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Data Collection, Financial Statement Review, and Document Review:
Prior to starting our planning review, we gather all your relevant financial information including cash flow, net worth, investment statements, tax returns, life/disability policies, and estate documents. We review your imminent financial issues as well as discuss your long-term plans.
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Financial & Life Goals:
Prioritization and clarification of these goals takes place through structured exercises.
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Cash Flow/Budgeting:
We provide assistance in compiling both current and projected income and expense data and, if appropriate, recommend strategies to improve the management of expenses.
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Retirement Sufficiency Analysis:
We review your long term cash flow projections. Out goal is to provide you with a firm understanding of how much you need to save if you are pre-retirement and how much you can spend each year if you are already retired or financially independent. We are able to create multiple “what if” scenarios so that you also understand how changes in the assumptions impact the long term. For example, you might want to understand the consequences of early retirement, buying a second home or gifting per year to each of your children or grandchildren.
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Education and Other Goals:
We identify funding needs for differing levels of education costs, clarify the parents ability to pay, and suggest college savings vehicles as appropriate for the clients situation.
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Tax Return Review & Planning Opportunities:
We estimate your tax liability for the current year, review your most current tax return and make suggestions designed to improve your tax situation, when possible.
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Life, Disability & Liability Insurance:
If appropriate, we will help determine how much specific insurance is necessary to cover unmanageable risks. Recommendations of which kind of policy is most appropriate will be provided.
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Long Term Care Insurance:
If appropriate, we will help determine how much specific insurance is necessary and make recommendations to specific plans and explain them.
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Real Estate Planning:
We can help evaluate a potential purchase of investment property or tax impact of sale. Alternative solutions can be investigated such as 1031 exchange of investment properties or a Private Annuity Trust to avoid tax. An analysis of the benefits of rental real estate can be provided. Mortgage financing possibilities can be researched when applicable.
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Estate Planning:
We audit present estate documents and provide referrals to attorneys when a client does not have estate documents or requires changes in their existing documents. We determine if estate tax appears a possibility now or in the future and suggest techniques to reduce tax and accomplish a clients estate distribution objectives.
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Coordination of Process:
We provide a system to organize the reports generated during the financial planning process. Our recommendations and actions tasks are generated after each meeting and provided to the client in the form of meeting notes.
