Long-term financial planning has never been more complex, especially for individuals who have accumulated substantial wealth. Creating a comprehensive financial plan that balances your personal and financial goals is not simple, though it is a vital step for preserving your capital and creating a path toward achieving your family's financial goals.
A financial plan balances your personal and financial goals. A financial plan – in concert with advice from a team of your advisors – will address your broad accumulation, preservation, and wealth transfer needs while respecting your desire to maintain your accustomed lifestyle. A comprehensive financial plan focuses on your 'big picture' in the long-term, plotting a course to manage life events such as retirement, charitable giving and estate planning. It examines every element of your financial situation:
• Cash flow and debt management
• Risk management
• Asset accumulation & preservation
• Retirement planning
• Education funding
• Charitable giving
• Estate planning & transfer
A comprehensive financial plan can illuminate the advantages and disadvantage of your current financial situation versus your goals and suggest alternatives for you to meet your objectives.
As with your other professional advisors – such as your lawyer or accountant – a Financial Advisor is a specialist qualified to provide you with an elite level of service and manage complex relationships. A Financial Advisor will work with you to craft a plan structured to meet your goals, supported by four key principles:
• A thorough understanding of your short-term, immediate and long-term goals;
• The ability to manage complex financial and life planning issues;
• A commitment to balanced, diversified investment planning; and
• The skill to recommend appropriate tactical financial moves.
He or she is also versed at working in a team environment and will actively solicit the advice and support of all your trusted advisors.
Effective financial planing is part science, part art. If you work with a Financial Advisor, he or she will guide you through a series of steps:
Discovery – He or she listens to your concerns and addresses them by identifying reasonable goals. Along the way, he or she will gather facts about your situation and may help you gain a deeper understanding of financial issues that are relevant to your future.
Planning – A thoughtful analysis is conducted and financial strategies are developed. These strategies are modeled and validated with your attorney, accountant and/or any other trusted advisor.
Delivery – Your Financial Advisor will deliver your final plan for your review and approval. This plan specifically defines the actions and strategies that you should take to achieve your goals.
Implementation – Perhaps the most important step is acting on the advice. You are under no obligation to purchase any financial products from a financial advisor – however, he or she can provide access to quality insurance and investment products to help secure your financial future if you feel it is appropriate.
Monitoring – Change is a constant. Once you've implemented a plan, it must be monitored for progress. Over time, changes may need to be made to adjust to different economic, legal or life events. Your Financial Advisor will help you identify those opportunities to make the transition to adapt to these changes and keep your goals on target.
Your Financial Advisor can act as a single resource to help you organize and consolidate all of your financial information, enabling you to make better-informed decisions about your future. A Financial Advisor can:
Consolidate your financial position into a single view, overseen by a single resource;
• Provide high-level customized personal service;
• Anticipate potential tax, wealth preservation, and estate planning problems;
• Provide expert investment advice to help you build your financial and lifestyle options;
• Help you understand the impact of the complexities of wealth building, and estate and succession planning.
Your Financial Advisor can help you organize your assets, refine your asset allocation strategy, review and update your insurance coverage, and deliver a fully-integrated financial plan. In short, he or she can help you manage wealth over the long-term to augment your ability to achieve your goals.
