Products and Services from Money Plans
Our firm was founded with the goal of assisting our clients in every aspect of their financial lives. Not only will you find us knowledgeable, but you will also discover that we truly care about making your dreams a reality. With you, we seek to gain not just the riches of life, but the richness of life.
Comprehensive Financial Plans
We organize your finances to help you achieve your personal goals. That's what financial planning is all about. We begin by identifying and clarifying your goals, prioritizing them, and then strategizing how to make them a reality. With a Comprehensive Financial Plan, we look at each component of your financial life:
cash flow, retirement, employee benefits, education funding, asset allocation, loans, insurance, estate plans and taxes,... and then put all these pieces together into a functioning plan aimed at getting you to where you want to be. We also help you implement the recommendations to get you moving forward as quickly and easily as possible.
We would assess your current financial situation, establish and quantify your medium and long term goals, and make recommendations on how to proceed. We would answer such questions as: How much should I be putting aside for retirement? How much for college? Can I afford a vacation home? How much more needs to be saved? We look at tradeoffs and examine opportunities to see how you can reach your goals.
Since you also have short term needs as well (to take care of your family in the event you die or become disabled, for instance) we make sure you purchase the right insurance in the right amounts, and that you have an adequate emergency fund safely set aside. And we seek to preserve as much of your income as possible by making sure you maximize the use of your employee benefits, use your credit efficiently, and minimize your tax burden.
With a comprehensive plan, all the pieces come together for your future.
Money Management
Why hire a fee-only money manager? Because our goal is to help your portfolio grow. There are no conflicts of interest, we do not work on commissions, and we do not churn accounts. When you work with Money Plans, the investments we purchase are not padded with all sorts of fees and expenses like the ones you purchase through retail channels. Instead, you pay us a fee directly, and that fee is often tax deductible.
You work with Money Plans to develop your personal Investment Policy Statement which guides Money Plans in choosing and purchasing investments. We design an appropriate asset allocation based on your goals and risk tolerance, select appropriate investments for your situation, and then implement those investment choices. When you need to make withdrawals, we seek to limit both taxes and transaction fees.
We develop the portfolio to be cost effective and tax efficient. We accomplish cost efficiency by incorporating various strategies such as buying no or low cost mutual funds, purchasing exchange traded funds, and limiting the number of trades in your account. We accomplish tax efficiency by using "loss harvesting" and increased holding periods and putting tax inefficient investments in tax deferred accounts. And we monitor the portfolio on an ongoing basis.
We determine when changes need to be made and make those changes - the investment environment is always changing, there are always tax law changes too, and your personal situation continually fluctuates! We adjust your portfolio to keep it on track in spite of all these variations.
We do all the nuts and bolts (for example, we'll calculate your Required Minimum Distribution, determine which investments to take the distribution from, and move the monies for you). We keep your portfolio on target. We answer your questions and keep you informed with a quarterly newsletter. We answer your calls. We seek to give you value and peace of mind.
Estate Planning
Estate Planning is part of a comprehensive plan. Not only do you want to have up-to-date wills, powers of attorney, health care directives, and living wills, but you also need to make sure that the terms of these documents are coordinated with the beneficiary designations on your insurance policies and employee benefits and that all of your property is titled properly to plan for reduced taxes and hassle free passing of your estate. Money Plans will assist you in the process and refer you to attorneys as necessary.
Retirement Planning
As you get closer to retirement, you need to know the specifics. You need to know if there will be enough income to support your current standard of living. You need to know as soon as possible what kinds of adjustments need to made. We'll answer these questions for you and when we do, we'll factor in the expenses that come up periodically such as car replacement and home repairs and improvements, and we'll factor in health care expenses such as supplemental policies and co-payments. We'll run various scenarios for your retirement savings plans and defined benefit plans to determine the most cost effective and tax efficient strategy for taking your distributions. We’ll also run scenarios to determine when you should begin collecting your Social Security benefits. And we’ll be able to develop an investment withdrawal plan for your investments. We’ll help you pull it all together for a worry-free retirement. Planning is part of a comprehensive plan but can be a stand alone plan in certain circumstances.
College Planning
It can be more expensive to send two children to college than to purchase a home! Fortunately, there are many college savings programs available. Those, along with often overlooked tax breaks to both child and parent, can go a long way to making college affordable. We can sort out all these options and develop a tax efficient college savings plan for you and your children. College Planning is part of a comprehensive plan but can be a stand alone plan in certain circumstances.
Pressing Financial Issues
Are you dealing with a financial situation that you wish you could discuss with a financial advisor? Perhaps your investment portfolio is below the minimum for money management but you would still like a financial advisor to review your investment portfolio and provide you with specific recommendations. Maybe you have questions regarding debt restructuring, or need help with selecting the best mortgage program for you. Or, you are starting a new job and don’t know how to make all the employee benefits decisions. Money Plans believes that financial success come from making sound financial decisions. So, we are there to help you handle ANY financial question when it arises.