Collins Financial Advisors

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We were concerned about our ability to meet the college funding needs of our three children while saving for retirement so I found Collins Financial Advisors on Angie's List and set up a meeting. I am very wary of tied agencies and slick insurance agents who are trying to sell you their products so the independence of this company was very important to me. Before we got to the meeting Neil asked me to do some serious pre-work to review all of our financial holdings and contracts so when we went through the door we were ready to get down to business. Neil and Bob both have a huge amount of experience and are very pragmatic in their approach. They took a very thorough holistic approach and gave us some terrific advice to take advantage of tax savings while using that money towards our savings. They also were extremely patient and systematic and we never felt rushed. We met with them many times over a four month period with multiple phone and email contacts. Now I feel that we are on track with a detailed Financial Plan and know what we have to do in terms of savings and investments even in the worst market conditions. I highly recommend Neil & Bob to anyone who is looking for knowledge, experience and a long term perspective.

I found an ad for Collins in the local paper and heard that people liked his work; he lives in the area. Neil Collins is a CFP so I was able to review his credentials on-line. They are fee-only. We met with Neil and was impressed with samples of the analysis and reports that he and his small staff do. He gave us a copy of his ADV registration. We liked his attitude and approach. We filled out a very detailed questionaire and discussed with him what we wanted. He prepared a written plan and agreement. It took a few weeks but the report they prepared was impressive and exceeded our expectations. They answered all of our questions and provided a plan to accomplish what we wanted with some alternative investments to what TRP had recommended. (But they still stayed within our risk range.) We did our own investment changes. As it turned out, their recommendations performed better in this current downturn than TRP's. I will probably revisit our situation with Collins in a year or two.