Personal Financial Statement/Net Worth Preparation, Review & Analysis
- Gather all statements and documents outlining accounts of all assets and liabilities including savings, investments, retirement, real property etc. and any and all debts.
- Summarize overall net worth by reviewing asset values and current liabilities.
- Evaluate overall asset allocation and liquidity position
- Compare with results from previous years
- Update throughout the year as needed
Budget Process/Cash Flow, Lifestyle and Liquidity Planning (Present and Future)
- Create budget and cash flow projections (as needed), to help you understand the difference between good and bad debt, make sure you have enough set aside for emergencies, liquidity needs, goals, and, if needed, help you gain control over your spending.
- Provide budgeting and cash flow advice, consisting of allocating a Client’s resources to optimize net worth, cash reserve, and cash flow
- Compare to prior year and identify reasons for changes and any trends occurring
- Analysis and recommendations for major purchases or expenses. Discussing pros and cons of paying cash or using credit to purchase items that are in addition to normal living expenses.
Goal Setting-Life Milestone Planning-(short, mid, long-term)
- Goal setting, to help you clarify and communicate your goals and then help you measure your progress toward them, quantifying future goals and developing strategies to achieve them
- Identify major life milestone planning goals such as a purchase of a new auto, house improvements, or funding 529 plans.
- Determine feasibility of meeting identified goals within the specified time frame and quantify and set to milestones for tracking.
- Review previously established goals and track progress. Include/exclude goals that may have been created, completed, or determined inapplicable due to a significant life event or change in financial situation
- Define Personal/Family Investment Purpose and Values Strategy through the creation of
- Mission Statement-defines purpose of this process as well as purpose of financial planning and wealth management to the individual/family
- Vision Statement-defines and summarizes thematically what a individual/family desires to achieve in the long-run, generally in a time frame of five to ten years
- Creation of Investment and Planning Core Values
Initial Investments Review
- Initial asset allocation review of a Client’s investment portfolio
- Detailed review of all Fees and Expenses incurred in current investment plan
- Portfolio Performance Review vs Index Investing Performance
- Recommend new asset allocation and changes to current asset allocation and any changes needed to re-allocate current portfolio based on their risk tolerance, current financial situation and goals established
- Emphasis of any changes to asset allocation/overall portfolio be focused on index investing via low cost ETFs, in order to increase portfolio performance, lower overall portfolio expenses as well as the building of a passive income stream through dividend growth stocks
- Check on any retirement accounts such as 401(k) or 403(b), plan contribution amounts, company match, and available investment products the plan offers. Make recommendations on any changes to allocation or strategy as needed.
- Initial Passive Dividend Income/Interest tracking
- Initial Warrant/Option/K1 Tracking
- Review of clients cash positions and recommend ways to maximize interest while maintaining appropriate liquidity and principal protection
- Review of client employer stock options
- Creation/Implementation of Investment Policy Statements
- Time in the market vs timing of the market Discussion
Ongoing Investments Review
- Review asset allocation of a Client’s investment portfolio to confirm that assets are invested in a way that is consistent with their goals, current financial situation, and risk tolerance
- Recommend changes to current asset allocation and any changes needed to re-allocate and rebalance current portfolio based on their risk tolerance, current financial situation and goals established
- Continued focus of changes to asset allocation/overall portfolio be focused on index investing via low cost ETFs, in order to increase portfolio performance, lower overall portfolio expenses as well as the building of a passive income stream through dividend growth stocks
- Update Passive Dividend Income/Interest Tracking
- Review of clients cash positions and recommend ways to maximize interest while maintaining appropriate liquidity and principal protection
- Update Investment Policy Statements as needed
- Portfolio Performance Review vs Index Investing Performance
Liability/Debt Review and Payoff Strategies
- Review of all current liabilities and debt to fully understand all fees and expenses along with specifics of each account such as payment timing, prepayment penalties, etc.
- Review and identify opportunities for consolidation of debt and/or opportunities to refinance any debt/liabilities
- Create a strategy to/strategies to paydown debt based on budgeting process and personal financial statement review ensuring that there is an appropriate level of cash reserves for emergencies and other financial goals
Employer Benefits Review and Analysis
- Review of all available employer benefits and developing strategies to take maximum advantage of employer-sponsored benefit plans based on clients goals and personal financial statement
- Review to confirm no payment of duplicate benefits between spouses or outside benefits/services
- Review employer benefits between spouses to determine best value based on client goals and situation
- Annual check up on employee benefits that are available and advise on what to elect or opt-out of depending on current financial situation.
- HSA review/FSA review
- Employer Stock Options/Equity Review and Tracking
Insurance Review
- Identify and evaluate insurance needs of clients including analyzing needs in the event of death, disability, long-term care, and lawsuit, as applicable. Assist with determination of how much coverage you need and what risks you can potentially afford to self-insure
- Review current insurance coverage and make recommendations on any changes to policies and/or adding additional coverage, including
- Property/Renters
- Liability & Umbrella
- Auto
- Disability
- Health
- Life
- Long Term Care
Outside Advisors Role and Expense Review
- Discussion and review of each external advisor and confirmation of specific role and service and confirmation of all fees, expenses and agreements
- Review to identify any overlap of services paid for
- Oversight and coordination of external advisors (as/if needed)
Estate Planning Review
- This service is primarily designed to help clients get all of their financial documents organized in an orderly fashion and to make sure their final wishes and instructions are provided to key people whether they are family or trusted advisors or friends.
- Review of current common estate planning documents (will, AB trust, POA, Durable/Healthcare, etc) to identify current appointees/beneficiaries
- Record-keeping, to help you understand what financial documents you need to keep,
and how to properly store documents and records for future access by necessary parties
- Clients will receive a Statement of Financial Position and a high level estate planning review, to evaluate with you the pertinent estate issues that impact your life and consider choices that you can then discuss further with an estate planning attorney
- Review beneficiaries for retirement accounts and life insurance. Future beneficiary discussion and planning
- Trust Funding Process Discussion and Monitoring
- Prompt you to update your plan when the legal environment changes or you have major life events such as a marriage, death, or births.
- Family Succession planning is a process for identifying and developing new leaders within the family when they retire or die.
Retirement Planning
- Retirement planning, to help you determine how much savings is needed, how to draw a retirement paycheck and how to get the most from your retirement years
- Review strategies to help fund retirement, transition to retirement or ensure adequate retirement income;
- How to take monthly income from portfolio
- Required Minimum Distributions
- Minimum Needs for Living
- Discussion of various scenarios and how that can affect retirement planning
- Working longer
- Saving more
- Spending less
- Risk Tolerance vs Risk Capacity
- Time in the market vs Time in the Market
- Passive/Dividend Income
- Review of Market Volatility and the effect it can have on withdrawals from retirement accounts. Advice may be given on appropriate distribution strategies to minimize the likelihood of running out of money or having to adversely alter spending during your retirement year
- Passive Income Review & Planning
- Elder Health Care Care/Long Term Care Planning-effect on retirement savings
- Am I saving enough? Am I saving too much?
Tax Planning Review
- Advice may include ways to minimize current and future income taxes as a part of your overall financial planning picture. For example, recommendations may be offered as to which type of account(s) or specific investments should be owned based in part on their “tax efficiency,” with consideration that there is always a possibility of future changes to federal, state or local tax laws and rates that may impact your situation.
- Addressing the general tax considerations for transactions and ownership structures; as well as discussion of general and common tax effective and minimization strategies
- Prepare for the tax deadline by evaluating tax ramifications of income, investments, net gains/losses, deductions, and withholdings.
- Identify ways to minimize taxes on personal income to the extent permissible by the tax code. The strategy may include identification of tax-favored investment vehicles and strategies that may reduce taxation of investment income
- Identification of Tax Loss Harvesting opportunities
- Charitable Giving-Donor Advised Funds
- Discussion of gifting of highly appreciated securities vs cash
- Discussion and Identification of Backdoor ROTH IRA and Roth Conversions opportunities
Digital Asset Overview and Discussion
- Assist client in identification of all digital assets (crypto, domain names, photos, tax returns, documents, etc.)
- Discussion of best practices for cloud storage
- Hard copy storage in safe deposit box and annual update reminder
- Annual reminder to add/update Estate Planning docs as needed
Social Security Benefit Annual Review
- Assist client as needed with creating account at www.ssa.gov
- Advise clients to run and review reports to inspect any discrepancies in income previously reported.. Advise clients on necessary steps to clean up reports as needed.
- Discussion of possible strategies for maximizing their Social Security Income in relation to their overall financial and retirement planning
Credit Score Overview and Discussion
- Assist client as needed with creating account at www.annualcreditreport.com
- Advise clients to run and review reports to inspect any discrepancies. Advise clients on necessary steps to clean up reports as needed.
- Reminder to pull a credit report annually to inspect any discrepancies.
- Discussion of importance of credit monitoring, credit locking and minimization of credit checking
Annual Wrap-Up
- A look back and summary of concepts discussed, advice that was recommended, changes that were implemented and a look at overall progress towards goals