Financial Planning
Comprehensive, holistic financial planning evaluates all areas of your financial house. In order to develop a plan to help you achieve your goals, first we need to clearly define your goals. We have developed a program to work at your pace through Investment Planning, Insurance Planning & Risk Management, Tax Planning, Retirement Planning, Estate Planning, and general Household Planning (i.e. a budget).
In our initial meetings, we will work together through a series of questions to clarify your current financial position in these areas. From there, we prioritize critical areas with actionable steps to take to improve your financial position.
We believe Financial Planning is a continuous, ongoing process. As your life evolves, new questions and opportunities arise in every financial planning discipline. As we take concrete steps to improve your financial house, we create opportunities to further optimize your financial journey.
Investment Management
We believe the Financial Planning strategies to help you achieve your financial goals are probably among the least exciting – we aren’t high-frequency traders or chasing the latest fad. We build long-term, buy-and-hold client strategies with diversified asset allocations across asset classes and geographies that consider risk exposure while keeping a focus on achieving individualized goals.
Time in the market beats timing the market. We believe in tax-advantaged savings as a strategy to help you keep more of your money in retirement, we also recognize that it’s best to have a mix of taxable and non-taxable accounts to support your financial goals. Company stock and Executive Compensation are critical wealth building tools.
Our experience in international finance and business informs our perspective through which we view the global investment landscape.
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Retirement Planning
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Whether you’re going to retire in 6 months, 6 years, or even if you’re already retired, everyone has the same basic question: Have I saved enough?
With our Pots of Gold(c) Strategy, we can help you determine how much you need to retire and develop a cash flow plan to create a monthly paycheck from your investments with tax withholding taken care of!
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Investment Planning
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Are your assets properly diversified? Have you considered the taxable nature of your accounts? Will your current allocations generate enough growth to meet your goals?
We analyze your current holdings to determine potential risk areas and identify opportunities for improved diversification to help control risk and achieve your growth targets.
Have you earned stock options with your company? Do you have low-basis company stock in your 401(k) plan? Do you own appreciated small business stock?
We've helped clients analyze the benefits of 83(b) elections, manage their Stock Options, evaluate Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA), and navigate Section 1202 tax-free Qualified Small Business Stock sales.
The selection of Exchange Traded Funds and Mutual Funds products are the core of investment strategies as we seek managers with expertise in various securities for your portfolios.
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Insurance Planning
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You already have insurance – on your vehicle, or home, maybe even life insurance. Do you have adequate coverage to protect you in the event of an emergency? Are your deductibles set to the right amount? Is Long Term Care Insurance right for you or your parents?
We can evaluate your insurance policies to help you understand the right coverage amount for your needs, and also help you understand what insurance coverage may not be necessary. Spending on insurance is the one cost in life you hope is a total waste. Why? Because claiming under an insurance policy means something has gone wrong.
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Tax Planning
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What’s the old joke? There are only two certainties in life: Death and Taxes.
We can’t help you with the first one, but we can help you understand where there may be opportunities to find tax savings across your financial life. There are tax implications in almost every financial transaction – let us help you identify opportunities to save taxes, now and in the future! While we make comments and raise suggestions, we do not offer actual tax advice or preparation. We can introduce you to CPAs for specific tax advice, see our Strategic Partners section.
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Estate Planning
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Household Planning
Establishing
Early in your career, you may have a lot of questions about what you can do now to benefit your future, whatever that might be. When saving for emergencies, retirement, or to fund your start up, establishing a budget and sticking to it can help you achieve your financial goals. We can help you review employment agreements, buy-outs, terminations, and stock options.
You may be ready to change careers or go back to school. Re-establishing life goals is both exciting and challenging. We run a small business and serve clients with their own businesses giving us a window into the issues you want to review.
401(k), 403(b), 529, IRA, ROTH…who can keep track of the various ways to save for your financial goals? How do you even define your financial goals when retirement is 30-40 years away?!? Who can think about retirement or saving for a house when paying student loans is your focus?
Do you have the right strategy for your student loans? Have you thought about defining your financial goals? Do you have a monthly budget that includes savings? Lots of great places to start a conversation!
Are you thinking about changing jobs? Do you know what to do with your retirement account? What does the new benefit package entail? Let's chat.
Accumulating
In your 30s and 40s, life can take multiple turns. While you’re progressing through your career and saving for your own future, maybe you start a family and have kids, or maybe your aging parents need more care than they’d planned for. You’re still saving for retirement, but now you also need to plan for college or help support aging relatives and meeting your charitable giving goals.
Do you know how to evaluate your entire financial life to prioritize your goals and align saving and spending to keep you on track? What is the right tax strategy for your current and future needs?
Over the course of your early career you may change jobs multiple times, do you know what happened to each retirement account you saved?
- Do you have multiple retirement savings accounts from jobs over your career?
- Do you have the right life insurance protection for your needs?
- Are you caring for aging parents?
- How are you saving for your kids’ college or technical school?
Preparing For and Enjoying Retirement
You’ve worked hard and saved diligently, and now you’re considering retiring. How do you know if your investments will provide you with the lifestyle you want?
Did your employer provide a pension and now you aren’t sure which benefit election to make, or how that may impact other benefits? Or perhaps a prior employer is offering a pension buy-out. Is it wise to keep the pension or take the buy-out?
People are living longer than ever…by the time you’re 65, you and your spouse have a 20% chance of at least one of you living to 95! Does your investment strategy consider increasing longevity?
Have you considered how the right Social Security strategy can help you achieve your goals? Delaying your Social Security benefit past your Full Retirement Age can increase your benefit 8% each year until age 70! What is right age to start Social Security?
Berkeley Advisors uses our internally developed Pots of Gold© approach to make a tailored investment strategy for each client that manages investments to provide your income needs through retirement.
Do you understand your medical insurance coverage and needs heading into retirement? Do you know the difference in Medicare and Medicare Advantage? Did you know the premiums you pay for Medicare are based on your taxable income?
Have you considered how long-term care insurance can help protect your assets?
Defining Your Legacy
Legacy can have many meanings:
- I want to be sure my kids do not have to support me.
- My niece or nephew or cousin is my only family and I want to be sure they have the resources they need to help me as I age.
- I want to leave my estate for charitable purposes.
- I want to provide for my grandchildren’s and great-grandchildren’s education.
- My intent is for my heirs to use an inheritance properly and not waste what I worked so hard to build.
- My intent is to fund my plan in perpetuity.
- What strategies will help you create the legacy you foresee?
Legacy is often a team activity as you need a good estate attorney and a CPA for tax issues. We are delighted to work with your lawyer or CPA or introduce you to one of our Strategic Partners.
