Goals shift over time, sometimes subtly and sometimes all at once. The retirement you pictured 10 years ago might look different now. Your travel dreams may have taken a back seat to caring for loved ones. Or maybe your priorities have expanded to include charitable giving, education funding for grandchildren or leaving a lasting legacy.
Sometimes it’s the small stressors — a sudden repair, a career pivot, a family event — that reveal the pressure points in your financial plan. Sometimes, it’s something bigger. But the takeaway is the same: a resilient plan isn’t built on forecasts; it’s built on flexibility and clarity.
An estate plan outlines how you’d like your assets to be distributed upon your passing. It helps ensure that your wishes are upheld, your legacy is cemented and your loved ones are cared for. It can also spare your family from unnecessary confusion, conflict, and tax burdens. For these reasons and more, estate planning is a pillar of any comprehensive financial plan regardless of your wealth or the number of assets you own.
Gifting money to your children and grandchildren is more than just a way of showing them how much they mean to you — it’s a way to contribute meaningfully to their financial futures, helping ensure they have the means to pursue their dreams and take advantage of life’s opportunities. But when it comes to passing wealth down to your loved ones, the strategy you employ can bear significant tax implications for you and for them.
Fortunately, there are a number of different financial vehicles to choose from that can help your family manage these taxes more effectively. Each option comes with its own set of potential benefits and considerations, and we’ll discuss some of them here. But first, there are a couple of things you should keep in mind.
Creating an estate plan doesn’t have to be difficult when you consult a financial advisor. Contact an Elevage Partners advisor today for help selecting the right options for you, your family and your WHY.
Once your primary career winds down and you shift toward leisure or different modes of work, effectively maintaining your nest egg becomes more crucial than ever. Wisely managing your resources can help you realize the retirement lifestyle you’ve been dreaming of. With that in mind, here are some common retirement missteps you should try to avoid.
The retirement landscape has shifted. Gone are the days of the defined-benefit pension plan that saw employees rewarded for their many years of loyal service with a steady stream of checks in retirement. Now the responsibility of saving for retirement often rests on your shoulders.
Fortunately, the team of retirement planning professionals at Elevage Partners can help you navigate the process with confidence and select a retirement plan that suits your individual needs and circumstances. Let’s take a look at some of the options.
There used to be a singular notion of retirement: Walk away from your career one day and begin a life of leisure the next. You never envision working another day in your life. When planning for the retirement date circled on your calendar, you saved as much as you could for decades to ensure that you’d have enough money to comfortably live out your golden years.
This one-size-fits-all approach to retirement – and the financial planning that supports it – is rapidly changing.
Owning a home outright is a dream that many Americans share. Having a mortgage can be a huge burden, and paying it off may be the first item on your financial to-do list. But competing with the desire to own your home free and clear is your need to invest for retirement, your child’s college education, or some other goal. Putting extra cash toward one of these goals may mean sacrificing another. So how do you choose?
One of the main benefits of having a financial plan is that it can help you balance competing financial priorities. A financial plan will clearly show you how your financial goals are related. Like how, for example, saving for your children’s college education might impact your ability to save for retirement. Then you can use the information you’ve gleaned to decide how to prioritize your goals, implement specific strategies and choose suitable products or services. Best of all, you’ll know that your financial life is headed in the right direction.