Is your financial advisor managing your assets, selling you products, or helping custom design and build your unique comprehensive, coordinated, holistic lifetime wealth management plan?

What is the difference, you may ask?

Managing Your Assets

Many financial advisors serve their clients by managing their investment portfolio. The advisor is paid an advisor fee for your assets under their management, referred to as AUM in the industry.

The advisor traditionally sits down with the client and talks through potential investment options and portfolios suited to the client based on many factors. Those factors may include age, family situation, goals, risk tolerance, etc.

Based on those discussions, the advisor recommends investment accounts and strategies he or she believes are suitable for the client.

If the client agrees, they complete the paperwork, and transition the money into those accounts.

The client is typically given online access to the custodial platform on which their accounts reside. The client typically receives monthly or quarterly statements showing activity in those accounts.

The advisor fees are likely shown on those statements; however, there may be other fees not present on those statements. The industry calls those “hidden fees.” They may be for account maintenance, loads, expense ratios, custodian fees, etc.

Selling You Products

Many financial advisors are looking for potential clients to whom they can sell a product.

For example, an advisor may specialize in annuities and believe that most people need an annuity in their lifetime wealth portfolios.

They have marketing systems that target the potential clients for whom they are looking. They convincingly approach those people with conversations, literature, illustrations, and stories why annuities are one of the very best tools in a financial portfolio.

Another example may be a life insurance salesperson. They believe a certain type of life insurance is a “must have” for a potential client to survive retirement and provide for their loved ones.

They, too, have targeted marketing systems that make the product sound so good you would be a fool not to have one of their life insurance policies in your possession.

If the prospective client believes the financial advisor, they sign and submit the paperwork. If approved, the client is now the proud owner of that life insurance product recommended by the salesperson!

Product salesperson advisors earn commissions off the products they sell to you.

Custom Designed Lifetime Wealth Management Strategy

Some financial advisors help their clients understand their current financial foundation, including all the places and ways they have been saving money over the years. These types of advisors take time to learn about your existing financial situation, goals, needs, retirement dreams, legacy desires, etc.

Once they establish the foundation, these advisors talk through all the potential pitfalls and risks to the safety of your money over your lifetime and into your legacy.

They will address concerns such as:

• The potential impact of lifetime taxes on your current plan
• What your taxes and income may look like if taxes go up in the future
• The impact RMDs may have on your future taxes and spendable income
• The potential taxation of your Social Security benefits
• When you may run out of money if no changes are made
• What could happen if the market crashes early in your retirement years?
• The potential surcharge on your Medicare premiums based on your income
• The financial impact should there be a chronic, critical, or long-term care illness
• What could happen upon an early or untimely death
• The implications on your money should you live longer than expected
• What types of assets will be passed down through your legacy and their related financial implications to your beneficiaries

Depending on your unique financial foundation, these may or may not be concerns of yours. However, without proper lifetime wealth management planning, these types of issues may surface their ugly heads and derail your best laid plans.

Once a proper lifetime wealth management strategy has been designed, THEN your financial advisor will provide investment strategies, advice, options, and products to fill in any gaps and cracks in your plan based on your goals, needs, and desires.

Wealth Management Tools

Financial investments and products are tools. Using the proper tool depends on the job to be accomplished. For example, if you were given a piece of wood and a screw, would you grab a hammer? Probably not. That doesn’t make the hammer bad.

The same is true designing and building wealth management plans. It’s the job of the lifetime wealth strategist to grab the proper tools to accomplish your goals, needs, and desires to live the lifestyle you envision.

Consider This

You are already paying fees or commissions to a financial advisor or financial advisors to manage your money or sell you financial products. Why aren’t they also helping you with your lifetime wealth management plan?

What is happening to your hard-earned money? Who are you trusting? Is that person providing the types of services that are going to provide and project your lifetime wealth management plan, especially given all the variables that impact wealth distribution?

Carpe Diem! Seize the Day! Find someone who can design and build YOUR unique lifetime wealth management strategy. Gain clarity and confidence. Relieve stress, worry, and anxiety.