Membership FAQS

The Garrett Planning Network offers a turn-key solution to get your practice up and running. Depending on the degree of your financial planning experience and the length of time it takes you to register with your state, it is possible to begin seeing clients within about 3 months of becoming a Garrett member.

Again, this depends on your financial planning experience. It also depends on your ability to glean from our marketing coaching, practice management support and utilization of all resources the Garrett Planning Network has to offer. Like any new business your 1st and 2nd years will be the toughest. We have found that most of our members are at or near capacity in their 4th or 5th years.

There are many variables involved but new planners should expect to spend from $5,000 to $15,000 (approximately 65% of our current members spent less than $15,000) in addition to the Garrett initial enrollment fee. A more detailed budget can be obtained through Garrett’s Director of Operations, Justin Nichols, at Justin@GarrettPlanning.com.

Most Garrett members pay for some type of office space. Quite a number of Garrett members do their “behind the scenes” work from home, but meet clients in an alternate office setting. For example, office sharing arrangements and leasing executive suites by the hour are becoming more popular within our membership. However, there are many Garrett members who work from their home and also see clients in their home.

Effective January 1, 2007, the Garrett Planning Network formally instituted a policy requiring all new applicants to have or obtain their CFP® certification within five years of opening their business. Alternatively, a licensed CPA, they may satisfy this requirement with the Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) credential. CFP® and CPA/PFS are the only two financial planning credentials that satisfy this requirement.

Due to the fact that Garrett advisors do not accept any commissions, these licenses to sell will be unnecessary. Depending on your certification(s) and the state(s) you will be practicing in, you may need to take and pass the Series 65 exam.

Garrett headquarters does not impose any restrictions like this. You would most likely be registered only in your home state initially and you would have to operate within the de minimus rules set forth by other states. Each state has its own de minimus rules which detail how many of its residents you can work with before you have to register with the state. A handful of states require that you register with the state to work with even one of its residents.

This depends on your client’s preference and your preference. If your client is willing to pay your hourly rate for you to help them implement your financial planning recommendations, then you may certainly do so. If your client wishes to utilize your specific advice and recommendations to implement these things on their own (e.g. make investment trades, obtain appropriate insurance coverage, contact an estate planning attorney, etc.), they may do that as well.

If you feel that you are the best fit for the majority of a client’s needs, by all means work with them and utilize the talent and knowledge of the Network to get specific coaching and direction in the specific area of question. Our private intranet community and discussion boards will help you through those other areas of financial planning. In other words, “You may be self-employed, but you are not alone.” If you feel as though a particular client’s needs are outside your expertise, you should always inform the prospective client of this. In the future you may feel competent in handling more complex cases.

The Garrett model will certainly help you understand why Fee-Only, hourly advice is a great solution for the client and we will teach you how to effectively communicate this message to your prospective clients. The Garrett Planning Network will coach you on several specific methods to enable you to market yourself properly through the Network so clients come to you.

Yes. When a planner chooses to open their own Fee-Only, hourly practice, the calendar tends to dictate their schedule. We have had a good number of Garrett members either begin part-time or continue part-time for various life/work/family reasons.