About

Approach Financial Planning is an independent financial planning practice in Montrose, CO. Clients are primarily located in the on Colorado’s Front Range, and in several other states. Local meetings are available in the Uncompahgre Valley, but I’m always happy to work remotely.

Can I Trust This Guy?

Financial matters demand guidance from a skilled and caring professional. To minimize conflicts of interest, I am a fee-only fiduciary and I do not accept commissions.

Whether you’re setting up a plan for your business or saving for a goal, I want you to feel confident that you’re in good hands. I don’t know everything about everything, and I rarely wear a suit, but I have been doing this for a long time, and the same clients have been working with me for over 10 years.

Justin Pritchard, CFP®, MBA, PPC®: I hold the following industry designations:

• Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®), which requires extensive training, testing, and industry experience, as well as ongoing continuing education and ethics requirements. I took the exam back when it was on paper (over two grueling days), and roughly 51 percent of test-takers passed that year.
• Professional Plan Consultant (PPC®), for individuals committed to serving employer-sponsored retirement plans and promoting successful participant outcomes.

I have worked as the in-house financial advisor at community credit unions on the Front Range, and I’ve been “the 401k guy” helping employees use their workplace retirement plans. I’ve conducted countless group presentations, webinars, and one-on-one meetings, all of which have led to long-lasting relationships with clients.

About: Justin was born and raised in Denver, CO, and he attended college at the University of Colorado at Boulder. After college, he enjoyed a few years as a ski bum in Crested Butte, CO. He first entered the financial services industry in 1999, working for Charles Schwab & Co. He then completed graduate school at the University of Colorado at Denver and joined a full-service financial advisory practice shortly after. Justin Pritchard became a CFP® practitioner in 2010.

How We Work Together

Whether you want help with a business or your individual finances, we start with an informal discussion, typically at no cost. This is primarily for you to describe the topics you’d like help with. If I’m a good fit for your needs, I provide an overview of what I propose for your situation, and I tell you how much I will charge and how you pay. From there, it’s up to you.

I do not receive commissions, so you do not need to transfer assets in order to work with me. However, I can (and often do) handle investments. Billing falls into two general categories:

1. Hourly or flat fees: That option may be appealing if you:

• Only want financial planning advice, or you just have questions on a handful of topics
• Want to handle everything on your own after speaking with a professional
• Have assets that are unavailable or cost-prohibitive to move
• Want to get to know me better and prefer not to transfer accounts

2. Assets under management (AUM): This option allows you to hand off investment tasks:

• Determining appropriate investment strategies to help you work toward your goals
• Ongoing investment management
• Assistance with opening and managing accounts, typically with e-Signatures and electronic documents (unless your current providers don’t allow that)

At the beginning of a relationship, we typically meet or talk several times per month or quarter to get everything set up. Depending on the relationship, we might continue quarterly meetings indefinitely. Most investment clients only want annual reviews, with the ability to call me as-needed with questions or issues that arise in their lives (yes, you can do that).

How Fancy Is Your Office?

For the past 15 years or so, I’ve primarily worked at home, and I go to Proximity for a few hours for a change of scenery and the community. I’ve found that most people want to meet in person once or twice — but we can certainly do more than that.

Perhaps most importantly, I run a digital practice that uses technology to minimize clutter, protect client information, and work with remote clients (and local clients who don’t want to find parking):

• All documents are stored in encrypted storage, and any sensitive file transfers go through a secure vault or password-protected encryption.
• Any paper documents go to a dedicated mailbox for the business (not my home or Proximity). I scan and shred documents upon receipt.
• In-person meetings take place in private rooms or other offices in town.
• Virtual meetings use end-to-end encryption to protect your information.