News & Media

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We don't do it for the recognition....but it's nice!

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 Our unique professional staff continues to be sought after speakers, contributors to the media, and community leaders. More news may be found in the In The News and Awards and Recognition sections of our website.

  • The Center was recognized among Michigan’s top 25 largest money managers in Crain's Detroit Business.
  • Melissa Joy has twice received national recognition as one of eight people picked by Financial Advisor and Private Wealth magazines for their Research Manager All-Star Team.** She was most recently featured in an article titled "The All Star Game" in the October 2012 issue of Financial Advisor Magazine.
  • The Center was recognized for the 5th consecutive year by the American Heart Association as a Fit-Friendly Worksite. 
  • The Center was recognized by Research Magazine as  “A Cool Place to Work”
  • In October, The Center was recognized as a finalist by Crain’s Detroit Business as one of Michigan’s Healthiest Employers.  
  • Center team members Sandra Adams CFP®, Matthew Chope CFP® and Timothy Wyman CFP®, JD received recognition by Five Star Professional in the June 2012 issue of Hour Detroit magazine. They were named to the 2012 Five Star Wealth Managers list, a select group of wealth managers in the Detroit area.
  • Team members contribute regularly to both the local and national media including; Forbes, The Detroit News, WDIV, Investment New, and The Wall Street Journal.

* Recognition based on assets under management

** Award was based on job function of the person evaluated, fund selections and evaluation process used, study of rejected fund examples, and evaluation of challenges faced in the job and actions taken to overcome those challenges. Evaluations were independently conducted by Financial Advisor Magazine.

*** Based on advisor being credentialed as an investment advisory representative (IAR), a FINRA registered representative, a CPA or a licensed attorney, including education and professional designations, actively employed in the industry for five years, favorable regulatory and complaint history review, fulfuillment of firm review based on internal firm standards, accepting new clietns, one and five year client retention rates, non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered, number of client households served.

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The Center's Celebrated for Being "A Cool Place to Work"

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 Melissa Joy, CFP® shares her insights about The Center’s approach to creating a culture and workplace environment that is energizing and rewarding for all team members.   Below is an excerpt from the article titled  A Cool Place to Work by Ellen Uzelac.

Creating a Culture

With $685 million in assets under management and 20 firm “members,” as they are called, Center for Financial Planning in Southfield, Mich. considers itself a “one-firm firm” that treats employees like they are employees of a business and not employees of an individual advisor.

There is a flex-time policy, financial support for the pursuit of new credentials and learning opportunities, an incentive compensation formula and structured career paths for all positions.

“We want to service our employees the same way we want to service our clients. After all, they have as much or more contact with clients as we do,” says Melissa Joy, a partner and director of investments for the 27-year-old firm. “I really think if you are going to be a modern firm, it’s critical to put yourselves in the shoes of an employee.”

It’s a culture that is anything but static. This past April, for example, every employee was involved in a half-day retreat involving the firm’s vision for 2020. “What better way to have buy-in than to get it from the get-go?” observes Joy.

Center for Financial Planning also launched an employee satisfaction survey that resulted last year in enhancements to its benefits package. Among them: formalized bereavement time; time off for community involvement; the opportunity to take a sabbatical after seven years of service; and increased time off for life balance concerns and professional growth.

“One of the ways that we like to think about it is we like employees that have intellectual curiosity. We’re in an entrepreneurial business. Intellectual curiosity isn’t something that starts when you are a principal,” Joy says. “We want to encourage and reward innovation. We want to grow our leaders from within.”   Joy is an example of that. She started out as a client service assistant 13 years ago. Today, she’s an owner.

“We have a lot of friends in the business and lot of people talk about their successes as an employer but they’re always bemoaning their high turnover,” she adds. “We don’t experience that and we think there is a reason for it.”

Our culture is driven strongly by our company values.  More than words; they serve as guides in our actions. Everything we do is about our clients and our team with our values leading the way.

We invite you to take a closer look (click here) at our 8 guiding values we believe make The Center a COOL PLACE TO WORK!

"Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC." Any opinions are those of Center for Financial Planning, Inc., and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James

Timothy W. Wyman, CFP®, JD Quoted in the Detroit Free Press

 Exotic certificates of deposit could mean large losses for savers

By Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press, June 24 2012

As much as savers wish and hope, higher interest rates are not in the cards soon.  So I want to warn seniors and others about some unusual CDs that are being marketed that make me do a double-take. 

Ever hear of a market-linked CD or equity-linked certificate of deposit?

The pitch is that these types of CDs could earn rates of 4% or 5% or 9% or higher.  The return is linked to the future performance of something – such as stocks or commodities or even currencies. 

The FDIC put out a long list of questions that consumers should ask before they agree to a market-linked CD or an indexed or structured CD.  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also has an alert on structured products, as well as market-linked CDs.

Any product that shows up on the SEC’s website as an ‘Investor Bulletin’ raises concern or reason to pause, suggested Timothy W. Wyman, a Certified Financial Planner at the Center for Financial Planning* in Southfield.** While the product can work for some consumers, he said, the upside is usually limited because of expenses. 

Click here for the entire article

The information contained in this report does not purport to be a complete description of the securities, markets, or developments referred to in this material. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendations. Any opinions are those of Timothy Wyman, CFP®, JD and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James.  

*Center for Financial Planning, Inc. is an independent firm.
** Securities offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC 

Sandy Adams Quoted in Wall Street Journal

A Written Plan Can Help Your Portfolio
Foundations and other big investors have investment-policy statements. Some pros say you should, too.

May 30, 2012
By Thomas Coyle

Write it down.

That's the message increasing numbers of investors and advisers are hearing. And when they actually follow through, they reap the rewards.  

For all kinds of investors, creating a written investment-policy statement—and sticking to it—can be a good way to produce steadier returns in volatile times. It instills discipline. It can clarify strategies. For investors with advisers, it can define what both parties expect from the relationship right from the start.

Sandra Adams is a lead financial planner with the Center for Financial Planning in Southfield, Mich., a firm with more than $700 million under management. In the four or five years since that firm's advisers started using investment-policy statements, she and her colleagues have noticed that it can help the children of clients who have become incapacitated understand that their parents' assets are being managed with their best long-term interests in mind.

Many times, the children have had no previous contact with the firm, Ms. Adams says, so seeing the statement "can bring families up to speed on how we're working for their parents in a way that creates a lot of trust."

Click here for the entire article

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Center Wellness Goes Viral

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From stretch breaks in the middle of business meetings to fresh fruit deliveries to the office, from walking meetings on the nature trail to healthy options in the break room, we take wellness pretty seriously. In fact, we’re even taking it to YouTube.   Workplace wellness programs provide the access, opportunity, support and encouragement for all employees to actively participate in improving their health.  What exactly is workplace wellness at The Center?  It starts with a core value that supports work/life balance. This important firm value is our springboard.   Our program is built on the following foundation:  
  • Create an employee driven Wellness Committee
  • Identify Center team members who are either mentors or champions for healthy activities
  • Conduct a needs and interest survey
  • Post healthy tips on a bulletin board
  • Promote messages from national health organizations
  • Provide workshops on relaxation, stress management, exercise, nutrition, and work/life balance topics
Our first priority is to create a healthy environment for Center team members.  But in pursuit of our goal with innovative programs and employee engagement, we attracted the attention of the Blue Care Network Healthy Blue Living marketing group.  They liked what we were doing so much that the interviewed several team members including Gerri Harmer, Jennie Bauder, Tim Wyman, Troy Wyman and Laurie Renchik.  The YouTube videos they created will help spread the word about some of the successful programs we support.   Promoting work/life balance for all Center team members is a goal we take seriously!

Sandy Adams Quoted in the Wall Street Journal – On Help for the Elderly

Sandy Adams, CFP

Voices: Sandy Adams, On Help for the Elderly 

Clients often don’t want to discuss elder care planning issues until something happens in their life that forces them to take action. But both older clients and middle-aged clients need to be proactive. 

For instance, a middle-aged client might suddenly realize that their parent can’t live alone anymore. If they haven’t developed a strategy for dealing with the cost of live-in care, then they have to find a way to manage the problem on an immediate basis. Elder care planning ends up becoming crisis planning.

One way advisers can help clients better prepare for elder care is by….Read More. 

Live YOUR Plan™