Our Value Added Services
Our Value Added Services
Value Added Services:
- We act as a sounding board to our clients’ families and friends at no charge. If they are important to our clients, they are important to us.
- Periodic economic and/or market updates, especially when extraordinary situations occur. We help our clients tune out the noise and focus on how it truly impacts their specific financial picture.
- Checklists and Resources for widow/widowers as well as support for estate and tax strategies during these difficult times.
- Elder Care Resources - Many of our clients are considered to be the “sandwich generation” and are still launching their own children, but also have aging parents that need assistance. We provide support for that process and have a vast array of resources to help aid with these issues. This includes guides and checklists for steps that need to be taken when you have an aging parent with needs.
- We communicate directly with our clients’ mortgage lenders to help provide necessary information.
- “Outside of the box” income and distribution planning - Many of our clients have important decisions to make about pensions and or assets outside our management. We perform detailed analysis for them such as what survivorship options are most appropriate for pension plans and/or breakeven calculation for “buy-in options” to different retirement plan options offered by their employers. We also help clients determine the most tax efficient options for withdrawing from their portfolios in retirement.
- Social Security Analysis: There is no specific rule of thumb for a social security strategy and the decision is unique and specific to each family. We provide a detailed analysis and show the benefits and drawbacks regarding the different options on when to take social security benefits.
- New Car Purchase Analysis: The decision to lease or buy a car is different for everyone. We help provide guidance on what may be best for our clients given their cash flow, specific tax situation and driving habits.
- Access to our vast network of professionals including but not limited to the following:
- Mortgage brokers
- Divorce Attorneys
- Estate Planning/Elder Care Attorneys
- CPAs and/or Tax Preparers
- Insurance Specialists (including life, health, disability, long-term care and home/auto/umbrella)
- Daily Money Managers-these individuals help those with disabilities or cognitive issues manage their mail, bill-paying, and health insurance claims.
- Health & Employee Benefits Professionals
- Mortgage brokers
59 Things We Can Do For You....
Plan Your Financial Future
1. We want to care more about you and your financial well being than anyone who doesn’t share your last name.
2. Guide you to think about areas of your financial life that you may not have considered.
3. Help you prioritize your financial opportunities.
4. Help you determine realistic goals, and then map out a plan to pursue them.
5. Think outside of the box for creative alternatives that would help you pursue your goals.
6. Help to prepare a financial plan and/or an investment policy statement for you.
7. Determine how to maximize yours and/or your spouse's social security claiming strategy.
8. Review and evaluate your existing life insurance policies and if need be, help you secure the appropriate type and amount of life insurance to protect your family’s future.
9. Suggest & explain multiple options for setting up a company retirement plan.
10. At no additional charge, we can give your friends and family a 2nd opinion or be a sounding board for any financial questions they may have.
11. Help you develop a personal or family financial organizer that will allow you (and/or your family) to know whether everything is (i.e. user names, passwords, policy/account #'s etc.
12. Help you determine what your estate planning goals are and develop a strategy to work towards them.
13. Review your children’s or grandchildren’s custodial accounts, 529 plans, and college funding strategies.
14. Make sure you don't miss an IRA Required Minimum Distribution and help you calculate it and determine the best withdrawal strategy. (i.e. whih IRA account to take from and analyze whether you should withhold taxes.
15. Remind you of any upcoming important financial dates (such as quarterly tax estimates, etc.).
16. Check with you before the end of the year to identify any last-minute financial planning needs.
17. Determine best methods for funding health care expenses after retirement.
18. Leverage our experience to provide strategies and solutions you didn’t even know existed so you can potentially secure more income, reduce expenses, and get the most out of your finances.
19. If there are challenges we know you will be facing, we will be happy to reach out to you proactively to make a plan to address the challenge.
Invest With Confidence
20. Design your asset allocation framework to work towards the goals and needs outlined in your financial plan.
21. Stay informed on what's happening in the economy and investment world.
22. Monitor your investments and portfolio performance on a regular basis.
23. Review your investments in your company 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plans.
24. Review your existing IRA’s and help you get the most out of them.
25. Help determine withdrawal strategies from your assets to justify converting your investments to lifetime income, if desired and appropriate.
26. Evaluate any lending options and mortgage terms should you need them.
27. Find ways to potentially increase your income during retirement.
28. Help research and determine missing cost basis for your holdings.
29. Implement salary replacement strategies for retirement income needs.
30. Help you understand the risk level that comes with investing.
31. Provide introductions and specialized investment analysts.
Investments
32. Make sure you don't do what your emotions prompt you to do with you investments, which is typically buy high and sell low.
33. Provide diverse products and strategies that you may not even know exist and help you determine suitability.
34. Provide you with sound investment research.
35. Provide you with a personal investment analysis.
36. Determine the risk level of your existing portfolio using our advanced risk software.
37. Help you consolidate, organize and simplify your investments.
38. Provide you with investment research that is relevant and easy to understand.
39. Provide access and perhaps introductions best in class money managers.
40. Show you how to access your statements and other financial information online.
41. Consolidate investments for easier record keeping.
42. Maintain diversification not only through asset classes but also through correlations.
Evaluate Your Tax Situation
43. Help you invest inside each type of account in the most tax efficient manner.
44. Suggest alternatives to potentially lower your taxes during retirement.
45. Suggest investments that may help you reduce your taxes, such as tax-free bonds, deferred products, etc.
46. Collaborate with your tax and legal advisors to help you work towards your financial goals.
Serve You
47. Monitor changes in your life and family situation and how they can impact your finances.
48. Proactively keep in touch with you on a regular basis.
49. Explain and define any financial terms or concepts you have struggled to understand.
50. Provide referrals to other professionals, such as accountants and attorneys.
51. Share the experience of hundreds of other clients who have faced circumstances similar to yours.
52. Help with generational planning to make sure your wishes and financial plan are honored throughout the generations.
53. Facilitate the transfer of investments from individual names to trust, or from an owner through beneficiaries.
54. Keep track of your progress in regards to goals, etc.
55. Identify your savings shortfalls and determine ways to address the issue.
56. Identify bad debt vs. good debt and make a plan for reducing the debt in a sensible order.
57. Function as an experienced sounding board for ideas you are considering.
58. Help you avoid costly mistakes based on fear, rather than education.
59. Be available for you and your family so that you can focus on what really matters.
All investing involves risk including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss. There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.