Personal Finance Archives - Legacy Wealth Advisors

Sure, financial advisors manage your money.

But that’s a pretty simple way to look at the world of personal finance.

It’s like saying that a contractor remodels your house. Yes, they remodel your home, and to do that, they manage trades, create schedules, help you build the strategy, determine timelines, conduct quality checks, and so much more.

You can apply the same idea to financial planning.

Your advisor manages your money, and to do that, they understand your goals, dive into your risk tolerance and risk preferences, know your time horizon, and more.

They work with you to create a retirement plan, build an estate plan that honors your legacy, ensure you’re as tax-efficient as possible and give you a birds-eye view of your money.

Your advisor helps you see and make valuable connections between your money and your life and empower you to use your money to help you live your most ideal life.

Still think advisors just shuffle stocks around? By the end of this article, we hope you’ll change your mind.

Create a Comprehensive Retirement Plan

When it comes to retirement, several questions spring to mind.

How will you get your income in retirement?
Can you really withdraw the amount you want?
Is buying a retirement home in the cards?
What about taxes—how will those change?
When should you collect Social Security, and how can you create a plan for your spouse?

Your financial advisor can work with you to help you discover the answers to these and several other questions.

Retirement planning is sophisticated. You need to balance your investments, savings, and spending to insulate your nest egg for about 30 years, requiring a balanced and tailored approach. An advisor works with you to design a plan that maximizes your financial opportunities.

They can walk you through investing in retirement and how to use your hard-earned savings to build a life you love to live. A comprehensive retirement plan brings confidence, security, and joy to the next phase of your life. We love showing people how they can use their money to enhance their life—and retirement is a big part of those conversations.

You save your entire career to retire the way you want to—whether on a Bermuda beach or a country culdesac—we help you use your resources intentionally to get there.

Align Your Estate Plan With Goals And Values

People tend to avoid estate planning, and it’s not too difficult to see why.

Death isn’t fun. It’s not easy to think about, and it can cause awkwardness, which leads to avoidance. But since when did avoiding a problem make it go away?

We help you reclaim the narrative of estate planning—transforming it from a taboo topic to one that helps protect and preserve your wealth and legacy for the next generation. Your legacy is deeply connected to your estate plan, and we make sure your documents accurately reflect that.

Are your beneficiaries and designations up to date?
Would you benefit from a trust (and what kind)?
Are you charitably inclined and want some of your estate passed to charity?
Are you making the most of gifting while alive?
Have you considered who will be in charge of your affairs should you become incapacitated?
Are your assets structured in a tax-efficient way, so more of your money goes to heirs or charity instead of Uncle Sam?

The game-changer at Legacy Wealth is that your retirement and estate planning needs are coordinated. Coordinated financial planning leaves no stone unturned and seamlessly aligns your entire financial picture.

Create A Budget That Works Now

While much of financial planning looks to the future, you still need a plan to use your assets with intention and purpose today.

Are you spending too much on entertainment? (don’t worry, it gets us all).
Do you want to travel more?
How can you bring purpose to each purchase?
Are you allocating enough money to your savings?

Budgets tend to cause furrowed brows and tense shoulders, but they don’t have to be a painful part of your personal finance regime. All a budget does is helps you understand the difference between what comes in and what goes out.

Knowing the difference is the first step to regaining control over your money. An advisor can help you create a cash flow plan that optimizes your money today.

It’s essential to make your budget intentional because it will look different from family to family. Maybe you need a meal box subscription to make weekly meal prep manageable; great! Or perhaps your boutique gym membership keeps you healthy both mentally and physically, excellent! Knowing what’s important to your life gives your money more purpose.

Your advisor can help you structure your cash flow to maximize every dollar you earn, invest, save, and spend.

Bring Tax Efficiency Today and Tomorrow

The key to long-term financial success?

Being mindful of your taxes.

Your advisor helps you make tax-conscious choices throughout the year. Proactive tax planning is all about limiting the amount of lifetime taxes you pay. Strategies could be anything from:

Asset location (placing securities like stocks, bonds, ETFs in the most tax-friendly vehicle, either taxable, tax-exempt, tax-deferred),
Tax-loss harvesting (selling depreciated stock to write off on taxes or offset gains),
Roth conversions (converting traditional money into Roth. Often best in lower-income years to maximize tax-free distributions.)
Retirement withdrawal strategies (how much to withdraw from each retirement account (taxable, tax-exempt, tax-deferred).

Tax efficiency is an ongoing process and requires a deep understanding of your financial situation. We don’t just think about taxes once or twice a year; we bake tax planning throughout the year.

Tax planning is such a critical part of what we do that we partner with a CPA to help clients stay more organized and on top of their tax situation. It’s all part of our coordinated philosophy. With us, we can tackle your wealth management needs under one roof. Doing so streamlines the process for you and keeps your money more structured and organized.

Connect Your Personal and Financial Goals (and Help You Reach Them)

True financial planning connects the people, places, and things that matter most with the financial resources to help you get there.

Your financial plan will likely look different than your parents, friends, or neighbors because your goals and values drive the process. Your goals help shape the trajectory of every financial habit you cultivate, from saving to spending to investing to giving.

A financial advisor can help you take a broader look at your goals and see how they connect to your money via financial planning software. You can see your goals, progress, investments, and more. It can give you a holistic picture and connect all of the little pieces of your plan.

Financial advisors offer more nuanced services than providing an investment ROI (though that’s pretty good too)! They can help you bring continuity, vision, and purpose to each piece of your plan and help them work together to help you reach your goals.

Ready to see how an advisor can help transform your wealth strategy? Get started with our team today.

Advisory services are offered through Legacy Wealth Advisors, LLC dba Legacy Wealth Advisors, an Investment Advisor in the State of Michigan. The information contained herein should in no way be construed or interpreted as a solicitation to sell or offer to sell advisory services to any residents of any State other than the State of Michigan or where otherwise legally permitted.

All content is for information purposes only. It is not intended to provide any tax or legal advice or provide the basis for any financial decisions. Nor is it intended to be a projection of current or future performance or indication of future results. Moreover, this material has been derived from sources believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed as to accuracy and completeness and does not purport to be a complete analysis of the materials discussed. Legacy Wealth Advisors does not offer tax planning or legal services but may provide references to tax services or legal providers. Legacy Wealth Advisors may also work with your attorney or independent tax or legal counsel. Please consult a qualified professional for assistance with these matters.

You’ve chosen to walk through life together. That commitment has extended to every facet of your life. Why should your finances be any different? Here’s a hint: it shouldn’t be.

Finding alignment and clarity with your spouse about your financial habits, goals, and values is instrumental to crafting a holistic plan that speaks to both of you throughout your life together.

Money can be an obstacle for couples or it can be an opportunity to grow closer together, supporting one another as you both pursue your dreams. Today, let’s take a closer look at how married couples can build a shared vision and remain steadfast partners in their financial plans.

Both Spouses Should Take an Active Role In Their Financial Lives

Sometimes in relationships, it’s easy (and healthy) to delegate tasks. Whether it’s chores, cleaning, cooking, etc. it’s nice to have a partner to help pick up the slack in other areas. Your money, however, shouldn’t always be one of those tasks.

While we expect one spouse will inevitably take control of the day-to-day financial management, both should have a voice in the process and especially the outcome. Not everyone can be the “paper person” walking into meetings with mountains of documentation and that’s okay. Being present in your financial life doesn’t have to be about meticulously checking your account balance, instead, it’s about being open with your partner and your advisor about the things that are most important to you.

Couples who take an active role in their financial plan are more empowered and engaged to work toward their goals. Each person is on the same page and no one remains in the dark. It also helps the couple create their plans with much more intention and customization.

Every couple is different and being able to express your viewpoints together will only enhance your plan. It also helps your advisor make recommendations that are aligned with both viewpoints. Too often we see one person completely take the reigns, and that can lead to confusion and apathy from the other spouse later on.

Even if one person is more involved than the other, working with a trusted professional will ensure that the plan moves forward, no matter which person sits in the driver’s seat. We prioritize building relationships with our clients, so they can trust we operate in their best interests even if they aren’t present at every meeting.

Create a Shared Vision for the Future

A great way to work together in your financial plan is to think about your shared goals for the future.

What do you want your retirement to look like? Are you relaxing on a beach? Will you open a business together? Do you see yourself moving or remaining near family? What will you do to fill your time (travel, volunteer, work, passion project, etc.)?

Talking through your vision begins to bring concrete elements to an intangible event. Envisioning your future in more specific terms makes it easier to adopt the habits and choices that will help you get there.

Maybe you and your spouse want to move to your favorite vacation hotspot and live on the beach. But to do that, you know you’ll need to make some lifestyle adjustments and redirect more funds to your retirement and brokerage accounts to reach your desired number. Knowing what you’re working toward is critical to helping you build habits to support those goals.

Craft and Support Individual Goals Along The Way

You’ve vowed to spend your life together but that doesn’t mean your entire life is dedicated completely to your spouse.

You are each individual people with hopes, dreams, goals, and desires that may differ from your partner. It’s essential to have and pursue your own goals alongside your shared goals as a couple.

The best part? You don’t have to do it alone! Your spouse will be there to encourage and support you as you reach your goals. Perhaps one of you is passionate about going back to school to get an advanced degree and the other has an incredible business idea they want to act on.

Talk about these goals with your partner and build them into your saving and investing plan. Knowing what your goals are can help you, your spouse, and your financial planner creates a path to achieving them.

Know and Express Your Views and Attitudes Toward Your Money

Marital discord over money often comes down to the misalignment of financial values and viewpoints. Take some time to talk with your spouse about your relationship with money.

Are you a spender or a saver and why?
How much money do you think is appropriate to spend without consulting the other person?
Should you combine your money, keep it separate, or a combination?
Do you have money deal-breakers?
Are you aligned with how much you are investing/saving each month for future goals?

You may think that you intuitively know what your spouse thinks about these areas, but it’s best to talk with them about it anyway. Creating an open and honest space to listen and learn more about one another can do wonders for your financial life.

Find A Financial Partner for Life

Creating a robust financial plan that speaks to both of you opens up many challenges and opportunities. Find a team of financial professionals you trust who can help you take your money to the next level.

Finding the right advisor is a lot like finding your partner. You need someone you trust who knows your goals and can create a plan that helps you get there.

We love building relationships with our clients and guiding them on their financial journey. If you would like to learn more about our comprehensive financial planning services, schedule a 15-minute call with us today.

All content is for information purposes only. It is not intended to provide any tax or legal advice or provide the basis for any financial decisions. Nor is it intended to be a projection of current or future performance or indication or future results. Moreover, this material has been derived from sources believed to be reliable but is not guaranteed as to accuracy and completeness and does not purport to be a complete analysis of the materials discussed. Legacy Wealth Advisors does not offer tax planning or legal services but may provide references to tax services or legal providers. Legacy Wealth Advisors may also work with your attorney or independent tax or legal counsel. Please consult a qualified professional for assistance with these matters.

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