Wealth Management Isn't a Job for Everyone
Managing your money isn't the easiest job, especially if it's not something you're trained to handle. It's stressful and frustrating. It takes a lot of time. When you're stressed and trying to research your options in a rush, you're likely to make mistakes.
It's not only that you may not have the time. Money management isn't for everyone. If you don't know the best times to buy or sell or aren't even sure how much you should be investing in stocks and bonds, how are you supposed to figure out what the best ways to grow your money are?
Not everyone is comfortable or even confident dealing with money. If you're among those who don't know what they're doing or aren't sure where to get started, expert advice from a financial planner is essential. Think about how much you'll pay an expert vs. how much a mistake could cost you. A financial advisor becomes a bargain in terms of money, time, and stress.
It's Important to Protect Your Assets and Manage Risks
You've worked hard to earn your money and buy the assets you have. Your house, your car, etc., are all important to you. You don't want to lose them to simple mistakes made in establishing a financial plan.
The stocks you own seem like good investments, but you're a novice and have little knowledge of when it's the best time to sell or buy, or if a stock is really as good an investment as you expect. It's all confusing, but you want to do all you can to manage risk and protect your savings, investments, and tangible assets.
You Don't Want To Work For the Rest of Your Life
While some people don't see a way out of working for the rest of their life, you don't want that to happen. You want to ensure that you're able to retire as soon as you can. You want to make sure you have enough money to afford whatever the cost of living is at that point, even if the Social Security income you're hoping for isn't as much as you'd expected. If the stock market crashes and your 401k funds take a direct hit, you want to still have money to live on.
You Need to Protect Your Family
Financial management is essential if you want to protect your family. Even unborn children can be protected. You're just starting out and plan to have children with your life partner, but what happens to them if something happens to you? Have you set up beneficiaries correctly?
What if you remarry after a divorce? Your new spouse may become the primary beneficiary if anything happens to you, but you want to make sure your children from your first marriage get everything. Legal protections are needed, but it's also helpful to work with a financial planner who can help with trusts.
A will helps, but a will can only go so far. You have to actually have money set up to prevent losing some of your wealth to taxes and court battles if anyone contests your will or you never created one. A comprehensive agency like Hobart Wealth is the perfect solution as you work with a team of financial advisors with expertise in everything from estates to products like long-term insurance.
Another thing to consider is that your health could change at any given moment. Early-onset Alzheimer's is just one example. Around 6.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, and around 200,000 of them are younger than 65. What happens if you're diagnosed with Alzheimer's before you qualify for retirement?
A person with Alzheimer's cannot live alone. In the latter stages, a caregiver needs to be around all day. Wandering, the inability to cook meals or clean the home, and the loss of skills like driving or paying bills are common problems. There's a chance your child or partner would need to stop working to take care of you or find a way to afford home care services. If that's not possible, assisted living accommodations are needed, and they can be expensive, especially for Alzheimer's care.
It doesn't even have to be Alzheimer's. Heart disease, cancer, and stroke are all chronic conditions that can make it hard to live alone. Genworth places the average cost of assisted living at $4,500 a month or around $8,000 to $9,000 for a nursing home. You'll burn through money quickly if that level of care is needed, and Medicare doesn't always cover the cost, but long-term care insurance does. Have you planned for situations like that?
The Wrong Plan Could End Up Putting Your Money in the Government's Hands
If you're not taking steps to protect your money from taxes, you could lose a lot of your money to the government. Not every state has estate taxes, but a dozen of them do, and so does Washington D.C. Half a dozen states also have inheritance taxes, so your beneficiaries could pay a tax on the money they inherit from you.
To avoid these taxes, you need to know the best tax-saving strategies. That's another reason to work with a financial advisor whose expertise is in estate planning.
One-Size Does Not Fit All
You could use an online guide to managing your money and financial planning, but what works for someone else may not work for you. Wealth management is never a one-size-fits-all situation. Online guides can help you, but they're not going to be anywhere near as helpful as an expert's advice and assistance.
Do you have a friend who works with a financial advisor? As tempting as it is to copy that friend's plan, again the one-size-fits-all mentality isn't best. Your needs and goals may not align with your friend's. You need a customized financial plan.
Talk to Wealth Management Advisor
What keeps you from hiring a financial advisor? If you're like many people, you're afraid it's expensive. It's cheaper to do it on your own. If you hire a financial advisor, that advisor is looking to make as much money off you, so you worry about the decision-making process being more of a benefit to that advisor than it is to you.
Hobart Wealth works with you as a team. Our team members all specialize in different aspects of building and protecting wealth, and we're there to provide you with sound advice that helps you achieve your financial goals with a customized plan that you approve of. Our advice is based on what's best for you.
Once we've established your portfolio, we're not done. We welcome you to attend free workshops and seminars throughout the year, and we reach out any time there's something new that we know could benefit you. You're important to us, and we want to make sure we support you with everything you need to make the right decisions when it comes to your finances. Email or call us to schedule your free introductory consultation.
Sources:
https://www.alz.org/media/documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf
https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care.html
