis in banking and financial industry, and strategies for staying level-headed with a long-term outlook.
Given the annual meeting’s investment landscape focus, we wanted to take the opportunity in this communication to share more information on a few of Truepoint’s major initiatives and structural changes, as well as recent awards and recognition we have received. We hope you find it a useful reminder that Truepoint is built for the long term and committed to the successful management and protection of our clients’ wealth.
Truepoint Structure
For all clients, Truepoint’s goal is to deliver the highest levels of service and investment strategies aligned to our clients’ goals. Each of our three primary service offerings is targeted to meet the differing needs of our clients:
- Truepoint Capital: Through our flagship wealth management offering we have helped clients manage their financial plans through a dedicated team of skilled specialists from six specific disciplines since 1990. The depth and breath of the Truepoint Capital team allows us to provide clients with real-time, integrated solutions. The focus is planning, taxes and trusts.
- Truepath Financial: Launched in January of 2008, Truepath provides financial guidance and investment management to clients seeking a more focused service solution. This level of service has been ideal for clients who are in the early stages of wealth accumulation, as well as for retirees seeking a steady retirement income stream.
- Truepoint Family Office: We are preparing to formally introduce our newest service offering which addresses the need to help prosperous families connect their core values to their financial objectives. Engaging families at this level of service provides us the opportunity to help address the unique needs and challenges of families trying to sustain wealth across multiple generations.
Client Input and Satisfaction
Our last round of client dialogue surveys indicated an overall satisfaction level of 99% and our referability index remained at 100%. However your input on where we could improve has also been heard. In response to what you’ve told us, we continue to refine our offerings. Among the areas where client input has led to recent improvements:
- Statements and reports: We have streamlined our reporting capabilities to increase the relevance of information, resulting in 7% improvements in client satisfaction rates since 2005.
- Website functionality: We enhanced our public website to better describe who we are and launched a secure client website to better serve you. These efforts led to a 10% increase in client satisfaction scores in the last three years.
- Frequency of contact: After several years of incremental improvements, this continues to be a high-priority area heading into 2009. Our goals, clarified by client input, center on proactive communication; increased specific face-to-face meetings and telephone calls to stay on track with your plans. We are also introducing in the coming weeks, a new online communication tool via an “investment journal” to provide current perspectives and knowledge on a wide range of investment topics.
Awards and Recognition
A Top Advisor & Employer of Choice
Truepoint continues to be recognized by both the national and local press as one of the leading independent wealth management firms. Among our 2008 accolades are:
- Worth: The Nation’s Top 250 Wealth Advisors
- Barron’s: Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors
- Medical Economics: Top 150 Recommended Financial Advisors for Physicians
- Cincinnati Magazine: Best Wealth Managers in Client Satisfaction
- Cincinnati Business Courier: Finalist Best Places to Work 2008
These service awards are gratifying for us in that they relate directly to client service, which remains our top priority. And being one of Cincinnati’s preferred employers has allowed us to attract five new employees in the past twelve months, making it possible for us to continue to expand and personalize the integrated services we offer our clients. We are also pleased to announce Tom Bentley as the newest equity participant at Truepoint. He joins John Evans, Janel Carroll, Steve Condon and founder Michael Chasnoff as owners of the firm.
These honors serve as nice moments of recognition for our team here, but especially since they are a direct outgrowth of our core mission – to deliver client service and investment excellence by remaining independent and fee-only. As we move toward 2009 you can be sure that’s where Truepoint’s focus will remain.
These annual meetings are invaluable to us as opportunities to interact directly with our clients and to hear their questions and concerns firsthand. If you didn’t attend this year, we hope to see you next year. You can find more about our perspective in our presentation (download pdf link of Steve’s presentation here) or in the coming months on our soon to be released investment forum.
To discuss any of the above information or to make an appointment or complimentary consultation, please contact Sharon Arnold at (513) 792-3360 or
s.arnold@truepathfinancial.com
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Truepath Financial is a fee-only independent investment management firm based in Cincinnati. Our financial advisers provide sound financial guidance and portfolio management for individuals and families.
We take great care to thoroughly research the information provided in our Topics to ensure accuracy. However, these columns provide general commentary and are not intended to provide specific tax, legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Readers are advised to seek qualified professional advice on these issues for their specific circumstances. Truepoint Inc. shall not have any liability with for any damages alleged to be caused, directly or indirectly, by the information contained in our Topics. Additionally, none of the material included on our website constitutes a tax opinion and is not intended to be used, and cannot be used, for the purposes of avoiding any tax penalties imposed by the IRS.
