BY SUZANNE HAZLETT, MBA, CIMA®, CFP®
Instead of hauling out those familiar New Year’s resolutions about keeping a journal or drinking more water, how about focusing on your financial well-being? Here’s a set of resolutions that can help ensure your long-term financial confidence.
Create flexible access to cash.
The right liquidity strategy will differ for every investor and could incorporate cash reserves, cash alternatives, highly liquid securities, lines of credit, margin loans, or even structured lending.
Update your beneficiaries.
Update your beneficiary listings on wills, life insurance, annuities, IRAs, qualified plans, and anything else that would affect your heirs. If you’ve named a trust, have any relevant tax laws changed? Have you provided for the possibility that your primary beneficiary may die before you? Does your plan address the simultaneous death of you and your spouse? An estate attorney can help walk you through these various scenarios.
Review your account titling.
Many unwittingly title their accounts in ways that undermine the estate plan established in their will and trusts. Coordinating the three elements of the estate planning framework — wills, account titles, and beneficiary designations — is imperative.
Evaluate your retirement progress.
Drill down what types of securities you hold, your expected cash flows, your contingency plans, your assumed rate of return, inflation rates, and how long you plan for. Retirement plans have many moving parts that are best monitored continuously.
Develop a charitable strategy.
Giving comes from the heart, but you can also do well when doing good. Consider whether or not it would make sense to donate low-basis stocks instead of cash or learn about establishing a donor-advised fund to take an upfront deduction for contributions made over the next several years.
Spark a family conversation.
Sustaining family wealth for generations is possible with a mutual understanding among family members. Consider creating a mission statement that outlines the shared vision for your wealth and legacy.
Digitize your record-keeping.
You likely receive emails, letters, reports and updates from multiple accounts. Consider going paperless and centralizing essential files in one place to reduce frustration and ensure easy access when needed.
Invest with your values.
Your portfolio should reflect what matters to you — and that can mean anything from avoiding particular industries to actively pursuing an ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investing approach. Your portfolio can be tailored to reflect those priorities.
Check in with your advisor.
Communicate openly about what’s happening in your life today and what may happen. Establish a regular check-in schedule for the year ahead.
These suggestions may offer you a helpful starting point for progressing toward your goals in 2024.
Investing involves risk, and you may incur a profit or loss regardless of the strategy selected. Not all investments or strategies mentioned are suitable for all investors. Donors are urged to consult their legal or tax advisors regarding potential risks and benefits and the deductibility of various contributions to a donor-advised fund for federal and state tax purposes. Raymond James and its advisors do not offer tax or legal advice.
Suzanne Hazlett, MBA, CIMA®, CFP®, is a Certified Investment Management Analyst® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERTM professional. Investment advisory services are offered through Raymond James Financial Services Advisors, Inc. Securities are offered through Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC. HAZLETT WEALTH MANAGEMENT, LLC is independent of Raymond James and is not a registered broker/dealer. 675 Sun Valley Road, Suite J1 + J2, Ketchum, Idaho, 83340 208.726.0605 HazlettWealthManagement.com
