Hello to our wonderful clients! We hope 2023 was a wonderful year for you, and that you’re getting a bit of time off to recharge for 2024.
It’s become a bit of a tradition to send a year end update, so without taking too much of your time, I’d like to share a few reflections and updates with you.
2023 Recap:
Cyndi and I had the pleasure of working with 27 new clients this year, most of whom were referrals from you, our clients. It is difficult to put into words how grateful we are that you trust us with your people - there is truly no higher compliment and we are incredibly thankful. We promise to continue taking excellent care of the people you send our way, and as we’ve said before, we will go on a new-client waitlist as needed to protect your client experience, the experience of our new clients, and our commitment to a healthy work/life balance for ourselves. We currently have capacity for 20 new clients in 2024, with 4 spots already spoken for, and 16 still available.
We established our firm’s core values this year which felt REALLY good to get on paper. These are the things that drive us, and naming them and committing to them explicitly felt really empowering.
I decided in the spring to transition out of my role as Head of Financial Advice at Monarch Money and focus all of my attention on the planning practice. Monarch asked me to stay on as a company advisor which has been great, but the ability to stop splitting focus has been a game changer, not only for the practice, but for me personally. My health has turned a much needed corner, and I am absolutely elated to be in a healthier place and continuing to head in the right direction.
We had excellent feedback and uptake on the offerings we added in 2023 including our direct indexing asset management solution, Monarch Money access, tax return reviews, and tax projections, and we’ll continue to offer these services in 2024.
2024 Updates:
As I might have shared with you, we’ll be adding another person to our team to facilitate our continued growth and ensure that we continue to take excellent care of our clients. I had someone in mind who was supposed to start Jan 8th, but when she notified her current employer that she was leaving, they made her an offer she couldn’t refuse, so TBD on our next team member.
I am FINALLY, after several years in business, branding the planning practice. Our new name is… The Goodland Group! “The Goodland” is the nickname of my town, but more than that, it evokes the good life - finding contentment and balance and joy. You’ll see some fresh colors and branding in your deliverables soon, and we'll be in touch when our new email addresses are ready to go live.
We are trying out a bit of a new calendaring approach for client meetings this year. Given that clients tend to travel over the summer, we won’t be scheduling client meetings from the end of June through mid-August. We’ll be focusing internally on some larger projects and continuing education over the summer, but we’re absolutely still here if you need us and we’re happy to meet if something comes up for you.
Personal Update:
On a personal note, Wally (9) continues to play ALL THE SPORTS. And he continues to move through life as if it’s a tackle sport! My husband, Ryan, and I got the chance to coach Wally in little league baseball together this fall which was a true highlight for us. Charlie (11) is directing his superpower of hyperfocus towards music these days, teaching himself guitar, piano and ukulele simultaneously. Ryan is happy in his role as CCO of a small B2B music tech company, Super HiFi.
Well that is quite enough about us for this year!
Cyndi and I hope that you have a WONDERFUL start to the year, and we’re excited to work with you in 2024!
Best,
Natalie & Cyndi