When I think about True Wealth, I picture myself towards the end of my life looking back. I know that I really have reached True Wealth when I can be at peace with my life. I want to feel that I had done all that I can to provide for my family and make the world a better place. I want to be able to look back and say I’m glad I did, rather than I wish I had.
What I love about being a Wealth Advisor, rather than a pure Investment Advisor, is that our teams’ recommendations have a purpose that is far greater than purely trying to make a positive return in clients’ portfolios and we offer more than just financial management advice. We help people live out their lives to the fullest and use wealth as a tool to pursue their goals. For most people, the primary goal is to live comfortably in retirement and provide for their families. At our firm, we dig a little deeper. We help clients create a personal financial plan and implement goals to help you reach a higher purpose for your wealth.
I normally start by asking my clients about their bucket lists. For example, we have clients that wanted to travel more and they had questions about their budget for travel. First, though our Wealth Planning process we showed them the impact of spending a dedicated amount on travel per year for the rest of their estimated lives. This process helped them determine if they could afford to allocate more towards travel and leisure. After defining how much they could comfortably spend, we asked them where they would like to go. It was fun to see their wheels starting to turn as they pictured where they wanted to go. This is a perfect example of how through personal financial management, our team used their wealth as a tool to address a bucket list item!
How do we help our clients achieve True Wealth? We follow a process called the Wealth Designed. Life Defined. process. The first step starts with the client or prospective client. We ask them to define their goals and what makes them happy. This could be travel, like the example above, or an assortment of goals like paying for their children’s or grandchildren’s college education, or deciding on a retirement date, or understanding the best way to effectively pass their business on to their children…etc. Once we define our clients’ goals, we find out what financial resources they have and understand their risk tolerance. We aggregate all of their information and use our Wealth Enhancement Group to develop a dynamic Wealth Plan and Family Index Number. Their individualized Family Index Number is the rate of return they need to make on their portfolio assets to live out their life’s dreams and goals. During the wealth planning process, we help them assess life’s trade-offs by showing the long-term impact of many different financial decisions. Our next step in personal wealth management is to allocate their investable assets into a combination of personalized investment strategies that match their risk tolerance and seek to pursue a long-term rate of return concurrent with their Family Index Number.
We understand that goals change and the world is ever-changing. This means that the process is on-going and our clients’ financial plans are never static; they are living and breathing. We act as our clients’ soundboard and counsel them when important decisions arise. We also proactively communicate with our clients to make changes to their Wealth Plan when it is in their best interest.
While I would argue that the Wealth Designed. Life Defined. process is a more extensive process than pure investment management, it allows us to confidently help you make decisions that are in your best interest so you can pursue your True Wealth!
No strategy assures success or protects against loss. Investing involves risk including loss of principal.
