Prioritizing Family Life & Business: An Interview with Anneke Stender

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Top Ways to Handle Family Life and Business with a Busy Lifestyle

Several responsibilities can cause stress and anxiety in family life and business.  It can be hard to find the right balance between organizing family life events and getting year-end ready with clients and other commitments at work.

Here is a list of reminders and quick tips to keep things in perspective in your busy life:

  • Schedule: Plan smaller tasks and meetings than normal.  Time management is key and keeping a clear overview of due dates on your calendar.
  • Disconnect: When spending time with your family, make it a priority to unplug from work emails and calls.  Keep everyone informed ahead of time about your unavailability or absence, and let them know when you’ll be reconnecting.
  • Plan time for yourself: It can be exhausting to keep everything going, so taking time for yourself will rejuvenate you later.
  • Avoid talking business with family or friends when they do not ask.  However, it can be helpful to discuss certain topics and events with the most important people in your life to let them know what’s going on.
  • Clear communication: Set fixed times for family and work, so both sides can count on you.  Be fully present during those time blocks, so you’re focusing on one thing at a time.
  • Work when everyone is sleeping: getting up before the family wakes up or staying up after they go to sleep, so it doesn’t conflict with family time.
  • Delegate and trust others: bring in additional resources who can help you avoid stress.

An Interview with Anneke Stender

 

With all your responsibilities at Plumb, how do you deal with upcoming family events and all the organization and planning?

Planning ahead and calendaring everything is essential for me.  I plan out the weeks and month very detailed in my corporate calendar, so nothing gets lost and everyone knows if I’m free or not. I always mark events or tasks that are not negotiable in red, so my assistant can plan and schedule meetings around those times.

Overall, the less time I have available, the more efficient I can be.  I focus on the really important things and delegate the rest to others.  I am thankful to have a great team at Plumb behind me that I count on, so I have enough time for my family.

How do you handle work during the days you are spending time with your family?  Are there any rules you set?

When I spend time with my family, I turn off my email notifications.  I want to avoid pop-up messages on my phone, so I am fully present to focus that time with my girls and my husband. I dedicate 100% to one thing at a time.

When I visit my family in Germany, I am totally unplugged from work for the duration of the trip.  Sometimes I feel that going overseas makes it easier to enjoy the time off, because I am distancing myself from work with different time zones.

Clear communication upfront towards everyone at work and from my family is the key for making this work. By setting fixed times, my availability for family and work is clear, so both sides can count on me.

What is your favorite time and place for getting work done?

My most productive time is early in the morning.  I usually wake up at 4:30AM and start checking and responding to emails in bed, then I start getting ready for work.  When the children are sleeping, I have time to work without distraction.  However, I mostly spend working time in the office in La Jolla or Orange County.

What do you do to avoid stress and how do you boost your energy levels this time of year?

Even if I only have an hour a day, I block it off in my calendar.  Pilates helps me to relax from time to time, however, I still struggle on getting better to take time for myself.  In addition, it’s always helpful to seek outside help, such as a nanny on special occasions or counting on someone to help with recurring tasks.

As a successful business leader and mother, who inspires you?

Sheryl Sandberg.  I just finished reading her second book, “Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy. I have so much respect and admiration for her and how she handles her life.

How Plumb Family Office Accounting Can Help with your Family Life + Business Throughout the Year

Recurring tasks like bill payment or handling with taxes at the end of the year, and general organization and planning take an immense amount of valuable time. Save this time and effort with the help from additional resources to spend it with your family and friends or use to refueling your energy.

Plumb Family Office Accounting excels at high-net-worth accounting and financial consulting by applying a controller-level’s financial insight to managing personal finances.

Schedule a Consultation to Learn More:



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How to Prepare a Net Worth Statement and Track Your Wealth

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Track your Wealth with a Personal Net Worth Statement

Many of our clients turn to Plumb Bill Pay because they have a complicated financial life and need help preparing their net worth statement. By having a clear picture of their wealth, including assets and liabilities, they can make better decisions with their investments and long-term financial goals.

What is a Net Worth Statement?

Net Worth = Assets – Liabilities

Let’s start with the basics.  A net worth statement is a personal balance sheet.  It lists your assets and liabilities.  Assets are items listed that have cash value (or can be converted to cash).  These assets typically include any money that is in your bank account, retirement account, investment accounts, and major items such as real estate or automobiles and other valuable property.  Liabilities are the debts or expenses that you owe. These include: bills, loans, mortgages, etc.

Need help with bill pay? Top 5 signs that you should hire a personal bill payer

How to Prepare a Net Worth Statement

There is technology available to help you track your net worth, or you can start with a simple spreadsheet.  For people who have a high net worth, it is beneficial for them to use a professional accounting firm to help them track their income and expenses.  To calculate your net worth, you subtract your liabilities from your assets.

Need help with your personal accounting to better track your wealth?

With great wealth comes great responsibility. There is complexity that comes with wealth, including high volumes of bills and income and expenses to track. Setting up a net worth statement or bill pay schedule with the appropriate checks and balances is not an easy task.

At Plumb, we offer personal CFO and bill pay services to ensure that our client’s finances are efficiently tracked and bills are paid, so they can focus their time on enjoying life and have financial peace of mind.

Article: A Corporate Approach to High-Net-Worth Individuals 

Back-Office Accounting Services for High-Net-Worth include:

For more information on Plumb Family Office Accounting – or to receive a quote for bill pay and reporting services:



The Best of Personal Family Office & Bill Pay Services this Year

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Personal Family Offices & Bill Pay Services for the High Net Worth

Plumb Family Office Accounting is an outsourced accounting firm, focusing on personal CFO and bill pay services. In this post, we showcase the most popular content regarding Plumb Family Office Accounting, a personal family office and bill pay service provider for the high-net-worth and family offices.

#1 Why Use a Personal Family Office and Bill Pay Service Firm?

Are you a good candidate for outsourcing your personal accounting or bill pay needs? Do you want to know how a personal CFO service and bill pay firm can help you save time and bring peace of personal cfo mind? If you are dealing with complicated finances, or feel overwhelmed with the amount of bills that need to be paid and tracked. Plumb Family Office Accounting explains the top 5 reasons to use a personal bill pay service firm.

#2 Keys to a Successful Onboarding of a High-Net-Worth Client

The “white-glove” experience for a client of Plumb Family Office Accounting starts at the on-boarding process. It can seem overwhelming at first to gather all the bills and financial data in order to start the relationship. However, at Plumb, we have worked with busy entrepreneurs and even busier families, so we have developed a system to make the onboarding process easier. It is this combination of personal attention and service, with technology and security that brings it all together.

#3 Five Signs that you Need a Back-Office Family Office Accounting

What is a back-office Family Office Accounting? Are you missing due dates with your bills and incurring late payments? Are you having trouble keeping track of your investments that could include entities, personal bill pay firm rental properties, trusts, etc.? Do you have a clear picture of your wealth? Is your financial paperwork organized for tax season? How much time are you devoting to handling household finances, compared to actually enjoying your wealth? Think about your answers, then read about how a back office CFO can help.

#4 Family Wealth: How to Retain it with Better Financial Reporting

In order to make better decisions and retain your family wealth, it is important to have accurate, up-to-date financial information. Plumb Family Office Accounting offers outsourced accounting services to wealthy family services the high-net-worth and provides consolidated financial reporting with real-time data for a holistic view of family wealth. Unlike wealth management firms, Plumb Family Office Accounting does not manage money or recommend investment strategies. They work together with their client and their client’s personal financial team in a strategic manner to leverage their total expertise.

#5 Top Signs that you Should Hire a Personal Bill Payer

Who is the typical client of Plumb Family Office Accounting? Not all clients are alike, but the one thing they all have in common is: personal financial complexity. They own multiple homes, have household employees on their staff and have investment accounts, entities, trusts and even personal foundations. Most importantly, they are paying up to 100 bills per month and using a few different credit cards and bank accounts to manage their spending. Click here for an infographic >>

Are you ready to simplify your personal financial life and take true control of your wealth?

Why Use a Personal Bill Pay Service Firm?

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As a personal bill pay service firm, Plumb offers bill pay services that cater towards individuals and families who are dealing with complicated finances.  You may want to enlist the help of a personal bill pay service firm if you feel overwhelmed with the amount of bills and mail you receive each month and find it too time consuming to get your personal finances organized.

The Plumb personal bill pay service firm is not an online bill pay software, rather it is a team of accounting experts who have experience dealing with high-net-worth clients and their specific bill pay needs.  At Plumb, we provide high-touch services while also utilizing the latest bill pay software and technology to manage monthly expenses and produce cash flow reports.

Top 5 Reasons to Use a Personal Bill Pay Service Firm:

  1. Have your expenses tracked and bills paid on time so you can focus on your family and enjoy your wealth.
  2. Receive comprehensive cash flow reports, allowing you and your personal financial team to make better decisions about your wealth.
  3. Deliver accurate tax documents to your CPA by having organized recordkeeping throughout the year and electronically filing invoices.
  4. Pay household staff, prepare 1099s & 1096s, and streamline vendor management to centralize all household expenses.
  5. We monitor credit card and wire transactions for discrepancies, tracked and reconciled for accuracy, to give you peace of mind.

Who Uses a Personal Bill Pay Service Firm?

Plumb was established over 20 years ago to provide outsourced accounting services to entrepreneurs, their companies, foundations and personal family bookkeeping and bill pay needs. The typical client who requests personal bill pay service from Plumb has multiple properties, household staff, numerous bank, credit card and investment accounts to manage and track. Therefore, they want to reduce the overwhelm of paying multiple bills, reconciling accounts and staying on top of due dates.

Discover how Plumb, a personal bill pay service firm, can work for you.

Top Signs That You Should Hire a Personal Bill Payer

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A personal bill payer can help manage your complex financial affairs

Could your family benefit from a personal bill payer? At Plumb Family Office Accounting, we are a reliable firm with a team of accounting and personal bill payment experts who understand the needs of the high-net-worth.

If much of your free time is spent paying bills, tracking income and expenses, or worrying about deadlines and paperwork, you should consider hiring a personal bill payer.  Once you accumulate wealth, you should have the freedom to enjoy it and feel secure knowing you have a financial plan in place for your future.

Not all Personal Bill Payer Experts are the Same.

What makes Plumb Family Office Accounting different?

We work with over 150 HNW families across the globe and also support family offices to provide high-touch bill payment services.  As an outsourced solution, bill pay by Plumb is a customizable, high-touch and reliable service for those who are looking to offload the payment of their expenses and vendor management. Our team of bill pay experts work through a segregation of duties with multiple levels of review and bank security access and account protection.  Click here to see our 7-phase bill pay cycle >> 

Snapshot of a Typical Client:

Not all clients are alike, but the one thing they all have in common is: personal financial complexity.  They own multiple homes, have household employees on their staff, and have investment accounts, entities, trusts and even personal foundations.  Most importantly, they are paying up to 100 bills per month and using a few different credit cards and bank accounts to manage their spending.  Here is a look at an average client of Plumb Family Office Accounting who is using bill pay services.

Here are 5 averages of a typical Plumb bill pay client:

  1. Bills Paid Per Month – 50-100
  2. Wires Capital Calls Per Month – 10-20
  3. Credit Card Transactions – 250-500
  4. Monthly Reconciliations – 2-5 Credit Cards | 2-3 Bank Accounts
  5. Average Numbers Per Family – 3-5 Entities | 3-5 Homes | 2-3 Household Employees

Can you relate to this type of personal financial life? Many of our clients are busy professionals, people who like to travel, or retired and do not want the burden of tracking income, expenses and paying bills.

We make it easy to put together a pricing proposal for our bill pay services.  We setup a fixed fee price, based on the number of transactions required and cash flow reporting.  Please fill out this questionnaire or contact Plumb at Sales@thinkPlumb.com for more information.



Plumb Family Bill Pay Services: Organize Your Financial Life

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Plumb Bill Pay Family & Personal Bill Pay Services

Family bill pay services is a featured offering of Plumb Family CFO.  Depending on need and the complexity of your financial affairs, family or personal bill pay can be a stand alone service or used in conjunction with financial reporting, budgeting or expense tracking.  See full list of services. 

As a professional and reliable firm, in business for over 20 years, Plumb sets up processes and procedures to execute family bill pay.  It first starts with collecting bills and vendor information, resulting in a comprehensive list of vendor and account information.  In the client setup phase, a financial calendar of due dates and bill payment procedures are produced.  Not only are your bills paid on a timely basis, but monitored, reconciled, and reviewed.

Family bill pay pricing >> click here

“Thank you for all that you have done for my family.  Your team is proactive and trustworthy and has provided us with such great confidence now that our finances are in order.  What a relief!” – HNW Family Bill Pay Client 

 Why Use Family Bill Pay Services?

  • Do you have too many bills to keep track of all the time?
  • Do you want to spend more time with your family and enjoy your wealth?
  • Are you a frequent traveler and need help paying your bills while out of town?
  • Are you disorganized or overwhelmed with paperwork and financial organization?
  • Is anyone in your family suffering from an age- or disability-related challenge?

Bill Payment Procedure:

Plumb Family CFO created a 4-step bill payment process with segregation of duties and different levels of review. By following checks and balances, clients can enjoy peace of mind knowing that their assets and bills are being monitored by an independent firm with a long history of continuity and confidentiality.

Financial Calendar of Due Dates:

Vendor Information Sheet: In order for Plumb Family CFO to handle the bill pay services of clients, information is collected at the beginning of the engagement, including a comprehensive list of vendors and account information.

Personal Vendor List: A detailed chart of all incoming bills, divided by property is set up.  This vendor list is used as a reference  for each bill, with due dates, payment methods and any special notes.

Financial and Administrative Calendar of Due Dates: This report tracks bills that occur during a quarterly, yearly or semi-annual basis.

 

Could your family benefit from Plumb bill pay services?  Fill out this form for a customized pricing quote.



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Five Signs That You Need a Back-Office Family CFO

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What is a Back-Office Family CFO?

At Plumb Family CFO, our idea of a “Back-Office Family CFO” is a team of outsourced accountants who handle the financial reporting, bill pay, and cash flow management of a high-net-worth family, rather than having one single Family CFO who takes care of all the tasks associated with a complicated financial life.  A back-office Family CFO, using the Plumb Family CFO approach typically works off-site to handle the accounting and bill pay work remotely, yet still delivers accurate and timely financial information to the client.

Here is a list of five signs that you need a Back-Office Family CFO:

1. Missing due dates and incurring late payments.

You become overwhelmed with the amount of mail received on a daily basis and the pile of bills and due dates keep stacking up.  With so many properties, automobiles, credit card statements, household employees and recurring bills, they are hard to keep track of and get paid in a timely fashion.  Any incurred late payments can lead to damaging credit scores.

Plumb Family CFO offers comprehensive bill pay services for families and individuals.  We oversee your monthly expenses, initiate payments, reconcile your accounts and track your credit card statements.  That way, you never miss a bill and have your credit cards monitored at the same time.  We also provide weekly or monthly cash flow reports, so you know exactly how much cash is coming in and how much cash is being paid out.

Want to learn more about the family bill pay service offered by Plumb?  Click here for a list of frequently asked questions.  Ready for a quote? Answer these questions and we can prepare a proposal based on the amount of accounts to track and bills to pay.  Request a Quote

2. Trouble with keeping track of multiple entities, investments, rental properties and trusts.

You may be the head of the household, but it feels like you a running a multimillion dollar company.  With great wealth comes great responsibility.  Your family’s financial life is complex with multi-faceted undertakings, such as corporate entities, private equity, international exposure, homes and rental properties, and alternative investments. This is a sign that you need help with your personal accounting needs.

Plumb Family CFO delivers financial peace of mind by helping affluent families organize, coordinate and navigate through their financial affairs.  Working in partnership with the family’s team of trusted advisors, we provide the highest quality data and financial reporting to establish a complete view of your assets and financial holdings.

See examples of personal financial reports & analysis that we provide:

  • Statement of Cash Flow
  • Net Worth Statement
  • Family Monthly Budget
  • Vacation/Second Home Expenses
  • Bill Pay Reports

3. You do not have a clear picture of your wealth.

With so many investment accounts, credit card statements and bank accounts, it’s hard to see a clear view of overall wealth.  At Plumb Family CFO, we work with your personal financial team to gather all the information tied to your family’s assets and turn it into a one-page summary of net-worth.  The financial reports we provide are detailed, holistic, and customized to your preference. In order to make better decisions about your wealth, it is important to have up-to-date financial data.

Read: Retain your Family Wealth by Organizing your Financial Life

4. Financial paperwork is not organized for tax season.

Tax deadline is looming and your CPA is working frantically to gather all your necessary paperwork to calculate the right deductions and track all your income and expenses.  It’s costing your family more time and money working with your CPA, because you do not have your financial house in order.

Plumb Family CFO works with their high-net-worth clients to provide an Annual Tax Organizer which is an audit-proof package that allows for maximized standard deductions.  Additionally, we provide your CPA with quarterly reports to adjust estimated tax payments as needed to avoid annual penalties and interest charges from the IRS or Franchise Tax Board.

Learn More: Plumb Family CFO Annual Tax Organizer

5. Too much time is spent handling household finances and not enjoying your wealth.

A good amount of your free time is spent handling household finances and it has become too complex to track properly.  Your family has acquired a team of trusted advisors to help you handle the maze of legal issues, tax planning, and investments, yet you don’t have a consolidated view of your overall wealth.

Why not outsource your personal accounting and family bill pay needs to a trusted and reliable firm with over 20 years of experience working with affluent families and corporations?

See how these families benefited from engaging with Plumb, back-office Family CFO:

Back-Office Family CFO Services by Plumb

If any of these items on the list applies to you and your family, Plumb Family CFO can help.  We are not a wealth management firm and do not recommend investment strategies. We are not a CPA firm and do not file tax returns.  Simply put, we are a back-office Family CFO with a team of personal accountants that have experience working with high-net-worth and their specific needs.  Plumb Family CFO works in partnership with your financial team to provide the highest quality data to help them make better decisions about your wealth and financial planning.

Want to learn more?  Here is a list of the top frequently asked questions about the clients and services offered by Plumb Family CFO.  

Accounting Services Include:

  • Family bill pay – including mail management & vendor management
  • Producing monthly financial statements
  • Cash flow reporting
  • Personal financial reporting & analysis
  • Bank and credit card reconciliation
  • Investment account reconciliation
  • Budgeting services and reporting
  • Household employee payroll services
  • Foundation and trust accounting
  • Annual tax organizer for the CPA

Are you ready to take control of your financial life and start enjoying your wealth? Schedule a consultation with Plumb Family CFO today:

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