You face a daily barrage of financial information from the media, family and friends. This can make financial planning confusing. Discerning between information that’s short-term in nature, and information that has value for long-term planning is essential. Experience assures us that investment management can only be done in the context of financial planning. Being proactive and planning helps to remove that natural reactive instinct we have, when the markets are volatile.

Over the course of our initial meetings, we spend time discussing your goals and objectives, prepare a personal financial statement and discuss cash flow projections. Only then do we feel comfortable discussing an overall asset allocation.

Sadly, many advisors sell returns and when bad times hit, clients sell their investments at exactly the wrong time. This happens because their clients were sold something without the proper context of the volatility and risk they will experience.

Understanding risk and volatility is crucial. That’s because the expected rate of returns and risk are factored into your cash flow projections, which help determine how confident you can be in retiring or meeting other goals.  Talking about risk does not sound as exciting as talking about returns; however, we believe that it’s important to make certain our clients fully understand the risk in the portfolio design and potential downside volatility.  If we get the risk right, we believe the returns will naturally follow.

We believe a good advisor is not managing your investments. They are managing your balance sheet, much like a personal CFO.

That’s why at the beginning of our relationship, we prepare a personal financial statement for you. Your statement is then updated every couple of years, as one way to measure the progress you are making toward your goals. This allows for valuable, broad discussions on paying down debt, maximizing returns on cash, or planning for real estate or business ventures, etc.

Cash flow planning should come with important caveats. We find that individuals and planners are often careless in the assumptions used and how they interpret and use the data.  One change of a variable, such as the inflation rate or rate of return, has a material impact on the conclusions reached. For example, advisors that may sell returns may use 8% in their projections, when 6% may be more realistic. You reach vastly different conclusions based on these inputs.

We use cash flow modeling as a tool to help us make better decisions about how much insurance you need, when you can retire, when you should take Social Security and what is a reasonable withdrawal rate from a portfolio. We also understand that as life and economic circumstances change, we need to update our analysis. This means we can provide you with up-to-date advice, and make sure you to have the flexibility in your planning, to adjust as circumstances change.

Cash flow planning and analysis covers the numbers part (tangible). However, the most difficult part of reaching financial independence is often the emotional part (intangible). While we are not trained psychologists, we fully understand the emotional impact. So we ensure this is at the forefront of our discussions and planning and treated with the sensitivity it deserves. After we understand the tangible and intangible parts of your situation, we have detailed discussions and may suggest:

• That you take that great vacation now, instead of waiting.
• That you work part-time some instead of stopping all at once.
• That you don’t move immediately after you retire.
• That you rent a place for several months and see how you like it, before you purchase that vacation home.
• And maybe that you go ahead and get involved in several of the volunteer opportunities now and see how you like it.
• Plus many other informed suggestions, based on what you value.

One of the areas where we consistently find the most costly mistakes is in estate planning. That’s why we give it the care and attention it rightly deserves.

To start, we get copies of your current documents and have detailed discussions with you to make sure we understand your family objectives with clarity. We then guide you through key decisions. We ask you to consider things like:

• How do you prepare your kids for an inheritance?
• What ages are the most appropriate for your kids to have control?
• Do you need a trust?
• Who should you name as executor or trustee?
• How much should you give to charity and what is the most tax efficient way to do it?
• In second marriages – making sure your spouse is well taken care of, while also ensuring your kids are the ultimate beneficiaries. 

We then work closely with your estate planning attorney to make sure your documents reflect your wishes and they are implemented and updated as your situation changes.

That’s because having good documents that are not implemented properly, is almost as bad as having no documents at all. Items, such as, making sure the titling of your assets is appropriate and making sure beneficiaries of your retirement accounts and life insurance are consistent with your wishes, are important steps that are regularly overlooked.

Part of the comprehensive service we provide, is that Calvary Wealth team members have the CPA and CFP® designations. We believe that this is really important for our clients’ financial peace of mind. It means that as one of our clients, you know that we are well qualified to understand and evaluate the tax ramifications of the decisions you make.

Because so many decisions have a tax implication to them, we believe it’s important for you to have an advisor, who has the CPA background to best advise you on this. Think about it: Whether you are deciding to place an investment in an IRA or non-retirement account, save for education, buy or sell investment real estate, or deciding on an appropriate withdrawal rate from your portfolio, your advisor must be able to evaluate and understand the important tax implications. That’s the additional professional expertise you will enjoy as one of our clients.

Of course, we are not here to replace your CPA. However, as we are working with you on an ongoing basis, we can certainly help identify issues or planning opportunities. We will also collaborate and work with your CPA to help you invest your portfolio as tax efficiently as possible and take advantage of all available tax deductions and planning opportunities.

Risk management is a key part of effective financial planning. Many people think of risk management in terms of their investment decisions.  However, risk management is far broader than that. After all, it’s not enough to do a good job managing investments, if you are not addressing key risks.

Calvary Wealth does not receive commissions. This means we can objectively and transparently help you evaluate whether it makes sense to self-insure, partially insure, or fully insure risks. We will examine your current insurance policies, including: life, disability, property and casualty, long-term care, among others, then comment on the costs and quality of the coverage.

We will also work with your agent, to analyze opportunities for restructuring policies, adding coverage, or terminating unneeded coverage as appropriate.

One of our areas of passion is charitable planning. We personally have a strong heart for giving and have developed a good deal of expertise and knowledge in this area.

We strive to provide all the knowledge and experience you need, from ongoing annual giving, to making major gifts during lifetime or at death. Our goal is to give you confidence in your financial security, so you can feel free to give your time and money to the causes you are most passionate about.

For some, this area is a source of frustration. They’re giving and want to give, but are bombarded with so many requests and may not see any direct results from their giving. As one of our clients, we help you to develop what you are truly passionate about, based on your core values and beliefs. We then help you to focus your giving in those areas. This allows you to politely say “No” to causes that you are not passionate about and allows you to focus your resources and time on what is most important to you.

One of the reasons we are so passionate about charitable planning is that it has many additional benefits. For example, it’s something where families can come together and teach core values and principles to future generations, who will receive significant inheritances. Giving is powerful. It’s valuable to the groups you are helping, but it’s often just as valuable to you and your family.

Our ability to earn a living is often our most valuable asset. We enjoy helping clients work through growth opportunities in their careers and helping them identify ways to maximize their unique skills and abilities. We believe that wealth is more than a number on a piece of paper. There’s also real wealth in having a career, which motivates us. After all, we spend so much time in our professions, it makes sense to wake up each day, enjoying our work and feeling inspired by the opportunities that lie ahead.

It’s hard to overstate the value and importance of education. As one of our clients, we will project the cost of educating your children or grandchildren and then help you identify the most tax efficient tool, to save for education.

Given the relationship and level of trust clients have in us, many clients ask if we can serve as trustee. We have found that our expertise is often called upon in two main situations:

1. 1. 1. Individuals who are unhappy with their existing trust relationship and the level of service, personal relationship, performance, and level of fees.
      2. Existing clients looking to set up trusts in their current estate planning documents, who would like us to continue our personal relationship with their beneficiaries.

We believe very strongly in having separation of duties for the trustee and investment management function. This allows for proper oversight and accountability. We can serve as the investment manager for the trust and can help you identify an appropriate trustee to work alongside us.

If the trust has an existing individual or family member as the trustee we can work with them. If a corporate trustee is necessary we can partner with either a local trust company or a number of national corporate trust companies, depending on the complexity and needs. This allows us to continue to manage all aspects of the relationship and investments and allows for proper oversight from a corporate fiduciary.