Allworth co-founder Scott Hanson outlines some of the most crucial times to contact your advisor.
If you are like most people, your financial life is a long, complex highway system of onramps and offramps, potholes, detours, rest stops, curves, roundabouts, and poorly marked junctions.
But think of it this way: saving and investing are complicated right up until they aren’t. That is because, if you plan and make good decisions, eventually, the road becomes smooth and straight, and you can set cruise control for the remainder of your journey.
With the journey in mind, investment management and the transition into retirement are not the only times to speak with your advisor. What follows are four of the biggest life events (and a few extras) when you should give him or her a call.
Whether it is a yearly bump in salary, a bonus, or the sale of any large asset, if you find that you are about to earn more money, fight the urge to spend more, and instead, speak with your advisor about:
Getting a new job is a major life event. On the positive side, every company-sponsored retirement plan is unique and has its own advantages (and don’t forget healthcare) that must be accounted for, so this means opportunity.
Things such as:
Do not wait until an understanding about the specifics of your new job’s financial opportunities trickle down to you to act. Work with your advisor to incorporate the available opportunities and update your plan.
Conversely, among the negative work-life events when you should immediately contact your advisor include when you get laid off, or if you become temporarily or permanently disabled.
If you lose your job, or have a health emergency, you should immediately get guidance about:
I recently had a long-term client remarry, and, as both parties had saved well and had large families, the financial decisions surrounding the choice to remarry were particularly complex and the implications far reaching.
What monies/investments (if any) should you blend for tax purposes, and which should you keep separate? Should you have a pre-nuptial agreement? Will you change your retirement account beneficiaries (remember, the beneficiaries in your 401(k) supersede those listed in your will)? And what happens to property?
Thankfully, this couple was financially savvy, so they not only knew what questions to ask, but more importantly, what their financial blind spots were, and they approached this potentially ultra-stressful process with love and patience.
It even seemed to me like they were having fun.
Of course, divorce is typically on the other end of the emotional spectrum, and, as many of you reading this all too clearly understand, a process that can be rife with mistrust and acrimony.
While often necessary, it does not always help that, especially in divorces with varied assets, along with a desire to fight for every penny, you may be encouraged by your attorney to cease communicating with your spouse.
Conversely, your fiduciary advisor maintains a dispassionate (objective) perspective about your financial situation. Simply, they know you and will help you make the best short- and long-term decisions for you.
In the 1989 Steve Martin film “Parenthood,” actor Jason Robards explains to Martin - who is worried about his own son’s difficulties in school - that, “You never stop being a parent. You never score the winning touchdown and spike the ball.”
I have always liked that line.
First, children come with untold costs, and once they begin to compare their video game consoles to those of their classmates and friends… well, it is off to the races.
Many parents believe that, once the kids graduate high school or college, they will be off the payroll, but that is no longer the reality for millions of people.
While providing financial support to adult children may be increasingly common, how much support, if any, and for how long, is a decision that everyone must make based on their own sense of obligation and their personal financial situation.
Advisors are confidantes, buffers, and absolutely every second of the day, realists. And if you are an adult with children, who is nearing or already in retirement, your advisor will help you understand what you can and cannot afford to do, for how long, and whether you are placing your own financial future at risk.
While I have written here about a few of the key life events when you should absolutely place a call or draft an email to your advisor, the list does not end there. Others include:
After more than 30 years of advising, I have learned that, if I were to choose one, the biggest advantage of working with someone like me (a full time fiduciary) is that I can help keep you from making emotional financial mistakes from which you cannot recover.
When it comes to your finances, while some life events occur suddenly, others transpire gradually. But no matter the duration, one thing remains constant: The people who achieve prosperity rarely do so accidentally. It takes planning and goal setting and near-constant vigilance to get where you want to be.
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1 Barron’s 2020 Top 100 RIA Firms. Scott Hanson (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016) and Pat McClain (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016). Barron's© magazine is a trademark of Dow Jones L.P. The ranking reflects the volume of assets overseen by the advisors and their teams, revenues generated for the firms and the quality of the advisors' practices.
2 Retention Rate Source: Allworth Internal Data, FY 2022
3 The NBRI Circle of Excellence Award is bestowed upon NBRI clients meeting one or both of the following criteria: Total Company score at or above the 75th percentile of the NBRI ClearPath Benchmarking Database and/or improvement of five (5) or more benchmarking percentiles in Total Company score over the previous survey.
4 As of 7/1/2024, Allworth Financial, an SEC registered investment adviser and AW Securities, a registered broker/dealer have approximately $22.5 billion in total assets under management and administration.
5 InvestmentNews 2020 and 2021 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers. The ranking reflects survey responses and scores completed by both employers and employees. Employers report their organization’s workplace policies, practices, and demographics. Employees complete a survey designed to measure the employee experience.
6 2021 Value of an Advisor Study / Russel Investments
7 Ranked 9th Top Wealth Managers By Growth in Assets in the U.S. from RIA Channel, 2022. RIA Database and RIA Channel are registered trademarks owned by Labworks, LLC.
8 USA Today Best Financial Advisory Firms 2024. The ranking is based on the growth of the companies’ assets under management (AUM) over the short and long term and the number of recommendations they received from clients and peers.
9 NBRI Best in Class Ethics 2023. The Best in Class level is bestowed upon clients performing at or above 90 percentile of the NBRI ClearPath Benchmarking Database.
✢ Scott Hanson, Investment Advisor 2005, 25 most influential people in the financial services industry. The ranking reflects 25 people who Investment Advisor magazine believes have had or will have the greatest influence on the financial services industry.
✼Pat McClain, InvestmentNews 2014, Invest in Others Community Service Award, presented to an advisor who has made an outstanding impact on a community through managerial contributions to a non-profit organization.
†Financial Times, FT 300 Top Registered Investment Advisers, June 2019. The ranking reflects six areas of consideration including the company's years in existence, industry certifications of key employees, AUM, asset growth, SEC compliance record and online accessibility and calculates a numeric score for each company.
Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, CFP® (with plaque design) and CFP® (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board's initial and ongoing certification requirements.