Whether or not you have had a financial plan prepared, the areas of retirement planning are changing swiftly. A traditional plan was a hard-copy statistical projection of the future, that although looked nice, was usually tucked away in a drawer; updating was time consuming and expensive. Today’s availabe technology has facilitated the understanding for clients by providing access to their plans online and easy procedures to update. A financial plan should involve the following:

Well-Defined Goals

 Why are we planning? Can we quantify the reasons? Are there beneficiaries to be included in your goals?

What If Scenarios

 Situations will change in the future, and so too may the goals. The benefit of effective planning is the ability to project different scenarios that represent different ideas you may have. For example, a goal could be the eventual sale of your house during retirement, and options to plan for could include the possible renting instead of selling the residence, or an estimate of what it would cost to purchase another residence elsewhere.

Fiduciary/Independence

Needless to say, you want someone responsible for preparing a financial plan or managing your assets to have an obligation to act in your best interests. We require it for legal services, medical care, and conservator relationships, but we don’t require it for those who will be managing money. Being a Fiduciary requires always acting in the client's best interest. This should seem plain and obvious, but surprisingly, many individuals in the planning industry, especially employees in the insurance and retail brokerage industry, are not legally bound to a “best interest standard.” Instead, they are held to a less stringent “suitability” standard.  Choosing an independent planner over someone who works for a company that sells proprietary products can be the first step to achieving planning goals. There are other variables to consider, but I believe a client’s best interests are better served by someone who doesn’t have any monetary incentives to sell products.

 Expertise/Knowledge In Common Financial Areas

The journey through retirement will undoubtedly require various financial decisions that you may need advice on. The areas that frequently concern retirees usually involve taxes, investments, estate planning, insurance/annuity, social security strategies, and Medicare decisions. Anthony B. Carr, owner, has been a CPA for the past 36 years, and for the past 25 years, a Certified Financial planner, the designation of the highest standards and experience in the financial planning industry.

COMMON QUESTIONS

What are the firm’s fees for financial planning?

The firm charges on a fee-only basis. For investment management services, a flat fee is charged on managed investments. For financial planning, the hourly rate is $150 per hour for most planning engagements. We do not charge commissions or receive income from any other source besides our clients.

Who is your typical client?

Most of our clients have written goals that were derived from their desired visions of the future. We help clients attain those goals by providing them with a trusted fiduciary, expertise in various financial areas, personal service, and a commitment to assist them in reaching their desired futures. Clients will have:

a)      Various sources of income - Social Security, pensions, business interests, rental income, part-time wages, and other types.

b)     Employer-Sponsored Plan Rollovers to IRAs – We help facilitate the transfers and rollovers to help consolidate client information.

c)      Tax-Conscious financial decisions – Tax implications affect virtually all financial decisions in virtually all financial areas. Anthony Carr has been an active CPA for the past 36 years.

d)     Understanding and acceptance of long-term investment strategies – Overwhelming academic evidence to support long-standing investment principles, including the market's historical record of rewarding investors for risk accepted.

e)      Knowledge-Driven solutions, not product-driven. Certain low-cost products may be required (e.g., mutual funds, ETFs), but careful and thorough analysis of your situation is warranted before purchasing costly products that may not be in your best interests.

 What types of issues do retirees face?

 They face a balancing act among the main areas of asset management – growth, distribution, preservation, and protection of their assets. For new retirees, they are approaching or at the end of the accumulation phase, where higher risk tolerances and greater expected returns could be attained due to longer time horizons and lower liquidity concerns. Now that they’ve reached or will soon reach retirement, their risk factors start to change – income sources may have different tax implications, time horizons shrink, and inflation and liquidity concerns grow. Meanwhile, they remain focused on asset preservation as family transfer goals become increasingly important. We help clients who need expert advice during their journey through retirement.

How often do you meet with Clients to update plans or discuss investment performance and allocation?

I am always available to address questions or concerns, but reviews typically occur at least once or twice a year, depending on the client's needs. With financial situations and many goals inevitably changing, proper planning allows for corresponding adjustments to the financial plan and investment allocation.  Since the investment strategy is built to produce positive long-term results, making allocation adjustments based solely on short-term performance or short-term “noise” is generally a practice I don’t recommend.