What are you thankful for today?

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, let’s look at five reasons to be thankful you have a financial advisor:

5. You don’t have to spend your day clicking around at do-it-yourself stock trading sites, because your financial advisor has carefully created an investment plan tailored to your unique financial situation and future goals.

4. As others are retiring without any savings to speak of, your financial advisor has made sure you have a workable savings plan . . . and by following it, you know your retirement goals are within reach.

3. You can sleep at night knowing the estate plan your financial advisor helped create will safely pass your assets on to your family, reduce your estate’s tax liability, take care of your loved ones, keep your business running without you, and more.

2. While the average household’s debt is growing, yours is either rapidly dwindling or nonexistent, thanks to the financial plan your advisor developed for you to follow.

1. No matter what the economy is doing or what the national political landscape looks like, you know your financial advisor is on top of things and will guide you safely through any rough financial waters to come.

If you don’t already have a financial advisor, take the time now to search the All Financial Advisors database to find one in your area. And on behalf of everyone at All Financial Advisors, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!  

What Do Women Want from Financial Advisors? 
(and is it really that different from what men want?)

Earlier this month, Ameriprise Financial® released the results of its New Retirement Mindscape II study examining gender differences in attitudes toward, and planning for, retirement. Of particular interest to All Financial Advisors: What women want in their financial advisors.

The study found that 46% of women have sought retirement advice from a financial advisor; only 38% of men have. And the more time their financial advisors take to educate them, the happier women are: 63% say that is a highly important attribute in a financial advisor, while only 52% of men say the same.

Even more women — 69% — want a financial advisor who “provides a knowledgeable point of view,” and 58% of women are looking for financial advisors who will coach them on reaching their goals for retirement. Finally, 55% of women want a financial advisor to tailor financial guidance specifically for them.

The portion of the Ameriprise Financial study dealing with attitudes toward financial planners seems to clearly indicate women want to work with comprehensive financial advisors — just like those you can find here at All Financial Advisors. A comprehensive financial advisor will typically take time to educate clients on financial matters pertaining to them, coach them on defining their retirement goals and on following a financial plan, and provide a customized plan of action.

How about you? What are you looking for in a financial advisor? It’s the perfect time of year to think about your financial goals — and to find the right financial planner for you! Start today. Find a financial advisor in your area and get ready to start the new year off right!

Financial Life Stages: Just Starting Out

We’ve discussed how financial advisors can help anyone, regardless of income. Now let’s take a look at why you should consider hiring a financial advisor even if you’re just starting out in your financial life.

Maybe you just graduated from college; maybe you’re in your first real job in your chosen career field; maybe you’re newly married. In any case, you’re beginning your financial life - and maybe you’ve never thought about a financial advisor. But could you use the help of a professional financial counselor?

Absolutely. Whether you’re learning to live independently for the first time, considering participating in your employer’s retirement plan or jointly trying to manage two incomes, a financial advisor can help you avoid pitfalls and handle your finances the right way from the very beginning.

Financial advisors don’t just give investment advice or manage the portfolios of the very wealthy. They can also help you establish a budget, determine how to maximize your employee benefits, help you define your financial goals (and recommend savings and investing plans to meet those goals), and even give you expert guidance on setting up life insurance and other estate planning basics.

If you’re young and considering hiring a financial advisor, you have a golden opportunity to get your finances in order right from the get-go. In fact, by taking the time now to evaluate financial advisors and focus on your financial future, you’re setting yourself up for financial security later in life. As we noted in our post on the ING Retirement Research Institute survey, a combined 79% of Americans with financial advisors give themselves grades of “A” and “B” when asked how prepared they are for retirement. Those aren’t insignificant numbers, and they indicate that working with a financial professional can help you feel confident about the future.

Right now is the perfect time to get started, no matter where you are in life. Search the independent All Financial Advisors directory now to find financial advisors in your area. Choose two or three to talk with before you make your decision: Get a feel for whether you could use their services and see which one might be a good fit for you. We applaud you for taking control of your finances early in life!

Phased Retirement Strategies [PART 2]
Excerpts written by Richard W. Jackson, Principal: Schlindwein Associates, LLC

If managed and planned properly, Phased Retirement can help individuals to:

• Gradually ease into retirement, rather than end their career abruptly.
• Decrease the need to draw on reserves and investment portfolios to generate income for current cash needs. This can enhance the growth and longevity of savings.
• Delay receiving Social Security benefits, which can yield larger benefits.
• Continue funding tax deferred accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs.
• Continue receiving company-provided or subsidized medical benefits.
• Enjoy physical and mental well-being and personal fulfillment.

Preliminary Steps To A Phased Retirement

Here are some suggestions and tips that can facilitate a successful phased
retirement:

• Talk with your employer about phased retirement and understand the implications to your benefits.
• If you are currently retired and want to work, focus on your industry of expertise for best results.
• Determine your retirement living needs and create a budget that lists your fixed and variable expenses. 
• Determine potential sources of income. 
• Determine how much income you can reasonably expect to withdraw from your assets and any shortfall that may exist. 
• Determine how much you would like to earn and how much you may want to work.
• Make certain that your portfolio’s asset allocation is appropriately matched to your financial goals and updated periodically as your situation and circumstances change.

 
Our Next Post will cover:
Key Factors To Consider For A ”Phased-Retirement”
 
To Be Continued… Stay Tuned.
***
Many of our advisor partners are members of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), which is the leading organization promoting Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning.  Many advisors we have within our directory belong to the Financial Planning Association (FPA) as well.  Utilizing the services of a qualified financial advisor and/or financial planner will ensure you can retire comfortably!  They can help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your financial picture.  The Time to Act is Now!

NOTE:  Experts recommend contacting 2-3 financial advisory firms, so that one may compare/contrast each firm, thus making the best-qualified choice.

Phased Retirement Strategies
Excerpts written by Richard W. Jackson, Principal: Schlindwein Associates, LLC

Traditional ideas about retirement are changing so rapidly that retirement today looks much different than it did even twenty years ago.  Aging members of our population are living much longer and remaining active throughout their “golden” years.

The recent economic turmoil has hit baby boomers especially hard.  Even well-conceived plans for retirement have encountered unforeseen obstacles over the last several years. Many retirees and near-retirees have gone from dreaming of long vacations and beach houses to wondering if retirement is even feasible.  Could Phased Retirement be the solution?
 
A phased retirement enables individuals to work part-time before their actual retirement or after they have nominally retired. In general, there are three types of phased retirements: (1) Formal Employer Programs (2) Informal Employer Programs (3) Self-Created Programs.
 
Why is Phased Retirement becoming popular?
Our nation’s workplace demographic is changing, with millions of boomers set to retire over the next decade.  According to the National Council on Aging, 20% of the U.S. workforce will be over age 55 in 2015.  There is potential for a substantial skilled labor shortage.  This shortage, combined with longer life expectancies, extra years of income need, more active lifestyles and the recent economic troubles, creates a situation where phased retirement can be very attractive to older workers.
 
Our Next Post will cover:
Preliminary Steps to Phased Retirement
 
To Be Continued… Stay Tuned.
*** 
Many of our advisors are members of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and also the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA: the nation’s leading organization promoting Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning).  Using the services of a qualified financial advisor (to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your financial picture) will ensure you can retire comfortably!

NOTE:  Experts recommend contacting 2-3 financial advisory firms, so that one may compare/contrast each firm, thus making the best-qualified choice.

Financial Advisors have varied experiences, education, and specializations.  Finding the right financial planning firm and/or financial advisor takes the right research.  It takes trust in the source.

We have selected only the top financial planning professionals in the U.S. with which to work.  The Financial Advisors in our directory are all independent, Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) managed by FINRA and the SEC (United States Securities and Exchange Commission).

Our financial advisors take fiduciary oaths and pledge to uphold the highest standard of ethics.  Many of the financial planners within our directory explain how their financial planning process works within their profiles.  After reviewing their profile pages, you can request a fee schedule, more detailed information and/or a meeting.

Many of our advisors are members of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA: the nation’s leading organization promoting Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning) and the Financial Planning Association (FPA).

Using the services of a qualified financial advisor (to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your financial picture) will ensure you can retire comfortably!

NOTE: Experts recommend contacting 2-3 financial advisory firms, so that one may compare/contrast each firm, thus making the best-qualified choice.

Diversified Investment Management

Excerpts written by Bill Valentine: VALENTINE VENTURES (Bend, Oregon).

MYTH #1:

ASSETS THAT AREN’T APPRECIATING ARE BAD AND SHOULD BE SOLD. 

This oversimplification represents several levels of flawed thinking.  First, while most investors will tell you, “Buy Low / Sell High,” many financial advisors and investors alike, really do the opposite.  They sell assets into periods like Fall 2008, and buy in periods like Summer 2009. They dump falling assets and pile into those that have already gone up. Secondly, many investors confuse impairment with price fluctuation.  That’s very understandable, and is an outgrowth of the long standing practice of stock-picking.  Stocks that become worthless fall notably in price first.  Therefore, when something declines in price, it triggers the “emotional response” that the chance of permanent impairment is growing, and thus the idea of purging to prevent a total loss.  BUT… what if the chances of a total loss are virtually non-existent?  Like a portfolio (ETF) of all the big REITs in the country, spanning thousands of investment properties?  The only way this basket becomes worthless is if all investment properties become worth $0.  That will only happen at the end of the world.  There are many other examples too.  Commodities for one.  The same is true for any basket of assets–you’ve diversified away the chance or impairment, thus there’s no need to purge.

Diversification of assets is one of the most important risk reduction tools at the disposal of financial advisors, investment managers and investors alike.  Financial advisors should take this tact more often than they actually do.

To Be Continued…

 * * * Many of our advisors are members of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and also the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA: the nation’s leading organization promoting Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning). Using the services of a qualified financial advisor (to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your financial picture) will ensure you can retire comfortably! NOTE: Experts recommend contacting 2-3 financial advisory firms, so that one may compare/contrast each firm, thus making the best-qualified choice.

Written by Jeff Camarda: Camarda Financial Advisors (Jacksonville, FL).

Control Over Estate Taxes 

There can be no doubt that the estate tax is here to stay, and will apply in some form – likely the same exemptions and rates on the books for this year – for 2010, the previously-legislated year of the long-awaited appeal. After that, all bets are off, but my hunch is the tax will become much more oppressive, to feed massive Federal deficits, and because higher taxes have become “fashionable” again.

However things break, there are some basic rules we’d do well to remember:

1) Each of us gets to gift or pass on a limited amount tax-free

2) While each of us gets our own exemption amount, if the first spouse to die does the natural thing and leaves everything to the other spouse, their exemption is completely wasted.

3) Life insurance, which, if owned by you or your spouse, can cause some pretty big numbers to be needlessly pulled into your taxable estate. Another special type of trust, called an “ILIT”, can help solve this problem.

4) The last tax issue involves “stretching” IRA-type accounts, so that heirs pay tax as they pull money out, instead of up front in a big lump sum. Many clients want to have their kids be able to stretch the taxes, but still benefit from the protections of trust planning. For this, so-called “conduit” provisions are needed in the trust document.

* * *

Many of our advisors are members of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and also the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA: the nation’s leading organization promoting Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning).

Using the services of a qualified financial advisor (to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your financial picture) will ensure you can retire comfortably! 

NOTE: Experts recommend contacting 2-3 financial advisory firms, so that one may compare/contrast each firm, thus making the best-qualified choice.

An Inherited IRA is also known as a Stretch IRA

As IRA account owners pass away their assets are typically inherited by designated beneficiary(s) named on the account. The beneficiary(s) have a choice to receive a lump sum distribution, minus ordinary income tax, or establish their own Inherited IRA account, which offers additional tax deferral. If the later option is chosen, the IRS requires annual beneficiary distributions to be taken based upon a uniform life expectancy table. Therefore, younger beneficiaries inherently have an advantage to grow inherited IRA assets due to relatively small-required annual distributions.

Ask a financial advisor to show you a hypothetical illustration for inherited IRA distributions with beneficiaries who vary in age. This may become an opportunity to include loved ones who are younger than you into your estate plan while providing them with a financial foundation.

Many of our advisors are members of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and also the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA: the nation’s leading organization promoting Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning).

Using the services of a qualified financial advisor (to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your financial picture) will ensure you can retire comfortably!

NOTE: Experts recommend contacting 2-3 financial advisory firms, so that one may compare/contrast each firm, thus making the best-qualified choice.

Carefully consider beneficiary designations; they have a significant impact on the distribution of your estate.

Most financial advisors specializing in estate planning, suggest using a will or trust to formally outline the final distribution of assets held within one’s estate.  However, these documents, unless specifically named as the beneficiary, usually do not have any effect on the distribution of many important assets.  Personal assets such as IRAs, annuities, life insurance, retirement plans, employee benefit plans, and transfer on death accounts use beneficiary designations to control which entity receives these assets.  Financial advisors can help you decide on which beneficiary designations are best for you.   These can include people, charitable & educational organizations and religious entities among others. Also, most financial advisors highly recommend naming back-up beneficiaries; commonly called “Contingent Beneficiaries”. If a primary beneficiary dies before you the contingent beneficiary will receive its share of the asset.

Most financial advisors suggest making it a habit to review beneficiary designations regularly and update them as necessary for employment changes, birth, death, marriage and divorce. 

Many of our advisors are members of the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and also the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA: the nation’s leading organization promoting Fee-Only comprehensive financial planning).

Using the services of a qualified financial advisor (to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your financial picture) will ensure you can retire comfortably!

NOTE: Experts recommend contacting 2-3 financial advisory firms, so that one may compare/contrast each firm, thus making the best-qualified choice.