financial planning services

Financial planning involves looking at your entire financial picture and advising you on how to achieve your short- and long-term financial goals. At Investment Designers, we subscribe to the CFP Board’s definition of financial planning:

Financial Planning is a collaborative process that helps maximize a Client’s potential for meeting life goals through Financial Advice that integrates relevant elements of the Client’s personal and financial circumstances.

Our financial planning process is customized to your unique circumstances, with a goal of simplifying even the most complex elements. Our innovative process has been designed over time, and through experience, to bring clarity to your situation and provide you with a framework for making financial decisions no matter what happens in life.

At Investment Designers, we offer a range of financial planning services, including retirement planning, tax planning, tax-efficient retirement income planning, estate planning, investment management, cash flow management, risk management planning, social security claiming strategies, and employee retirement plans.

retirement planning

Retirement planning is typically part of a larger financial planning exercise with a specific focus on helping you prepare for retirement. The retirement planning process has many layers that depend on your unique personal situation. When do you want to retire? How much will you spend? What will you do? Do your investments align with your goals? Has your current retirement plan been stress tested? We work with you to answer these questions and more.

tax planning

We work in partnership with your CPA or tax advisor to develop a tax plan that's unique to you. Our tax planning process uses a forward-looking approach to control taxes while you (and your spouse) are alive and well, plan for the surviving spouse, and control the tax impact on your heirs. Our goal is to maximize your lifetime tax efficiency rather than just focusing on what's happening today.

investment management

We're long-term investors with a firm belief that time in the market is better than attempting to time the markets. We put this belief into practice by developing investment plans that focus on the controllable areas of investing. This includes managing your overall asset allocation, diversification, costs, and tax efficiency; planning for market and liquidity risks; and considering the legacy value you wish to leave your heirs. We work with you to select the investment strategy, and specific investments, that most align with your goals.

tax-efficient retirement income planning

Retirement income planning is the process of tax-efficiently withdrawing assets from your various accounts while considering your other sources of income to meet your needs, wants, and wishes in retirement. Your retirement income plan is closely connected with your personal Social Security claiming strategy, as well as various other areas of your financial plan. For those that it applies to, income planning will include a complete pension analysis.

estate planning

A well-constructed estate plan makes it clear how you want your money and property to be handled in the event of your passing or incapacitation. We'll collaborate with your attorney to develop an effective estate planning strategy. We can also recommend one of our partner estate planning attorneys if needed.

Cash Flow Management

Cash flow management, also known as cash flow planning, involves three main objectives. First, we need to understand how much you earn from all sources of income (inflows). Second, we need to understand how much you spend (outflows). Third, we need to identify excess available cash flow and deploy it as necessary to drive the best results for your financial plan. If appropriate, your cash flow strategy may also involve debt management techniques designed to reduce your overall debt while maximizing your ability to reach your financial goals.

Risk Management Planning

Risk management planning involves protecting your finances against high-severity risks that can destabilize your goals, deplete your assets, and threaten your income. These risks include premature death, loss of income due to a disability, and the need for long-term care later in retirement. Our risk management plans also employ cash reserve and emergency fund strategies that help you maintain appropriate liquidity while allowing your money to work the best that it can for you.

Social Security Claiming Strategies

There is no “one-size-fits-all” claiming strategy for Social Security. Not everyone should make a claim as soon as they are eligible, nor should everyone wait as long as possible to claim. An appropriate claiming strategy considers all the factors that affect your current and future benefits, such as your age, spouse’s age, benefit amount(s) for each spouse, income needs, and investment risk tolerance. When developing your Social Security claiming strategy, we complete an in-depth analysis that incorporates all of those factors and allows us to stress test various possibilities.

Employee Retirement Plans

In addition to offering the above services to individual investors, we also help businesses create retirement plans for employees. When developing employee retirement plans, we use a simplified planning process that focuses on your business needs while balancing costs and value. This helps you attract and retain first-rate employees and keep the cost of benefits under control without needing to sacrifice too much of your valuable work time.

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