The foundation of wealth management begins with an individual's or business's asset allocation. The beginning of that process is the accumulation phase of investing. Depending on your needs, goals, and appetite for risk, we will create an asset allocation plan to diversify your investable assets among a variety of investment categories. This process will manage risk at the appropriate level for each person, improve the risk to reward trade-offs of the various investments, and create a more reliable forecast for future investing. Whether you are an individual or an employer, we have investment strategies and asset allocation processes to fit your specific needs. This process addresses:

• Investment analysis
• Asset allocation
• Business owner's options
• College funding
• Life insurance
• Estate planning

The foundation we lay during this step will be where retirement planning, estate planning, risk management, and tax planning are all built.

Retirement planning involves a combination of income sources such as retirement accounts, investment distributions, pensions, and durable income, not to mention the various expenses and tax implications along the way. Since it is so diverse, it is important to have a plan to address your needs. One of the biggest reported fears of retirees is outliving their money; our mission throughout our business relationship is to ensure this fear never enters your mind. Through our retirement planning process, we will simplify all the impacts taxes, pensions, trusts, or annuities might have on your retirement plan. Once you begin to start using your retirement savings, we will ensure there will be enough savings and retirement income set up to finance your desired retirement lifestyle.

Managing risk is dependent on each individual's risk appetite. Young and single individuals might be more inclined to pursue riskier investments for the greater reward potential, while older, married, and retirement age individuals might primarily want to minimize risk to preserve their wealth for their retirement years. There is no one-size-fits-all for risk management in regard to your investment portfolio. Additionally, we advise clients on using various tools to manage outside risks to your wealth, such as personal/professional liability, property loss, catastrophic illness, or disability. Lawsuits, accidents, property damage, and other financial risks are uncertainties of everyday life, and asset protection planning looks to transfer the risk of these events through:

• Life insurance
• Repositioning asset ownership
• Other protections available under the law

Your first line of defense is to identify your sources of risk and then either avoid or minimize the major exposures. Your next line of defense is the insurance coverage you hold. We will work side-by-side with you to weigh the insurance cost against the benefit of relieving the risk exposure and ensure this is a strategy you are comfortable with and understand clearly.

Estate organization creates a master plan for the management of your property during life and the distribution of that property at death. This process involves the smooth transition and distribution of wealth according to your wishes. With proper estate planning, you decide to whom, how, and when your assets will be distributed, as well as who will manage your estate or business. Special issues you may deal with are providing financial security for others, equalizing inheritances fairly, and retiring from your business. A major goal of estate planning is to minimize potential taxes without interfering with your other financial goals. If you give away wealth, during life or at death, you may incur federal—and possibly state—taxes. You can help protect the assets you transfer from excessive depletion by understanding these taxes and the various strategies you can use to minimize them. Additionally, asset protection planning deals with ownership issues, liability insurance, statutory protections, special needs trusts, offshore and domestic trusts, prenuptial agreements, divorce, and business dissolutions. Our process does not end with estate planning but coordinates your estate plan with your overall plans for your business, investments, insurance, and employee benefits.

Investment tax planning involves evaluating how to best position assets in order to minimize the amount of taxes you have to pay on an ongoing basis. Although decisions are rarely made solely on their tax impact, you should have a working knowledge of the income or estate tax issues and costs involved. The major goal is minimizing federal income tax liability through various plans and strategies such as:

• Reducing taxable income through income deferral
• Deduction planning
• Tax-exempt investments
• Tax-deferred investing
• Charitable giving incentives

We work with businesses that are interested in not only wealth creation, but intentionally developing and appreciating their employees and communities. Our business clients are laser-focused on what they do best. We can partner with you to plan, review, implement, and monitor some of the most important benefits you have as a small business. Below are some of the areas of consideration for which we can help:

• Business 401(k) retirement plans
• Business SIMPLE IRA retirement plans
• Business owner SEP IRAs
• Self-employed Keogh Plans
• Business tax mitigation strategies