Comprehensive Financial Plan Elements
The flowing elements of a financial plan are typically what we evaluate and analyze. Our financial plans are customized for our client individual needs and may include many of these elements and some others not listed below. This is an example to give you an idea of the depth and breadth of our process.
Cash Management
Cash Management
- Provide advice on cash surplus or deficits.
- Monitor your net worth to ensure the financial plan is working to preserve and grow your assets.
- Monitor debt reduction including mortgages, home equity loans, and other debts.
- Plan for future cash flow needs for cars, homes, vacations, home improvements, weddings, etc.
Employee Benefits
Employee Benefits
- Provide advice to maximize the use of employee benefits.
- Perform periodic analysis of employee benefits during open enrollment period.
- Provide strategies for stock option exercises and employee stock purchases to manage diversification of investments.
- Monitor contributions to retirement plans to maximize benefit.
Education Planning
Education Planning
- Monitor and provide guidance regarding types of education investment accounts like Section 529 Plans, custodial accounts, Education Savings Accounts, and Savings Bonds.
- Evaluation of the universe of vehicles for educational savings and selection based on individual needs..
- Monitoring specific educational institution costs to ensure proper funding.
- Monitor student’s age to ensure investments are properly allocated and diversified based upon client’s risk tolerance and time horizon.
- Provide guidance and advice on financial aid and scholarship funding.
- Monitor federal and state tax laws for changes to education benefits, contributions, deductions, and credits.
Tax
Planning
Tax Planning
- Monitor and advise on selling investments for capital gain/loss planning.
- Provide advice on eligibility for all retirement plan options using deductions related to your options.
- Provide advice on the feasibility and tax benefits of Roth conversions.
- Monitor tax law changes and their impact on your overall situation including tax, retirement, education, and estate planning.
- Establish and track cost basis on taxable investments.
- Establish and track cost basis for retirement accounts to avoid paying taxes on distributions that may have had taxes paid on the contributions in the past.
- Provide advice on retirement plan distributions prior to age 59 ½, Required Minimum Distributions (RMD) after age 70 ½.
Risk Management
Risk Management
- Analyze your life insurance needs based on changes to income, health condition, stage of life, investment portfolios, education needs, and goals & objectives.
- Provide guidance on property and casualty policies for proper levels of coverage.
- Provide advice and guidance for long-term care insurance, types of coverage, riders, cost benefit analysis and how to acquire the coverage if needed.
- Provide advice and guidance on eldercare issues.
- Analyze liquidity needs for estate tax purposes, gifting and inheritance planning.
- Provide advice regarding disability to plan for loss of income.
Retirement Planning
Retirement Planning
- Review and update your goals, objectives, and priorities to analyze the impact of these changes on your overall financial situation and future security.
- Provide advice regarding timing of pensions, various pension payout options, Social Security benefits, and other sources of income as you approach retirement.
- Provide advice regarding contributions to and distributions from various plans, including the sequence of account distributions based upon their risk exposure.
- Update financial projections to monitor the effect of stock and bond markets, changes to cash flow needs, risk tolerance and other variables.
Investment Planning
Investment Planning
- Review risk tolerance to ensure your portfolio is appropriately allocated.
- Review specific investment holdings for risk, performance, expenses, tax efficiency and structure of capital gains and losses.
- Provide advice for rebalancing of investment asset allocation as needed to fit risk tolerance and time horizon.
- Research the mutual fund and ETF universe for potential additions or replacements.
- Provide performance reporting on your investments.
Estate Planning
Estate Planning
- Review estate planning documents to verify they are up to date and coordinate with financial plan.
- Assist estate planning attorney with financial planning data to meet your needs.
- Coordinate with client’s estate attorney to ensure that goals are aligned.
- Perform Beneficiary analysis for retirement accounts and insurance policies.
- Provide and/or monitor gifting strategies.
- Monitor changes to ownership of assets during acquisition or after a marriage, divorce, inheritance, or other significant life event.
- Periodically prepare client for critical life events such as the death or incapacity of a spouse or parent.Save Changes
We would be glad to meet with you to discuss your financial situation and give you our objective opinion of the most effective method of advising you based on your needs and goals.