Our Wealth Management Process is designed to help you by focusing on six key areas of your financial life

Goal PLANNING

• ​Have you established goals that will require funding?
• Have you established goals that do not require funding?
  • What are the things you would like to do?
  • What are the things that are important to you?
  • How do you see your life in 5, 10 and 20 years from now?
  • Have you decided on how long you would like to continue working? 
• Establish your financial independence goals and the price to be paid to achieve them
• Determine the purpose and costs of one-time large expenditures including education, vacation homes, or assistance for family members
• Review your annual charitable giving objectives and how they should be funded

INCOME PLANNING

• ​Establish the amount needed to fund each goal
• Review current cash flow and budget needs
• Any changes to cash flow or budget?
  • Do you anticipate any significant expenses in the near future?
  • Did you have any unexpected expenses that impacted your emergency savings?
  • Changes to employment?
• Establish and/or review an appropriate withdrawal strategy in retirement
• Review the cost/benefits of various pension payout options
• Analyze social security income options including those for children under 18
• Determine the amount of portfolio withdrawals to fund expected three-year cash flow shortages
• Have you articulated a life insurance philosophy?
• Assess the living and liquidity needs of survivors and dependants
• Analyze the strategy of maximizing pension income through life insurance

INVESTMENT PLANNING

• ​Have you developed an investment philosophy?
• Define your attitude towards investment risk
• Determine whether the portfolio return objectives are consistent with these attitudes (review Assessment of Acceptable Volatility)
• Determine an appropriate asset allocation
• Determine the mechanics for managing your portfolio and the evaluation of what success looks like?
• Review portfolio performance relative to appropriate benchmarks
• Review investment fees
• Decide accounts to consolidate, transfer, or maintain separately and how they will be handled for policy and advice

TAX PLANNING

• ​Are you proactively engaged in tax planning for you and your dependents?
• Determine optimal asset location
• Understand current and projected earned and/or taxable income for your family
  • If taking distributions, do you need to review or adjust your rate of withdrawal?
• Understand required minimum distributions in retirement
• Evaluate conversions of IRAs to Roth IRAs
• Determine whether tax-loss harvesting is possible and appropriate
  • Determine the cost basis for owned assets
  • Do you have unrealized gains or losses for this year or carryforwards from prior years?
• Review all pass-through income from S-corporations, Limited liability Corporations, or Partnerships
• Determine appropriate levels of withholding and estimated tax payments
  • Were there any surprises on your tax return last year?
  • Will you be receiving any windfalls that could impact your taxes?
  • Do you expect your income to change in the future?
• Review participation and type of company retirement plans
  • Have you maxed out the amount you can contribute?
  • Can you make after-tax non-deductible contributions?
  • Are you taking advantage of any offers? (HSA, FSA's)
• Review all available stock purchase and stock option plans
• Evaluate whether any forms of IRA contributions, rollovers, or supplemental retirement plans on self-employment income are appropriate
• Review gifting opportunities and strategies
  • Have you made or planning to make any gifts this year? (Gift exclusion of $15,000 single or $30,000 MFJ)
  • Do you plan to make charitable gifts? If so consider gifting appropriate securities and/or RMDs from IRAs.

HEALTH CARE PLANNING

• Asses the possibilities of living benefits from existing insurance
• Understand feelings regarding long-term care and evaluate needs
• Review the benefits and drawbacks of asset transference and retitling for long-term care or liability considerations
• Review medical insurance including liability limits, co-pays, Medicare, and COBRA
  • Do you need to review or make changes to any Medicare Advantage or Part D plans? Open enrollment is Oct 15 - Dec 7th, if not in the initial Enrollment Period (aging in) or Special Enrollment Period.
  • Changes to healthcare for the marketplace - open enrollment is Nov 1 - Dec 15

LEGACY PLANNING

• Have you developed a philosophy on wealth transfer?
• Direct proper ownership (including revocable trusts), beneficiary designations, and determine guardians and trustees
• Determine where estate discounting techniques and wealth-transfer entities - Family Limited Partnerships, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, defective trusts, Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts, and others- are appropriate
• Determine whether a family meeting should be facilitated and appropriate family governance prepared
• Have you articulated your charitable philosophy or mission statement?
• Evaluate lifetime giving and/or giving at death
• Evaluate charitable lead trusts, remainder trusts, gift annuities, donor-advised funds, and private foundations
• Have you planned for incapacitation, elder care issues, and final planning needs?
• Discuss writing an ethical will as well as recording a video to communicate your values
• Implement power of attorney documents for financial and health care purposes (Review and execute Trusted Contact Authorization(s))
• Establish pre-need written procedures for the family to execute final wishes

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