Financial Planning Values
FMI College Planning Financial Planning Services are broken down into the following distinct categories.
- Assessing and determining your individual need for financial planning. For more detail click here
- Begin reviewing where you want to end up financially so that your funds can be wisely invested For more detail click here
- Managing your risk, this can be through investment vehicles or can also include a wide array of insurance options For more detail click here
- Thinking about your retirement, what you can reasonably expect this stage of your life to look like and how you can get there For more detail click here
- Estate planning is all about what you want to have happen to your assets when you are no longer here. This can include everything from a Living Will to Power of Attorney, of Private Trusts and the like. For more detail click here
- As always we have to keep in mind the ramifications that taxes will have on your investments. For more detail click here
- Communication For more detail click here
Assessing and determining your individual need for financial planning
Every American, at every level of income and wealth, should have a financial and investment plan. And each American's plan should be different, reflective of each person's goals, dreams and vision.
As the old adage states, "What starts right usually ends right." And what starts wrong virtually never ends right. It is for this reason that FMI College Planning Financial Planning Services stresses the need for attention to detail from the get-go. Our staff has been trained to look into the nuances of your potential investments to make sure that each of your values and dreams is considered, as well as being aligned with our core planning values, before we even think about recommending investment programs for your funds.
We take time to sit down and review where you have been, where you are and where you want to go. In this manner, we eliminate confusion, frustration and missed opportunity. Additionally, we make each decision with you, never for you.
Begin reviewing where you want to end up financial so that your funds can be wisely invested
Most golfers engage in what can best be described as "hitting the ball and then hitting it again," thinking only of the shot they're about to play on their way from tee to green. Excellent golfers, on the other hand, "play from green to tee," envisioning each future shot on the hole before they even step onto the tee box.
Similarly, FMI College Planning Financial suggests that you envision your life ten, twenty, thirty or more years from now, and what you'd like to accomplish as you travel the fairways of life. Dream Big. We can help you determine the amount of wealth necessary to get there and from that, design a comprehensive financial and investment plan.
Writing down a life-plan now is not easy work but is highly worthwhile since, "if we don't know where we're going, how will we know if we've arrived?" Too many financial planning firms tout investment performance as if it's an end in itself, akin to saying, "We don't know where we're headed but we're making excellent time!"
Are you aware that there are more mutual funds than there are publicly traded corporations? It is no wonder so many individuals make mistakes when it comes to investing; it is hard and tedious work. Each individual investor has his or her own style and desires that sometimes are not related to the actual rate of return. For example, if investing in Green companies, or in companies that do not work in political hot spots, is important to you, we take that into consideration when it is time to invest your money.
Ultimately, we do need to have a goal in mind. By going through Step One now and continuing, we will have addressed these goals both quantitatively and non-quantitatively. When it comes to start managing your risk, we will thus have a good picture of where you want to be.
Managing your risk can be accomplished with investment vehicles or can include a wide array of insurance options
This step is quite easily the most difficult one from a numbers crunching standpoint. For this reason, FMI College Planning Financial Planning Service dedicates an inordinate amount of time on categories one and two
All of life includes risk. Some risks, we can manage while other risks will blindside us without warning. It is for this reason that we need to sit down together and determine which risks you want to avoid altogether, which ones you want to insure against, and which ones you are not concerned about. FMI College Planning Financial Planning Service will certainly give you our advice; however when it comes down to it, it is your investment and your decision.
Most physical assets of course are insured, your home(s), car(s), business, etc. Where most questions come into play is how much insurance is enough. When it comes to investments, we all know that the lower the risk, the lower the expected return. FMI College Planning Financial will be able to help you identify your comfort level and need for return on investments; this is why step three is so crucial to your investment success.
Thinking about retirement, what can you reasonably expect it to look like and how can you get there?
Hopefully, you can begin to see how each of our steps to investment success easily builds on the last one. No math teacher ever started off by teaching Trigonometry. Each subject starts at the very basics and logically builds on the prior subjects to come to a logical conclusion.
We are now talking about retirement. Depending on your age, plans will greatly vary. In some situations, we recommend taking risk, in others limited risk and still others, no risk at all. It is not a matter of waffling; our advice derives from each individual's answers from category one through three. To compound matters, what retirement means to one person is significantly different to another. Does retirement mean world travel? Golfing in Florida? Or downsizing to be close to the children and grandchildren? There are no wrong answers to these questions: they are specific to you and will require different financial strategies. This is where FMI College Planning Financial Planning Services really goes to bat for the individual determining how much money is needed for the retiree to achieve their definition of success and then carefully plan for that goal.
Estate planning is all about what you want to have happen to your assets when you are no longer here. This can include everything from a Living Will to a Durable Power of Attorney, from Private Trusts to Planned Giving and more.
There are few conversations harder to have with aging parents than estate planning. There are many angles to the questions that families would rather ignore. And unfortunately, most families do ignore them until a situation presents itself that renders a wise decision impossible. FMI College Planning Financial Planning Services works with you and your children or your parents to help answer these tough questions. Should a Living Will be established? Who if anyone should have Power of Attorney? What are the parents' and children's expectations about retirement homes, versus living in the family home. What about reverse mortgages? Again, these are topics that no one desires to address. We have always found however, that a family's desire of wishing they would have planned when something goes wrong greatly exceeds the pain of asking the questions before it is too late. FMI College Planning Financial Services works with many families and has experience walking them through these situations so smart decisions can be made well in advance.
We always have to keep in mind the ramifications that taxes will have on your investments.
Everyone's favorite arch enemy! In reality though, we all know that as a society we have to pay part of the country's bill. That isn't the question. The question is how much of the bill do you wish to have the privilege of paying versus your neighbor. FMI College Planning Financial Services always relies on proven tax professionals - yours or ours - on any complex investment, asset sell or purchase. Some decisions do not have an effect on your tax bill but many do and those are the ones on which we add professional tax scrutiny. FMI College Planning Financial Services teams with a multitude of proven professionals to best assist you toward your financial success.
Communication
FMI College Planning Financial Services communicates at a minimum of once a month with each of our clients. Our communications are broken down into several categories. First, is a monthly update on what is going on in the marketplace; this communication is delivered to you via email. Second, you will receive quarterly updates on your personal accounts; this communication is delivered to you via the postal service. Third, you can always log into your account at any time for a status update; this communication is online. Fourth, each FMI College Planning Financial Services investment professional contacts each client on at least a semi-annual basis; this communication is via the phone. Fifth, FMI College Planning Financial Services meets with each of its clients, at a minimum, annually to review your financial situation; this communication is face-to-face. If we are successfully accused of anything, it is that you know as much as we can communicate to you about your investments.