Charting the Course

How do you get to an unknown destination without a map?

One option is for you to bust your butt your whole life and then hope it’s enough when it’s time to retire. Another option is to hire a professional advisor who can chart the course for you and keep you on course through life’s various storms.

Your financial plan guides all the major financial and investment decisions we’ll need to make together. That’s why I begin the planning process immediately at the outset of each new relationship.

Your financial plan includes all your financial goals (retirement, wedding, college, boat, vacation home, hobbies, estate bequests, charitable gifts, etc…) so that we can build a step-by-step approach for achieving them all. We then revisit and update your plan throughout all the years we work together ensuring we stay on course.

By proactively updating your plan we’ll be able to make small, painless adjustments as needed along the way instead of large, more painful changes later on.

The Approach

The old-school approach to retirement planning was to assume a rate of return each year, apply it to your current and future savings and then watch your portfolio grow. The problem with that approach is it leads to unrealistic, overly-optimistic results.

The fact is markets don’t move up in a straight line at a consistent rate each year. Any good plan must account for market volatility and must include market stress tests (e.g. simulating bear markets at the worst time, higher-than-expected deflation, lower-than-expected returns).