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Individual Investing
Are you waiting for your ship to come in? How did your investments perform between 2000 and 2002? Will the same thing happen if the market heads south again? For many people, it will because they are in the same investments that they were back then. Does your investment advisor tell you to buy and hold? Read on, there are some things you should know. Time and time again, when we review a new client’s investment portfolio, we see investments that do not match the client’s investment objectives or personal preferences. What do we mean?
What are risk guidelines? It’s based on your risk profile, which we obtain from a quick survey that we give periodically to all our clients. It is a guide when used in combination with a client’s investment objective enables us to develop an individually tailored portfolio for that client. Most importantly, it’s a tool that helps us know when it is time to recommend adjusting the client’s portfolio. Risk guidelines or profiles also change as we grow older. A 30% loss in account value could have a devastating impact on a couple in their 70s or 80s where a couple in their early 30s could recover those losses over time. Lastly, whenever a financial plan is put together, we make performance assumptions. Typically, these assumptions are based on past market performance. We all know that assumptions are really informed or educated guesses. So, it’s very important that we sit down periodically and review the performance of our investments and assess the validity of our original assumptions. Do you do that with your investment advisor? You need to. If those assumptions aren’t working, you should be periodically adjusting your portfolio. Still think buy and hold is the best way to go? Well, we also recommend investing for the long haul but we adjust as we go. Give us a call and ask us about a free investment analysis to see how your investments have been doing. We will run the latest analytical tools from Morningstar and provide you an unbiased and independent review. Our experts can provide advice and assistance in the following areas: Cash Flow Planning and Budgeting ____________________________________________________________________ Investment Risk Survey (click here if you want to take our investment survey) ____________________________________________________________________ Cash Flow Planning and Budgeting Cash flow analysis and budgeting are the starting point for building that nest egg. This is especially true for a young couple getting starting together. Let us you review your current income and expenses, and evaluate your debt levels so that we can then recommend cash management strategies and debt restructuring solutions. If applicable, we can also analyze various mortgage financing options. ____________________________________________________________________ Insurance Planning Insurance planning is a critical component to building that nest egg or ensuring that it lasts as long as we do once we retire. Most people just buy insurance policies because they know they need some level of protection but they don’t really understand how they can complement their investment objectives. We can help you understand how insurance can complement your investment portfolio and building your nest egg. How much insurance is appropriate for you? What risks does it offset? What is the risk if you don’t use insurance? How much can you afford? What are the different types of insurance and how do they work? For folks that are already retired, they face risks too. A big one is long term care. We help people better understand the risks they face in retirement and plan around them. We call it Quality of Life Planning. (Connect to long term care) Call us and we can conduct an unbiased and independent review of your current insurance policies and needs. As independent advisors, we are not tied to a fixed range of products or any one company. (Connect to insurance page) ____________________________________________________________________ These days, financing a college education can be an overwhelming issue for many families. Education costs have skyrocketed, with average college expenses typically rising faster than inflation. It’s never too early to start planning, preparing and saving for your child’s education. The Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) is the standard application for financial aid. Did you know that how your assets are invested can affect your child’s ability to qualify for aid? Would you like to know more? We can review the financial aid rules with you and show you how you can maximize your child’s ability to qualify for financial aid so that you can keep more of that nest egg working for you. Give us a call. ____________________________________________________________________ Saving for a comfortable retirement is a major concern of many people. People are living longer, which means there will be more retirement years to plan for, and the future of Social Security is in question. Plus, corporate retirement plans are changing. Employees are now more responsible for the financial planning of their own retirement. We help our clients in a number of ways to plan their retirement:
Taxes, taxes, taxes. They are always a major consideration. You are only legally obligated to pay your minimum tax. Most folks pay more. We can help you figure out how to minimize your tax obligation. Did you know that you can pay taxes on your Social Security benefit? Did you know that your investments can impact that? Call us ___________________________________________________________________ After spending years working hard to build that retirement nest egg, wouldn’t you want to pass most of it onto your family? What a waste it would be to pay needless taxes and probate associated fees. We highly recommend that you have a good attorney as one of your trusted advisors. If you do not, we have relationships with a number of outstanding attorneys. As part of that estate planning team, we can help you fund your legal plan by ensuring that:
The professionals at The Consultants will help you plan for the distribution of your assets, maximizing the amount your heirs receive while minimizing taxes. Some of the tools available to you include:
____________________________________________________________________ Whatever your personal investment needs may be, let The Consultants help you plan for your future now. ____________________________________________________________________ Securities offered through Main Street Securities, LLC Member NASD, SIPC. The Consultants Business Group, LLC and Main Street Securities are unaffiliated. |
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