Dr. Mike Glasmeier - Within three or four months working with Four Quadrants, we were already significantly improved financially and personally. As a business owner, you always want to pay yourself more; you’re just not always sure if it’s prudent to do so, or how much it should be.
Everything that they’ve done for us has been heavily researched and projected, so there’s another level of confidence that they can back up what they’re saying.
What’s been the biggest value our firm has brought to the table for each of you? Maybe it’s something that happened in the last year, or maybe it’s an opportunity you see on the horizon?
Dr. Mike Glasmeier - The biggest one is to establish a blueprint for our future so that we know, from a retirement perspective, that we are going to be okay, and the family has got to be okay. To help generate some protocols to essentially bring my stress level down so I can still be effective and enjoy what I do and still provide a lifestyle for my family.
Rebekah Glasmeier - We have three children, but two of them have special needs, and one is more severely affected than the other. He will be living with us for life. Four Quadrants understands that, and they make us feel very comfortable in the fact that our children will be taken care of far into the future.
That’s very important for us, the parents of a child who won’t be able to take care of himself as an adult. For me personally too, it makes me feel at ease that our child will be taken care of long after we are gone. That’s probably the best feeling that I’ve had over the last year. Just knowing that he’ll be taken care of.
With such a busy first year and the fact that you guys are so young, have you thought that much about retirement yet, or are you just glad they were thinking about it for you right now?
Dr. Mike Glasmeier - We had been talking about retirement for years but never had a plan to execute. We’ve been approached by many many people that wanted to pitch us something, but we would always hesitate. We didn’t know that we were really in search of a strategy we liked first.
We appreciated that Four Quadrants had proposed some ideas but had strong evidence and research to back them up, but also some great references that we had spoken to that highly recommended them.
We knew that what we were doing was not accomplishing anything, so we knew we had to take that next step. We had to find someone who could do the whole comprehensive thing for us.
Is there something that you wouldn’t have been able to accomplish on your own? Something that you were able to do after you started working with us? Anything on a professional or personal level?
Dr. Mike Glasmeier - Four Quadrants eliminated a lot of my stress level that I had. So the simple things are, you know, being able to go on a vacation and not be financially downtrodden about missing work, or missing a bill or something like that. I feel like I have more financial independence as a result of the things they have given me, so that when I go on a trip I can enjoy with my family and not be so perturbed by always thinking about the financials.
They’ve helped me develop an appreciation for what needs to be done financially but also be relieved that I can leave work and go home and enjoy my personal life. That was something that had been an issue the past couple years especially.
Rebekah Glasmeier - I’ve learned a lot. Like Mike said earlier, financial advisors still approach us today with different things that would seem appealing but are not appropriate for our situation. They are teaching me how to dissect financial challenges, and there are some things I don’t even need to give Four Quadrants because I learned how to examine an issue and stop it from becoming a problem. Now some things I still don’t understand and they’re right there to help me with that. I discerned so much about the business aspect of just working with them.
It sounds like you already had good instincts, it’s just that now you have more confidence to go with those instincts?
Dr. Mike Glasmeier - Yes. The staff of Four Quadrants. . . Sometimes I feel like they are parents and help us make some hard decisions, which we couldn’t make on the business and personal side. How to think all the way through them because they have been there before. They’ve helped us make a decision whether it’s a “yes” or a “no” - and we’ve had a lot of no’s - they are not yes-men. They give us justified “no’s” and we feel comfortable that they are helping us make the right decisions.
Rebekah Glasmeier - They always come up with information behind their reasoning, and it’s information we would never have found out our own.
Dr. Mike Glasmeier - The overall experience has been great from the beginning, and we haven’t even talked about the accounting part they’ve helped us with. I just feel like I have a panel of experts that communicates with each other all the time. That’s better than the alternative: having a bunch of separate experts where you have to bring together their opinions and hope that they jive. You feel confident doing it and know that you’ll get the result that you want.
Rebekah Glasmeier - Their communication is the best I’ve ever dealt with. If I leave a message, they get back with me the same day, usually within an hour. Their answers are always in our best interest.
Dr. Mike Glasmeier - Four Quadrants assured me throughout this first year that they wouldn’t change anything in how I do dentistry. I was deeply fearful of that, and that they were going to propose to me to change the way I can work. They’ve been great and supportive, and I haven’t had change anything on the dental side because they respect that I know what I’m doing. I like the fact that they kept their word.