Getting Started
The Investment Planning ProcessOur clients find this planning exercise very helpful in seeing how all the pieces come together to get from where they are now to where they want to be.
The Planning Sequence:
- A simple questionnaire gathers pertinent financial and lifestyle information and a personal discussion fills in the gaps.
- Baseline assumptions about key variables drive the planning software, producing a multi-faceted document on what the future looks like.
- Most importantly, when this is completed, we sit down with you to review what all this means.
The information discovery process includes:
- A look at all current investment accounts
- Current earnings and other income sources
- Thoughts about a retirement timeframe
- Estimates on current spending and anticipated liquidity needs
- Plans for travel, gifting, educational needs, second homes, health care needs, etc.
- Discussion about longer-term goals (i.e. targeted funds to leave to children) and dealing with periodic market declines, especially after income flows have diminished.
Features of the investment plan report include:
- A detailed cash flow schedule for every year of the plan, showing sources of income, the impact of taxes, and how living expenses are supported.
- A Monte Carlo analysis shows the probability and impact of investment returns that either exceed or fall short of expectations.
- The ability to modify the plan over time to reflect changing circumstances or run “what if” scenarios to see the impact of changing assumptions, such as spending patterns or taking different levels of risk.