RETIREMENT, ESTATE & TAX PLANNING

RETIREMENT PLANNING

Clients define retirement differently. Retirement can mean stop working completely, or it can be defined as a point in which one has accumulated the necessary amount of wealth to be able to stop working and continue to maintain a desired quality of life.

Retirement planning involves consideration of current net worth, anticipated annual expenditures, as well as annual contributions to retirement plans and investment portfolios between now and the desired “retirement date”. Assumptions to the plan such as expected rates of return, inflation rates, taxes and other expenses are considered in order to determine amounts of additional investment if necessary or varying levels of risk to have the highest probability of achieving financial goals.

ESTATE PLANNING

Clients spend many years accumulating wealth or work to achieve the liquidity event that results in more immediate wealth. Ensuring that their efforts result in a positive impact on the lives of their children, grandchildren, and generations beyond is why we execute an estate plan.

Estate planning may be as simple as creating a living trust to avoid probate, taking advantage of the available unified credits to minimize estate taxes, and ensuring the desired disposition of one’s estate.

Depending on the size of a client’s estate, consideration of other more advanced estate planning techniques may be suitable such as Irrevocable Insurance Trusts, Charitable Remainder Trusts or Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts. Integration of a client’s business succession plan is an important piece of the estate plan when applicable.

The firm works with a number of attorneys who specialize in estate planning to refer clients to when it is determined in the discovery stage that estate planning work is necessary. If a relationship with a referred attorney is established by a client, it is separate from that of the firm although the firm typically acts as lead advisor for oversight of the execution of the plan as a component of the total wealth management plan.

TAX PLANNING

The firm is not qualified to render tax advice, but does seek to manage portfolios in a tax efficient manner when suitable for a client. For example, tax-free bonds may be utilized in a taxable account when the taxable equivalent yield available for a client in a high tax bracket is higher than the taxable yields available. When considering equity funds and managers for a client’s taxable accounts, factors exhibiting tax efficiency such as low security turnover may be emphasized.

We believe that your CPA or tax attorney provides a helpful “checks and balance” perspective of the investment process and other wealth management components that we put in place for you as our client. We like to work in concert with your tax advisor to ensure that we are achieving the highest net returns for your estate year after year. We maintain a network of tax professionals that we work with and can refer you to if necessary.

INCOME & ASSET PROTECTION

Strategies to protect a family’s source of income from loss due to death or disability of the family’s income providers are critical. Life and Disability Insurance is utilized when appropriate to protect income for a client’s family. Both group benefits available from a client’s business as well as individual policies are considered to achieve the desired level of coverage with the least outlay. The firm chooses to work with only the highest rated companies when writing insurance for clients.

TX Insurance Lic#1548876, CA Insurance Lic# 0B21482