Financial advice is most valuable when you’re confident your advisor is looking out for your best interests even as those interests, the economic environment and your financial circumstances change over time.
Because no two investors are likely to be in the same life stage with the same resources and goals at any given time, the best advisors personalize their suggestions to you and look for opportunities to adapt and improve with each meeting. Periods of market volatility provide unique opportunities for investment and wealth planning as well.
Planning Starts and Changes With Your Goals
Spontaneity may make for interesting vacation stories, but when it comes to your life’s financial journey, having a plan is more likely to help you achieve your goals. To help you create that plan, your advisor will guide you through a discussion of the goals specific to different stages of life to determine what you want to achieve and when before developing a plan for how to do it.
Because goals evolve with life’s circumstances, you can expect to revisit this conversation with your advisor regularly and for them to adjust your financial plan as needed.
Planning talking points:
- Retirement goals
- Family and charitable giving strategies
- Estate planning
- Tax mitigation (Roth conversions, gifting, tax-loss harvesting)
- Multi-generational wealth strategies
- Insurance (health, long-term care, life, business, specialized)
- Business purchase, sale or succession planning
- Social security election
- Spending in retirement
Investment Strategies Need Fine-Tuning
Your investments are the vehicles that get your money from where it is today to where you need it to be to cover future spending. Advisors help match the range and endurance of these vehicles to your timeframe and circumstances and changing market conditions. Regular re-evaluation is how they help you keep your portfolio on course.
Investment action steps:
- Articulating investment goals and strategies
- Managing portfolios and asset allocations
- Investing for current income versus growth of assets
- Providing ongoing investment monitoring
- Tax loss harvesting
- Step-up in basis considerations
- Performing risk analysis
- Meeting liquidity needs
- Rebalancing
- Tax-efficient asset placement and investment selection
- Selecting best-in-class products with lowest fees
An Ongoing Resource
Advisory relationships are most effective when they are collaborative, long-term and comprehensive. Good advisors are proactive resources who will be there for you for the duration of your financial journey and available on your schedule when questions arise and redirection is needed.
Ongoing check-in topics:
- Conducting annual reviews
- Adjusting wealth plan based on life events (minor children, death, divorce, etc.)
- Offering intergenerational wealth education
- Bringing clarity to financial headlines
- Navigating real estate transactions
- Investing lump sums
- Coordinating accounting and tax services
- Establishing debt management and cash flow/spending strategies
- Helping with job-change finances
- Providing professional referrals (attorneys, CPAs, insurance agents, appraisers, etc.)
- Keeping the focus on your plan
An Advisor’s Value: Helping You Think Ahead
When selecting advisors, the right one for you will help you construct a bridge from your current financial resources to your expectations for your future spending needs.
