Financial planners and estate planners perform different, but complementary, roles. Financial planners assist you in managing wealth during your lifetime. They help assess financial health and goals, review investment strategies, and help make decisions to promote future financial freedom. Retirement and portfolio planning exemplify valuable services provided by financial planners. During times of economic turmoil such as now, your financial planner can guide you through decisions to rebalance your investment portfolios and manage your budget.
Estate planners assist you in preserving and distributing to beneficiaries the wealth accumulated during your lifetime. They offer advice and services that protect you, your loved one’s and your assets through all phases of life. Your estate planner can help ensure your assets are properly organized and protected during your lifetime, through trust vehicles for example. They collaborate and review estate planning documents to pave a smooth transfer of your assets upon your incapacity or death. Estate planners can also aid in establishing strategies for “split-interest” transfers of assets (philanthropic or otherwise), which allow you to retain lifetime access to income or property. Upon your death, the remainder of split-interest assets transfer to chosen beneficiaries.
When forming an estate plan, a financial advisor plays a crucial role. They are focused on the client’s finances, and can help prevent important financial information and procedures from slipping through the cracks. When it comes to retirement planning, financial advisor’s help set up 401(k)s, IRAs, and other retirement accounts for your clients as well as explain the tax benefits and beneficiary details for each one. They can also help them decide which type of account is best for their specific situation, financial goals, and budget.
When economic conditions decline, contacting your financial planner is top of mind. Sometimes less considered is contacting your estate planner, but that is equally as important. Factors such as inflation, interest rate hikes, and changes in asset values impact finances as well as your future wealth-transfer strategies. Working with an estate planner, savvy individuals can turn today’s economic drawbacks into future wealth-transfer rewards.
One of the most important aspects of an estate plan is long-term care. Some clients may plan ahead with trusts or Long-Term Care Insurance, while others might wait and conduct Medicaid planning once they need care. This scenario is a particularly important one in which to include both an estate and financial planner.
Contact our client service team to arrange a meeting with one of our qualified estate planners to discuss your situation and goals. From there, they will be able to recommend effective estate planning solutions.
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