|
|
| Financial Team Building |
 |
It's difficult to effectively organize and simplify your financial life by yourself. A better approach is to build a team of professionals who will work in harmony to best serve your interests. Take a look at the components of a well-rounded financial team:
Identify Your Needs
Before building your team, you should have a clear understanding of the support you'll need. For example, if you're looking for estate planning expertise, you shouldn't hire a real estate attorney. Or if you want a CPA to handle your annual tax return, a small business accountant may not be appropriate.
Make a list of all the needs you have for each member of your team. The following are items to help you identify the expertise you seek in each team member (or items you should share with the team):
| Investment Professional |
Attorney |
Insurance Agent |
Company Benefits |
Self-Directed Assets |
Certified Public Accountant |
Comprehensive financial planning
Retirement planning
College planning
Stock/bond/ mutual fund/ annuity selection advice
Estate planning
Tax-advantaged investing
Periodic portfolio rebalancing |
Will and living will preparation
Estate planning and trusts
Property closing
Family law
Legal document review
Power of Attorney
Small business support |
Life insurance
Property and casualty insurance
Health insurance
Long-term care insurance
Disability insurance |
Retirement plan asset allocation
Any changes you make to your asset allocation
Company-sponsored life insurance coverage
Company-sponsored disability insurance
Long-term care |
A financial account to hold assets you manage yourself, including IRA rollovers, stocks and bonds, and miscellaneous no-load mutual funds. |
Income tax preparation
Tax return strategies
Tax reduction strategies
Small business support
Estate planning
Estate settlement |
|
Select Your Team Members
The most effective way to identify potential team members is through referrals from family, friends, and colleagues. Another valuable referral resource is from members of your professional team. For instance, your attorney may work closely with a CPA who specializes in estate planning. Your local yellow pages and professional associations that list members on their web site can also be helpful.
Take the time to conduct a phone or personal interview to gather information about their background and the services they provide. Learn if they're willing to work closely with your other team members and ask for their input on how to make the coordination of these relationships work best.
Many professionals specialize in a particular area, so you may need to use multiple professionals from a particular field. For example, you may find that some insurance agents are highly specialized and you'll need one person to coordinate your home and car insurance and another to handle your life and long-term care coverage. Likewise, some investment professionals provide a broad spectrum of financial planning advice, while others focus strictly on portfolio management.
Above all, you should be confident that each team member you select:
- is experienced and trustworthy,
- can provide customized service based on your unique goals,
- will provide multiple options for each of your needs and explain the associated pros and cons, and
- is willing to communicate the way you prefer, whether it's in person, over the phone, or via e-mail.
Suggested Tools
For additional resources to help simplify the selection process, we encourage you to try some of the suggestions that follow:
When choosing an attorney:
> American Bar Association web site—www.abanet.org
> AllLaw.com legal reference web site—www.alllaw.com
> United States Bar Directory online resource—www.usbardirectory.com
> Martindale-Hubbell® lawyers.com online legal resource—www.lawyers.com
> Downloadable legal forms—www.powerofattorney.com
> Educational estate planning materials online— www.estateplanning.com
When choosing an insurance agent:
> New York Life Insurance Co. web site— www.newyorklife.com
> National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors web site—www.naifa.org
> Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America web site—www.independentagent.com
When choosing a Certified Public Accountant:
> American Institute of Certified Public Accountants web site— www.aicpa.org
> National Society of Accountants web site—www.nsacct.org
> National Association of Enrolled Agents (online resource for tax professionals and taxpayers)—www.naea.org
Note: Many of the professionals associated with the preceding organizations specialize in a particular area of their field, so you may need to select more than one to meet your individual needs.
Other suggestions:
| > |
If you have self-directed assets, be sure to share your account information with your investment professional so he/she can review it in reference to your financial goals and overall asset allocation strategy. |
| > |
Refer questions related to your company benefits package to a representative in your company's human resources department. |
| > |
Review your retirement plan's asset allocation with your investment professional to make sure it works with your overall asset allocation strategy. |
| > |
Review your medical- and insurance-related coverages with your investment professional. |
Get Started Today
The benefits of building, organizing, and customizing your financial affairs will help you take control of your financial life, regardless of the circumstances. To get started, contact or identify the professional who will likely be the focal person of your financial team. To help organize your important documents and prepare for your investment professional meetings, visit our LifeFolio section.
|
|
|
|
|
_60.gif){kind=small}
