We help individuals, families and businesses focus on protection and wealth strategies by acting as macro managers and coordinating financial decisions, leveraging the power of earned income and creating wealth without additional out-of-pocket expenses. We are an independent firm, which works with you to develop strategies which are designed to create more wealth and happiness... and objectives, and to give you the permission slip to live the life that you want to live.
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A mutual fund pools money from many investors who share the same investment objective as the fund. Mutual funds give everyday investors a variety of investment opportunities. Investor's in Mutual funds benefit from the knowledge and experience of professional investment managers who are dedicated to security analysis, evaluation and selection. Investors can have immediate access to their money by selling shares at the fund's net asset value. Because mutual funds generally invest in a wide range of securities, like stocks and bonds, they provide easy diversification. And because mutual funds are sold in shares, no matter how much you invest, you own a proportionate amount of all the fund's holdings. Custody, tax reporting and record keeping are among the many ser-vices mutual fund companies provide in a highly cost-effective manner.
A variable annuity is a personal retirement strategy that can provide you with a solid foundation for your financial future. You may choose among a full range of professionally managed investment portfolios. Your investment return will then fluctuate over time reflecting the performance of the investment portfolios you choose. Your variable annuity investment provides for tax-deferred growth. You don't pay any current taxes on earnings until they are withdrawn. One of the most unique aspects of a variable annuity is the guarantee you can place on your investments. Variable annuities often provide investment value protection by offering guaranteed death and living benefits. The death benefit guarantees investment amounts for your beneficiaries and living benefits protect investments amounts for you. Additionally, to protect against outliving your income, all variable annuities provide for lifetime income options, which can spread taxation over a lifetime.* Before purchasing any annuity, you should carefully review the prospectus and consult with your advisor to learn more about the contract options, riders, and charges, as well as any of the risks that may be associated with the particular product.
*Based on the claims paying ability of the issuer.
IRAs and 401ks
Individual Retirement Accounts are popular mechanisms to supplement our retirement. With concerns about the solvency of Social Security and the loss of pensions being offered in the workplace, IRAs need to be invested in a manner consistent with your risk tolerance and investment objectives. We can help you select the right IRA, including SEP and Roth IRAs. We can also set up for your own business or your company a 401k or profit-sharing plan.
Pension Plans
Business owners want to retain good employees and create incentives for loyalty and compensate employees for long-term commitment to the company. There are strategies to help companies develop pension or retirement programs that foster workplace loyalty and help provide for the employee's financial safety and security.
Real Estate Investment Services
We help clients determine whether commercial real estate may be an appropriate asset class for their portfolio. An appropriately selected real estate asset can meet needs for current income, capital preservation, capital appreciation, and portfolio diversification for a wide range of investors. These investment programs employ core, value-added, and opportunistic investment strategies. For example, non-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) offer the opportunity of diversifying into an investment with a low correlation to the stock market. In a sense, this can be a way to “own real estate” without the headaches of being a landlord. Some business owners and investors may wish to engage in a 1031 exchange of property that may be off-market and not available through normal channels.
Estate Planning
We will assist you and your accountant and estate planning attorney in the design and implementation of programs that seek to ensure that your wealth is passed along to family or others, with the goal of reducing the negative impact of estate or inheritance taxes. This service enables you to plan your personal estate to help ensure maximum distribution and conservation to future generations. We also assist you in making sure that your wishes and intentions are carried out by working in conjunction with your estate planning attorney. Retirement Planning
Having the ability to retire comfortably and free from financial pressures remains the main issue for most of our clients - both business owners and employees. It is critical that the retirement strategy be properly designed, implemented, communicated and administered. Retirement strategies are dynamic, changing as client's businesses and tax laws change. Those strategies demand continued and careful analysis, IRS compliance review and administration. The appropriateness of a "qualified" or "non-qualified" plan for any individual is determined based on the individual's existing financial condition, as well as on his or her goals and dreams.
College Funding
Do you dream of your child or grandchild going to college? Higher education comes with a high price tag, but it's an expense you can meet through proper financial planning. Let us help you calculate college costs, evaluate funding options and create an education strategy tailored to your goals. We will work with you in analyzing whether your current savings strategy will cover your child's college expenses.
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- State-sponsored college savings plans (529s)
- Education Savings Accounts
- Traditional and Roth IRAs
- Custodial accounts (UGMA/UTMA)
- Education Trusts
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Wills and Trusts are just tools in the larger process of "estate planning." There is an unfortunate, widespread misconception that this topic is a subject of interest only to the very wealthy. In fact, an estate strategy provides the legal mechanism for disposing of property upon death in a way that recognizes your wishes and the needs of your survivors, while minimizing taxes. For many this involves, even more importantly, planning for the handling of affairs in case of disability, as well as, the deeply personal medical choices to be made as life nears its end. Trusts can play an important role in providing order to your financial affairs, assisting with your tax planning, simplifying your estate settlement and providing guidance for your family and other heirs.
Life Insurance Ownership Management
Insurance is an important part of a complete financial strategy. It protects your heirs in the event of your death, and it can protect you in the event of a disability. We can help you determine what type of coverage is best for you. We can provide access to insurance products, including term life, whole life, universal life, variable life, survivorship, single premium, long-term care and long-term disability insurance. As you build relationships and share financial information with us, we are in a unique position to provide guidance and determine which insurance products are best for you.
There's a good chance that you may need to pay for nursing home, assisted living or home health care one day. In fact, more than half of the U.S. population will require long-term care at some point in their lives. Long-term care involves helping you with the most intimate aspects of your life, like what and where you'll eat and your personal hygiene. Unfortunately, this kind of care is expensive. You probably shouldn't assume that Uncle Sam will help. Medicare does not cover most long-term care costs, and Medicaid benefits are only available to you when you've depleted all of your assets. We can help you protect yourself against long-term care expenses with the appropriate coverage.
Employee Benefits
Providing an employee benefits package that includes quality, affordable health care coverage continues to be one of the greatest challenges for today's employers. We put our considerable experience in this field to work on delivering alternatives to our clients. We evaluate the design of different benefits packages to achieve the best pricing structure and advice on implementing such options as cafeteria plans that allow for employee cost-sharing through tax deductible contributions. As well, we administer the benefits program, assisting employers with the claims filing procedure.
A Buy-Sell Agreement is simply a written agreement made between the partner or shareholders of the business specifying buy-out provisions caused by such things as death, disability, divorce, bankruptcy, voluntary termination, company dissolution, etc. The execution of a Buy-Sell Agreement secures a number of very tangible benefits for the shareholders, including:
- Continuity of management and control for the remaining owners
- A ready market for typically non-marketable business interests
- Liquidity to the decedent's estate for estate taxes and administration costs
- A fair valuation of the business interest for federal estate tax purposes
- A fair return to the decedent's estate for his/her business interests
Business Succession Planning
A key goal of many of our business owner clients is to someday transfer their business interest to either family members or key employees. Properly done, this type of planning can offer to both the current and successor owner a worry free, tax efficient method of business succession.
Furthermore, the loss of a business owner through death or disability can catch even the most efficiently managed small companies off guard and, worse, unprepared to deal with the repercussions. Family businesses, in particular, are susceptible to erosion of capital due to estate taxes and legal fees, not to mention the possible hurdles of voting control being scattered among heirs, with conflicting points of view impeding the business' operation and growth.
We can provide a professional evaluation of your current situation that will help avoid future problems involved in business succession planning.
Non-qualified deferred compensation programs, typically employed to provide supplemental retirement benefits to senior management, include selective incentive plans, wherein the company makes contributions to fund the plan on behalf of selected employees. Executive Compensation plans are a popular vehicle to attract and retain key individuals of your company.
Risk Management Analysis
Implementing a risk management program is fundamental to a company's ability to protect itself against the loss of key personnel through death or disabling injury or sickness. We offer expertise on selecting life and disability insurance coverage for such a program.
We conduct a financial security analysis to determine the appropriate level of protection for companies and their key executives, which encompasses evaluating risk management needs and balancing them with living or wealth accumulation objectives. We design risk management programs to be affordable, to meet corporate and individual needs, and to be flexible enough to allow for a change as needs change. Our analysis also involves a review of any existing coverage to ensure it is cost effective and includes up-to-date features.
Through risk management analysis, we can deliver solutions in the form of policies valued and designed according to our clients' needs.
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