1. CLARIFYING VALUES & SETTING GOALS
Before any investing is done, we help clarify your values and goals. What’s most important to you? What are your highest priorities and why? Knowing and getting in touch with your deepest values helps you set the proper goals, and then helps us develop a plan to achieve them.
2. INVESTMENT PLANNING & MANAGEMENT
Once we understand your values and have established your goals, we design your investment plan. However, an investment plan is only as good as a person’s ability to stick with it, so we consider your emotional risk tolerance when determining how to invest your portfolio. We understand that successful investing is as much mastering the mental game as it is the financial.
We believe it is in our client’s best interest to act as investors, and not as speculators. We believe the principles of successful investing are actually quite boring on a day-to-day basis – that successful long-term investing is less like gambling and more like planting a tree. As economist Paul Samuelson has said, “If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Vegas.”
3. INSURANCE PLANNING
Life is unpredictable. Insurance protects you and your loved ones. A solid financial plan incorporates the right types of insurance, in the right amounts, in the right seasons of life. Will you need life insurance when you are raising your family? Will you need Long Term Care insurance for your golden years? We look at your entire financial picture and see how these fit into place for you and your loved ones.
4. LIABILITY MANAGEMENT
Your liabilities are what you currently owe – mortgages, college loans, credit cards, business and auto loans, for example. Managing your liabilities effectively is an essential part of your financial plan. Debt must be managed carefully and responsibly as part of your overall long-term financial plan. Knowing the interest rate you’re paying, the terms and the duration of any loans is essential in managing your debt properly.
5. RETIREMENT INCOME & QUALIFIED ACCOUNTS
Retirement income planning is one of the most common financial goals. Your plan will incorporate your qualified accounts such as Traditional and Roth IRAs, 401Ks and 403bs, SEPs and SIMPLES. We also include other deferred accounts such as fixed and variable annuities. And when it comes to retirement income planning, it is still essential to navigate the income streams that may come from defined benefit plans and Social Security. Your plan will include all sources together to do probabilistic forecasting, giving you multiple options as to you when you can retire and how much you can spend.
6. BUSINESS SUCCESSION PLANS
Is your succession plan in place? How will your successor purchase your business when you retire? What would happen to your business if you were to die or become incapacitated? We can discuss strategies to facilitate a smooth transition beyond your ownership.
7. TRUSTS, WILLS & POWERS OF ATTORNEY
Who will handle your financial affairs if you are unable? Having your attorney create your will, trust or power of attorney is an important first step in delegating your authority. Having your Financial Advisor aware and familiar with these documents, and prepared to perform the daily management in accordance with them is what brings your vision to reality.
8. GIFTING TO CHILDREN & DEPENDENTS
Whether it be for college, special needs, or simply to remove assets from your taxable estate, there are a variety of gifting options to make tax efficient gifts to your children or other dependents as part of your overall financial plan.
9. CHARITABLE GIVING
Do you “give as you go”, or are you looking for a more elaborate charitable gifting plan such as a Donor Advised Fund or Family Foundation? We can help you take advantage of the charitable strategy that best allows you to leave a legacy of giving.
10. TITLING OF ASSETS
Making sure your assets are titled properly is essential in making sure that your financial plan unfolds according to your wishes. Whether the motive is avoiding probate, or making sure the correct person has control at the desired time, titling your assets properly is an important part of the financial planning process.
11. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATION
Having all your proper documents prepared is certainly important. Making them easily accessible to your family in the time of need is another. We help you organize your documents so that in a time of need, documents are easy to locate, simplifying the processing of insurance claims, or establishing trustees so your family can focus on other matters.
12. AGING WITH GRACE
There may come a day where you may need to hand over control to your adult children, or other family member. How can this be done gracefully, without family quarrelling? The key is to proactively have these discussions before the time comes. Do your children know what's important to you? Do you know what's important to your children? Leading your care directives now and establishing ground rules ahead of time can help your family should you need care later in life. Knowing what you prefer gives them confidence that they are making choices that are pleasing to you. With 20 years of working with retirees, we help you navigate these talks with your children, or with your parents.
13. DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH AT DEATH
Whether reviewing the beneficiaries of your retirement accounts, to organizing your life insurance policies, you want things to go smoothly and properly upon your death. If you have a trust, we work with the successor trustee in distributing the trust according to the parameters set forth in your trust document. If you have IRAs, we discuss the most tax-efficient strategies available for inheriting an IRA and then help your beneficiaries implement those strategies properly over time.
14. INTRODUCTIONS
Our Wealth Management Issues work best when we work together with your Legal Advisors and Tax Advisors. While we will not contact your other advisors without your permission, we highly recommend the team approach and do our best work in concert with your other advisors. We highly value our network of attorneys and accountants. Should you choose to work with us, please feel assured we will treat your other advisors with the utmost regard and respect.
15. SERVICE ENHANCEMENT
The financial services industry is aSERVICE industry. It is our pleasure to serve you, whether helping you understand your statement, walking through the website, or simply discussing the intricacies of planning or investing. Each client is unique and we look forward to the unique ways we can serve you. You are the reason we are here and we are here to serve.
16. BEYOND WEALTH
Wealth itself doesn't deliver meaning or purpose. What do you want your legacy to be? How can you use your wealth to help you achieve this legacy? We are here to help you achieve your vision.
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Opinions expressed are those of Steven M. Partyka and are not necessarily those of Raymond James. All opinions are as of this date and are subject to change without notice. The information herein has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but we do not offer any guarantees as to its accuracy or completeness. Neither the information nor any opinion expressed constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security.
