Financial Planning
Think of financial planning as embarking on a cross-country road trip. Before you set off you need to understand:
- Where are you now?
- Where are you going?
- What is needed to get you there?
Will you take the most direct route from point A to point B? Do you have ample time to make it a scenic trip with strategic stops along the way? Determining the time frame to achieve your goals will help direct the decisions made throughout your journey. You’ll need to know if you have enough fuel to reach your destination!
At Matson Financial Advisors Inc., we strive to educate our clients and improve their financial knowledge, helping them to make confident financial decisions.
Our journey with a client begins with a foundation of mutual trust, respect and honest dialogue. Financial planning is just like learning your letters in first grade. Novels are not written without letters. A written financial plan is the foundation of your financial novel. There are many different genres and styles to create your story, but it must have a solid beginning and engaging story line. In our experience, it is rare for clients to enjoy financial security without first creating a written financial road map.
If you want to take a snapshot of your current financial situation, identify and prioritize your goals, our team can offer professional guidance on how to get there. The planning work we do with you anticipates and answers questions like:
- If I live to be 105, will I have enough money? What if the stock market tanks just before I need to start withdrawing from my assets?
- Should we set aside funds specifically to cover the education expenses of our children (or grandchildren)?
- Now that I am in retirement, should our investment allocation undergo a drastic adjustment?
- Is there a better way to make charitable gifts other than sending funds from my day-to-day checking account?
- At what point can I exit my current career and pursue another passion?
- When I retire, will taxes take a big bite out of my income?
- Will my family be OK if I get hit by a bus?
Whether you are writing your first novel or mapping out your next ski trip to the mountains, you will appreciate the outline you prepared to help you reach your destination safely.
Retirement
Retirement
Have you taken time to visualize what your retirement will look like? Whether you can picture yourself on the 9th hole sinking the perfect putt, traveling to a new exciting place, cheering on your grandchildren or volunteering your time to a worthy cause, it is never too early to start planning. Planning early for how you will spend your time in retirement will give you options to make decisions when the time comes!
We will help address pertinent questions like: Where will your retirement money come from? When does it make sense to draw from Social Security? What type of investment vehicles should you be utilizing as you build your nest egg? How will I know if I am on track or at risk of running out of money?
We can work with you to develop a comprehensive financial plan that will help identify where you are today and what steps need to be taken in the future. We want to ensure your confidence as you approach the uncertainties and changes that retirement brings.
Estate
Estate
Regardless of your age or level of wealth, it is important that your wishes are known and assets are passed on how you wish. Effective estate management enables you to manage your affairs during your lifetime and control the distribution of your wealth after death. While this may be a tough conversation to have, estate planning can provide guidance for your loved ones in the future.
A good estate strategy starts with a will, durable power of attorney and healthcare directive to identify who will carry out your medical wishes and financial affairs if you are unable to communicate. Working with expert legal counsel specializing in elder care and planning, you will want to share your estate plan goals with loved ones so they understand your wishes.
Investment
Investment
Investing can be described as allowing your money to work for you while you are not using it. Sure, you can save for long-term goals by building up a checking or savings account. However, over time inflation can decrease your purchasing power as the prices of goods and services rise. Checking and savings accounts typically don’t pay interest rates that keep up with the rate of inflation. There are other vehicles that may help you accumulate wealth faster by providing potential for higher returns.
Defining your goals and your time horizon to achieve those goals can give purpose to your savings plan and help drive your investment options. We will work with you to help develop an appropriate asset allocation of stocks and bonds and cash that are in line with your risk tolerance. And we will make sure you understand how stocks and bonds work and why a diversified portfolio is important. Volatility is not always bad. Learning how it can be appropriately applied to investments can be an extremely powerful tool.
Tax
Tax
Tax savings can often result with better tax planning; putting more earnings in your pocket throughout the year without incurring penalties. We make investment and planning recommendations with consideration of their tax impact. We discuss tax saving strategies and their implications throughout the financial planning and investment process. Some situations require long-range tax planning, including offsetting capital gains with capital losses, all while taking advantage of all deductions and credits that you are entitled to take. With specialized software tools we can preparing a tax planning analysis for you. We will work closely with your tax professionals to provide proper tax guidance and assist in getting you pertinent data for timely tax preparation..
Insurance
Insurance
Having a solid financial plan means reducing the risk of unexpected events that can have a major impact on your financial wellbeing. Evaluating potential risks to determine the proper amount of insurance needed to mitigate those risks are a critical component of a successful outcome.
From health, disability and life insurance to long-term care policies, we can review your current policies to make sure you have adequate coverage. We can initiate the conversation to weigh the pros and cons of the different types of insurance if you are just exploring new options. We also want to review how assets are protected with insurance including real estate, vehicles, boats, artwork, etc. to understand how you are reducing risk of loss or damage.
Charitable Giving
Charitable Giving
Is there a local charity or non-profit organization or church or synagogue you hold close to your heart and want to financially support? Charitable gifting can fund a positive impact on individuals, families and foundations whether you are supporting those in need in your community or across the globe. From a financial standpoint there are strategies that will allow you to gift in a meaningful and impactful way while also optimizing tax efficiency. Based on the amount of money you wish to give and types of assets available for gifting, our firm can work through the pros and cons to determine the tax efficient ways to fulfill your philanthropic goal.