Planning
FINANCIAL PLANNING
Individual Planning
Our financial planning process helps you clarify and refine your goals, develop a step-by-step plan for working toward those goals and track your progress over time. Our team includes several CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals who have the knowledge, experience and training to provide comprehensive financial planning services to help you balance your needs of today with your dreams for the future.
Financial planning addresses all areas of your financial life, including:
Current Financial Position
Conflicting financial demands such as saving for retirement, purchasing a home, raising or educating a child, or caring for aging parents can be overwhelming. A clear understanding of where you are today is the first step in any financial plan.
Education
The costs of education can be staggering and have been increasing much faster than inflation. We help clients understand alternative funding strategies including financial aid and 529 college savings plans as well as the true cost of student loan debt.
Retirement Income Planning
Social Security benefits, employer-sponsored plans and personal retirement savings, including investments, IRAs and annuities, typically combine to comprise the retirement income for most Americans. Deciding which retirement choices will serve you best can be daunting. We can guide you to the options that will support and enhance your overall investment and tax strategies, both before and during retirement.
Social Security Planning/Benefit Optimization
The goal of Social Security planning is to help you, your spouse and your survivors obtain all the benefits to which you are entitled. Strategies such as file and suspend or filing restricted applications (i.e., file now and file for more later) could provide additional income amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime.
Risk Management
Risk can take many forms including illness, accident, liability and natural disasters, to name a few. Failing to manage risk properly may jeopardize your financial future. That’s why smart financial planning evaluates the various levels and types of insurance you need to support your goals.
Tax Planning
Effective tax management is a critical part of financial planning and investment management. We work with your CPA and estate attorney to develop appropriate tax strategies with the goal of helping you pay no more than your fair share of income and estate taxes.
Estate Planning
Effective estate management enables you to manage your affairs during your lifetime while providing instructions for your end of life care and controlling the distribution of your wealth after death. The use of trusts and life insurance can both reduce your future estate tax as well as pay that tax at a substantially discounted rate.
BUSINESS PLANNING & SUCCESSION PLANNING
We apply a holistic approach to business planning and succession planning, helping you protect your business and family, plan for retirement, prepare for your eventual exit, and improve your tax situation.
Business planning addresses your current business situation while succession planning is longer term.
We can help with your current business needs that involve:
Insurance and risk management
- Key person life coverage
- Buy/sell agreement funding
- Company Owned Life Insurance (COLI)
- Business overhead disability protection
Retirement plans
- 401(k), Profit Sharing Plans
- Defined Benefit and Cash Balance pension plans
- Non-Qualified, Supplemental Retirement Plans
We can help with your Succession Planning by helping you:
- Define your goals
- Determine the likely type of future buyout (Family member / Employee(s) / Third Party)
- Assess, improve and retain internal management
- Build a team of professional advisors
