As someone who loves to eat, Thanksgiving is in the running for one of my all-time favorite holidays. As much as it’s a holiday to celebrate thankfulness, family and friendship, the real star of the show is the meal. What’s not to like? A delicious turkey is the main course and then there is a wide assortment of delicious side dishes. I think at one point, my family was preparing around fifteen side dishes just for one dinner. That didn’t even include the dessert! There aren’t too many meals that I can point to that have this much complexity- yet it all works together. Every flavor has a place in the meal, and they all seem to work together. Also, there’s enough variety to pick and choose what to get a large scoop of, or what to leave off your plate.
Now that I have your stomach grumbling, let’s talk about financial planning. A good financial plan is a lot like Thanksgiving dinner. Depending on your situation, it could have a lot of sections or just a few. The most important relationship is how all the pieces of the plan work together, which reminds me of how the foods of Thanksgiving all compliment each other to make a delicious meal.
While investment management is as important as the turkey, if that’s all we are talking about, that’s not going to be effective or satisfying over the long term. The investment management piece should be complemented by tax planning, estate planning and insurance planning at the minimum! As your financial advisors, knowing about all these pieces of your situation allows us to effectively do our job. We take our jobs as your most trusted advisor seriously, and allowing us to plan around these “side” pieces of your financial picture allows us to act efficiently.
Just like everyone has a different favorite side dish at Thanksgiving, each one of our client’s have different priorities as far as their financial planning needs are concerned. We could manage two couples investment portfolio’s completely differently based on their set of preferences and planning concerns – even if they have similar assets and spending needs. Without exploring all these separate pieces, we would not be able to effectively make these decisions for our unique client situations.
When we have a well-rounded plan put together, it’s like a well-rounded meal. Your team of financial professionals are aligned, and you can feel confident where we are moving over time. It helps our clients feel secure during down markets and confident as they walk through different life events.
We want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and if you are thinking of financial planning during dinner, give our group a call.