Comprehensive Financial Planning

Through the initial consultation, I learn about your personal situation including your goals and objectives. I use the initial consultation to determine which services you want to use, my fees and the timeline of the work to be done. The services I offer include the following (it is up to you to pick which ones you want to have done).

• Cash Flow and Debt Management
  • Historical Cash Flow Statement - create a historical cash flow statement based on your past income and expenses.
  • Historical Balance Sheet - create a balance sheet considering all your assets (things you own) and liabilities (things you owe to others).
  • Projected Cash Flow and Balance Sheet - project what both your cash flow statement and balance sheet might look like in the future based on the status quo and based on certain recommendations I will make to you.
  • Analysis – I will show how you compare to others in a similar situation as your own using financial ratios and by benchmarking. This will be done with your current situation as well as your projected situation.
  • Emergency Fund – based on your situation, I will recommend either increasing or decreasing your emergency fund.
  • Debt Management – I will analyze your current debt level and make possible recommendations about which debt should be eliminated and in what order.
• Retirement Planning
  • Goals – Together we will determine your anticipated retirement age, how long you think you will live, what legacy you want to have and go over what type of lifestyle you want in retirement.
  • Funding – figure out what sources of income you anticipate having in retirement (pensions, social security, annuities, retirement investment accounts, other investments, etc.).
  • Expenses – estimate your expected expenses based on the lifestyle you wish to have.
  • Feasibility – based on the goals you desire, see if your funding will be sufficient to cover your anticipated expenses.
• Education Funding
  • Goals – go over your assumptions about funding your children’s and/or grandchildren’s education needs. These will include what type of school (private, public, in-state, out of state, graduate), length of time in school and where they will live.
  • Expenses – based on your goals determine the total cost of reaching your education goals.
  • Funding – establish the amount of annual savings needed to fund your education goals.
• Tax Planning
  • Analysis – look at past and projected future tax liabilities to determine if the withholding amounts make sense.
  • Planning – determine the appropriate mix of investments in tax deferred and taxable investment accounts.
  • Tax Professional – decide if consultation with a qualified tax professional is needed. I may be able to recommend a qualified tax professional for your particular needs.
• Estate Planning
  • Review – look over the estate planning documents you already have to determine if you are meeting your estate planning objectives.
  • Educate – discuss the benefits of possibly establishing a will, trust, power of attorney, advanced health care directive and other related documents.
  • Lawyer – you should consult a lawyer whenever you initiate or update estate planning documents.
• Risk Management
  • Evaluate – review your current insurance policies (life, health, disability, auto, homeowners/renters, liability, long term care) to see if you any adjustments should be made. Recommended adjustments will be based on industry standards and your risk tolerance.
• Investment Analysis
  • I will determine your risk tolerance (the comfort level you have with losing money versus making money) and your ability to take on risk. Based on this information along with your investment time horizon I will analyze your investment portfolio to make sure you are properly diversified and have the correct asset allocation.

Investment Management

I will create an individually tailored investment portfolio based on your needs. I will create an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) based on your particular objectives (growth, income, growth and income, maximize capital appreciation), goals, time horizon, tax considerations and risk tolerance.  You may also impose restrictions on the types of investments you want to be made. The IPS will dictate the asset allocation that will be used to create and manage your portfolio.