- Basic Financial Overview
Creating your Basic Financial Overview is a vital step toward achieving a sound financial footing and living your life with purpose. We will walk with you in piecing together your story and how your finances fit. Steps include: understanding what you own, what you owe, what generates your income, and how you spend your money. Addressing potential risks and identifying opportunities are also important for your strategy. We work with you to gain a thorough understanding of your life’s aspirations and provide you with insights we have developed over decades of working with other clients like you.
Our trademark Family Barometer Number can inform you on optimizing your family cash flow and balance sheet. Your unique Family Barometer Number can reveal your tolerance for risk based on your needs, season in life, and specific situation. Each family is unique. Not only do we consider what you own, but we also learn who you are in calculating your Family Barometer number.
We would love to get to know you.
- Annual Portfolio Review
Achieving sound financial footing involves much more than merely successful investing. That does not mean, however, that families should ignore their investments.
We help families like yours keep informed of their progress – not only through reviewing investment results, but also updating information vital to your Family Barometer Number and making necessary adjustments to your family’s financial plan.
Doctors, accountants, and auto mechanics often advise clients as a best practice to visit for an annual “check-up”. Whether everything is running smoothly or requires adjustments, an annual visit gives you the greatest likelihood for your financial plan to be successful. In most cases, you should expect minimal adjustments to your plan.
However, we also recognize that circumstances can change for some families. As your circumstances change, a formal annual review gives the opportunity to consider more significant shifts in strategies and planning.
Many investors get distracted with trends in the stock market while overlooking the bigger picture of their family’s financial health. Chasing overvalued investments in a bull market, selling at the lows in a bear market, and not investing consistently without regard to their actual situation are examples of common investor pitfalls. Compounding the situation is the increased volume of information (some of it “fake news”) that confuses investors who lack a real strategic plan in their lives.
Let us partner with you to help your family steer clear of the pitfalls of the crowd.
- Investment Management
We analyze different investments for families’ portfolios.
As part of a strategic financial plan set to clients’ Family Barometer Number, investments are a vital aspect for promoting success. While we recommend clients review their plan and investments with us annually, we monitor their investments daily. We establish investment allocations with time horizons consistent with our clients’ Family Barometer Numbers.
A Ferrari is one of the hottest cars in the world and a rival to any other car on the racetrack. However, the performance of your car very much depends on who is driving it.
Take someone like Mario Andretti, whose talent and experience would allow him to use the car’s features to its fullest extent. Otherwise, a driver less experienced in navigating the twists and turns of the track is likely to underperform the Andretti’s of the world.
Who you choose to drive your Ferrari makes all the difference in the world.
The idea is relevant to finding someone to empower your family with a solid financial plan.
- Aggregation of Accounts
Shrewd investors do not manage their accounts in isolation.
Some clients prefer to have their investments in their taxable and retirement accounts managed to one investment model. There might be a tax advantage in some cases. For example, some people might prefer to have investments generate ordinary income in their retirement account and earn qualified dividends in their taxable (non-retirement) accounts.
Additionally, we afford clients the opportunity to view their investments along with other accounts not held with us in one place. Clients can see their entire balance sheet (not only investments, but even bank accounts and others) in their personal client portal.
Finally, clients who bring more assets to our firm benefit because we are able to offer lower pricing for our growing relationship.
- Monitoring of Outside Accounts
Smart people do not live life in a vacuum.
Clients who entrust us with managing their assets deserve the best. We do not manage your assets in isolation. We consider the role of the investments managed on your behalf in the context of your family’s total picture. That total picture includes understanding the specific role of your assets with us and how they interact with your net worth, including assets held outside of our firm.
For example, someone well into retirement might actually benefit from us seeking higher return and risk on their assets. If they have other sources of income from other investments, for instance, such action might actually be in their interest.
Conversely, a younger investor might not necessarily belong in a more aggressive portfolio. What if that investor has higher debt vs. income (college debt, mortgage, credit cards, etc.)? Or there is a desire to start a family and buy a home?
These are some examples of the value of having us monitor other outside accounts.
- Risk Management
Liquid investments are a key component of a family’s financial plan. However, they might not always suffice as a standalone solution.
Insurance in certain cases might be a useful tool for certain families. When used to hedge against certain risks (for example, future need for nursing home care for someone with a certain level of assets), insurance might be an alternative.
There are certain products such as annuities that we have chosen not to sell because they do not benefit most of our clients. However, occasionally an extreme situation might benefit from considering one. We are able to refer such situations if and as they arise.
Let us discuss your unique situation.
- Monitoring of RMD
You have worked hard to get to where you are. You still need to think ahead even in retirement.
After age 59.5, you can begin to withdraw money from your regular IRA without penalty but still be taxed at the regular tax rate. Even if you choose not to take any money, after age 70, the Federal Government will require you to take out a certain portion and be taxed.
Additionally, you might have inherited an IRA as a beneficiary from the passing of a loved one. You will still be required to take out money and be taxed based on your life expectancy.
This is called “Required Minimum Distribution” (RMD).
We are well-versed in the issues relating to RMD. There are ways beyond just taking money out and paying to the tax man. We also want to make sure you do not have an unpleasant surprise from owing taxes if you were not to manage RMD’s properly.
Let us share with you our ideas.