The intending investor, and ideally the spouse, since an eligible spouse and unmarried children under 21 may seek derivative status and the household's plans affect the case. Bring each person's birthdate, relationship and current immigration status. A child close to 21 is worth raising immediately, because age protection turns on the particular facts.
Surface the household's real constraints
Someone will raise schooling dates, a spouse's career, an elderly parent, or a business that cannot be left. These are not side issues; they determine whether consular processing abroad or adjustment inside the United States fits, and whether the family travels together. Note too that a pending petition authorises neither work nor travel, so nobody should resign a job or give notice on a lease in anticipation.
Ask each household constraint to be written down as a date or a condition rather than as a concern, because that is what makes it usable. A school year ending in June, a spouse's registration renewing in March, a business sale expected within a year and a child's twenty-first birthday are all planning inputs; worry about them is not. Once written, those dates can be compared against the route options, and the comparison frequently settles whether consular processing abroad or an eligible adjustment inside the United States is the better fit, which is otherwise discussed in the abstract.