Do You Have a Financial Game Plan?
No matter the stage of life or state of emotion you are currently in, there exists an opportunity to bring an efficient financial structure to your existing assets and current monthly cash flow. With each life event, as an individual or family, there are questions to answer regarding proper and efficient investment, tax, and estate planning. Whether you are building wealth or preparing to turn in your wage-earner card, a financial game plan helps to reduce uncertainty, mitigate risk, and prepare you for the next season of life. Let Financial Planner LA David Rae help guide you through these important steps.
Spend a moment thinking about the importance of preparation. Hours will be spent on your next big work presentation. You and your spouse will be diligent in the details of buying your first home or having your first child. You will clean your home from top to bottom prior to hosting a holiday party. So much of people’s time is spent in anticipation of the next event. Many have said, “Success is when preparation meets opportunity.” LA Financial Planner David Rae wants to provide you with the same level of diligence and preparation with a comprehensive plan focused on your highest priorities and concerns.
The Big Seven Pieces to Upping Your Financial Planning Game Plan
In helping you develop a solid financial game plan, fiduciary David Rae tackles seven major areas of fiscal activity with knowledge and finesse: Budgeting and cash flow, balance sheet, retirement, education, risk management, tax planning, and estate planning. How does he do it?
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Budgeting and Cash Flow:
Addresses money in and money out. By knowing where your money comes from and where it goes, you can prepare yourself for the critical savings plan you need to reach your goals. -
Balance Sheet:
Analyzes your current assets and liabilities. Balance sheet management controls paying down debt and determining what assets you have where. How are they invested? What risks are they exposed to? What are their tax treatments? How can these items be improved? How can you pay less in taxes? -
Retirement:
How to maintain financial freedom during your retirement golden years. The cornerstone of many people’s financial game plans, this may require years of advance to accrue the necessary benefits and assets for a solid and secure retirement. -
Education:
Secures higher learning for children and grandchildren. No matter how you intend to pay for your child’s education (or have them pay), having a plan for this increasingly large expenditure is critical to long-term planning. -
Risk Management:
Determines the upsides and downsides of investments and asset classes. Whether it be market risk, inflation risk, interest rate risk, or a variety of others, a solid multi-faceted financial plan will help you understand your risks and choose the ones that are reasonable, given your temperament, goals, and time frame. -
Proactive Tax planning:
Optimizes best-case-scenario strategies. Because of the variety of account and investment types and their various tax treatments, understanding the tax implications of your options is key to making solid decisions over time. -
Estate planning:
Puts the family in the picture. While too many people think they aren’t wealthy enough for estate planning, it is important for every family. Estate planning involves making sure your assets go exactly to whom you intend and ensuring that your beneficiaries avoid unnecessary probate expenditures.
The Financial Game Plan is All About You
Fiduciary David Rae’s financial game plans come in a variety of forms depending on you and your needs. Possibilities include (but are not restricted to):
- a comprehensive path that addresses the intersection of various asset classes, risk planning, and tax mitigation over time. Good for complex plans but might be overwhelming for people early in their careers.
- technology tracking to aggregate financial data all in one place. From your bank accounts to your budgets, investment accounts, and financial goals, an organized system becomes your month-to-month “playbook” as it tracks your progress digitally and instantaneously. Since the financial organization is the first step to financial progress, this is valuable for clients at every level of wealth.
- a clear and stable budget combined with an accountable savings plan. This is ideal for someone just getting started and paves the way for future growth.
Questions LA Financial Planner David Rae will be able to help you answer:
- Will my assets generate enough income in retirement based on my current standard of living and what I want to do in retirement?
- How can I not run out of money in retirement?
- What are my options for college planning?
- How should I plan for long-term care after having to take care of my parents for the last several years?
- What about Social Security? Is my estate plan correct?
- How early can I actually retire?
- Will my money last the rest of my life?
- Should I buy a house?
- How do I achieve financial independence?
Just as any great coach calls the shots on the field, families and individuals should consider a seasoned accountability coach to help them sort through these numerous questions, dissect the next best step, and then execute the financial game plan. It is the perfect blend of what you will do, can do, and should do. Once the structure is in place, you can emotionally relax, trust your training, and know your money is working for you. Side note, speaking of coaches, by the time David Rae was born, his father, Mike Rae, had won a Superbowl with the Raiders and National Championship with USC. Playing for legends like John Madden and John McKay.
A solid financial game plan can come in a variety of forms. In some cases, it is a comprehensive written document that addresses the intersection of various asset classes, risk planning, and tax mitigation over time. These can be very useful for complex plans but can sometimes be overwhelming for people early in their careers. In other situations, it is critical to use technology to aggregate your data all in one place. From your bank accounts to your budgets to your investment accounts to your financial goals, it can be extremely valuable to have a fiduciary financial advisor work with this kind of technology to help keep track of your “playbook” month-to-month and track your progress digitally and instantaneously. And for some, the game plan starts more simply. A clear and stable budget, combined with an accountable savings plan, can make a big difference in getting a plan going.
Certainly, adjustments will need to be made over time. You can count on the fact that your “opponents” will shift. The primary enemies we face in financial planning are time and risk: market, business/entity, inflation, health care, and longevity. Every time a financial event happens, your priorities change, your nest egg fluctuates, and your concerns have a different perspective. This requires minor adjustments in the game plan. For this reason, a “set it and forget it” game plan rarely works for many Americans and why the ongoing service of a qualified advisor like David Rae CFP® AIF® is key.
Planning is progress, not perfection. David Rae CFP® AIF® will help you begin with the end in mind, then work backward around your goals within the appropriate time frames. He will be a resource for you today and as your plan grows and evolves over time. Needs change as our lives evolve, and our intention is to grow and evolve with you.
Through these seven areas, planning principles are applied to your goals based on your unique storyline, motivation to reach said goals, and the complexity of your situation. Based on this, fiduciary financial planner David Rae will develop concepts for organizing your wealth and savings plan, followed by a selection of products and services suited to your unique game plan. Our technology and systems in place allow the firm to service a broader reach of clients with greater depth. As an independent firm, DRM Wealth Management doesn’t own or have an ownership interest in any products or services, so your plan will be designed with only your unique needs in mind. Then, with collaborative relationships both in the office and out of the office, through advisory teams and strategic relationships with CPAs and estate attorneys, your specific situation will be met with full, complete planning.
Return to the original uneasy feeling of not being prepared. Now, picture walking into the office, your home, or being on vacation with confidence and clarity, knowing your financial questions have been answered and you are now working towards priorities you set out to accomplish. There will never be a perfect time to get started, and changing the status quo is difficult, so in most cases, the best time to take a look at the game plan is now.