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What Exactly is Wealth Management?
WHAT EXACTLY IS WEALTH MANAGEMENT?
The two words signify a far-reaching kind of financial care.
There’s financial planning, and then there’s wealth management. Think of wealth management as a step up from garden-variety financial planning. One office provides a range of services for a client: personal financial planning and investment management, tax reduction and estate planning strategies, and occasionally in-house legal resources. Business continuation planning, tax preparation and even budgeting and bill paying are sometimes added to the menu.
The difference is really big-picture. Financial planning usually means creating a strategy for accumulating wealth for retirement and personal goals. Investment management focuses on managing financial assets with a performance level in mind. Wealth management, in comparison, considers the total net worth of a family, a couple or an individual. It weighs financial decisions in light of an investment portfolio and additional components of the financial picture such as real estate, insurance, a business, charitable gifting and more.
Yet it is also about paying attention to detail. Every successful professional or business owner reaches a point of delegation – there comes a point at which you can’t do it all yourself. Indeed, it can be hazardous to try and keep track of every detail without help. The same goes for your finances – your taxes, your investments, your various accounts.
Good wealth management helps you stay on top of things. A skilled wealth management firm pays attention to many of the financial details in your life for you. You can free up your mind. You feel confident because the wealth management firm has an ongoing relationship with you, with regular reviews and communication.
Good Financial Steps to Take When You Get Married
GOOD FINANCIAL STEPS TO TAKE WHEN YOU GET MARRIED
If you’re going to say “I do”, here are some things you might want to do.
Are you marrying soon? Have you recently married? As you begin your life together, it's important for you to start planning your financial future together and putting your finances on the same page. Here are some priorities you might want to write down on your financial to-do list …
Build an emergency fund. You’ve probably watched or read a number of stories about couples who were hit hard by the downturn – nice, once-affluent people who suddenly had to live in their car or a motel. When things got rough, many had no emergency fund to sustain them and ended up homeless. Consider building up a cash reserve (gradually, if necessary) that you could tap into should something go wrong. You won’t regret having it around.
Insure yourself. If you are under 40, you may not have any kind of disability or life insurance. You may feel you don’t need it yet. However, getting a policy early can be cost-efficient: if you buy a term life policy when you are young and healthy, chances are you will pay less expensive premiums than people in their 40s and 50s who have health issues.
Health Savings Account Advantages
Health Savings Account Advantages
Health Savings Accounts offer more than tax breaks.
Why do people open up Health Savings Accounts in tandem with high-deductible insurance plans? Well, here are some of the compelling reasons why younger, healthier employees decide to have HSAs.
#1: Tax-deductible contributions. These accounts are funded with pre-tax income. Your annual contribution limit to an HSA depends on your age and the type of insurance plan you have in conjunction with the account. For 2010, the limit is set at $3,050 (individual plan) and $6,150 (family plan). If you are older than 55, those limits are nudged $1,000 higher.(source)
Protecting Your Assets with LTC Insurance
Protecting Your Assets with LTC Insurance
How will you pay for long term care? The sad fact is that most people don’t know the answer to that question. But a solution is available.
As baby boomers leave their careers behind, long term care insurance will become very important in their financial strategies. The reasons to get an LTC policy after age 55 are very compelling.
Your premium payments buy you access to a large pool of money which can be used to pay for long term care costs. By paying for LTC out of that pool of money, you can preserve your retirement savings and income.
The cost of assisted living or nursing home care alone could motivate you to pay the premiums. Genworth Financial conducts a respected annual Cost of Care Survey to gauge the price of long term care in the U.S. The 2010 report found that:
Planning for a Child's Private School Education
Planning for a Child’s Private School Education
Sending your child to private school is an expensive proposition. For most people, it’s made a little tougher by the fact that it’s necessary to save for a child’s college education at the same time. Some have the income that makes this easier, but for the rest, it’s necessary to create a pay-as-you-go system that will somehow make it all work.
How Will Obamacare be Paid For?
How Will Obamacare be Paid For?
By Taxing the Rich! How will you be affected?
Beginning in 2013, wealthy (loosely defined lately) Americans will pay extra Medicare taxes. Congress, President Obama and the IRS are putting a surcharge on the wealthy to help fund the health care reforms.
Investment Fees Have an Impact!
Investment Fees Have an Impact!
Keeping Your Credit Score Healthy
Keeping Your Credit Score Healthy
Annual income, twenty pounds; annual expenditures, nineteen pounds; result happiness.
July 2010 Monthly Economic Update
Dow Jones: @11,000 or @ 7,000?
July 2010 Monthly Economic Update
July 2010 in Brief
In Family Finances, Women Are Taking A Larger Role
Financial advisers are noticing a shift.
A development few have noticed. The recession that started in 2007 quietly brought an economic shift to millions of American families - the woman of the house became the primary wage earner.
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