What is Wealth Management?
Private Wealth Management is an ongoing effort to maximize your total wealth picture for today, tomorrow, and for future generations.
It requires a TEAM of highly trained professionals working together.
PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT
Private Wealth Management is a comprehensive, ongoing effort to maximize your total wealth picture for today, tomorrow, and for future generations. It addresses your goals, your values, and it requires a team of highly trained professionals working together to achieve your goals.
No single advisor can perform the task of Wealth Management.
The CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional is trained to coordinate all other specialists' actions on your behalf. Sometimes this function is called the "Financial Quarterback."
If your financial advisor is not doing all this... maybe you should upgrade. Likely, you are paying too much for too little.
wealth management components
Financial Planning for Life Decisions
Retirement Income Planning
Investment Optimization and Cost Reduction
RECESSION PROTOCOL™ to Protect Your Investments
Investor Coaching and Behavioral Finance
Tax Planning & Tax MINIMIZATION
Strategies to Protect Your Wealth
Survivor, Special Needs, & Estate Planning
FINANCIAL PLANNING FOR LIFE DECISIONS
Good financial planning provides answers to questions like the ones that follow… and many more!
Am I on track – financially – to accomplish my life goals?
I have a Special Needs person in my life. What strategies should I use for him/her?
Can we afford that dream vacation? Can we buy that RV? Should we?
Should I save more for retirement – or can I spend more today?
What is the best way to help my kids/grandkids with college?
Retirement Income optimization
Vanguard’s 2016 study, “Quantifying Advisor Alpha,” showed that an optimal retirement income strategy can add the equivalent of up to 1.10% average annual return* to an investor’s retirement experience – enough to offset most advisor fees.
How much do I need to retire?
What should I do with my pension? A monthly paycheck - or a pension rollover?
Should I leave my 401(K) with my old employer when I retire – or rollover my 401k to an IRA?
How do you get money out of your 401k? Which account should I spend first?
What’s the best Social Security strategy - for me?
How much can I spend in retirement without running out of money?
Watch the VIDEO at the right for more information >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
WE HELP OPTMIZE YOUR INVESTMENTS
Most people accumulate a “hodge-podge” of investments over their lives. Vanguard’s 2016 study, “Quantifying Advisor Alpha,” showed that optimizing an investor’s portfolio, using low-cost investments and performing disciplined rebalancing may add an average additional annual return of 0.75% to a portfolio.*
Portfolios designed to capture opportunities in the market, but still respect each investor’s own risk tolerance
Low-cost Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and individual bonds where appropriate to minimize the cost of investing – enhancing potential returns
Rebalancing after market run-ups and corrections to reduce risk
Accounts are held at Fidelity or Charles Schwab - renowned custodians to keep your investments safe - with thousands of investment options and low costs
Recession protocol™ to protect your investments
How can you prevent a stock market crash from ruining your retirement? Don’t be in the market during recessions!
Every devastating stock market crash has been accompanied by an economic recession. In the study “Does it Pay to Forecast the Business Cycle,” (2016) economic professors Conover, Dubofsky, and Wiley showed that avoiding the stock market during recessions not only protects an investor’s portfolio, but can enhance an investor’s annual return by 2% or more.** We actively track economic data and subscribe to robust recession forecasting models in order to proactively protect client accounts by moving entirely out of the stock market when recessions approach. Recession Protocol™ is implemented very rarely – approximately once per decade – but it can allow you to be confident enough to invest boldly so as to enjoy strong returns without living in fear of dream-ending market crashes!
We continually monitor economic signals to attempt to identify Recession onset
We have pre-planned, ready-to-go “safety” portfolios for use when a recession is approaches
World-class technology allows us to trade all client accounts simultaneously into to liquid, “safe-money” portfolios when Recession Protocol™ is implemented
Clients of PARAGON must remember that the algorithms and data to implement Recession Protocol™ are purchased from third parties and have the benefit of hindsight. Some or all of the economic indicators that predicted recessions in the past may or may not be present in the future. The offer of Recession Protocol™ is understood to be a “best efforts” undertaking and, while it has significant and convincing academic backing - it does not represent a guarantee against loss by PARAGON or by the third parties who provide PARAGON with the algorithms and the data to execute the service.
INVESTOR COACHING AND BEHAVIORAL FINANCE
We believe successful investors are successful because they make the right decisions! Dalbar’s annual Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior, study showed that psychological factors account for 50-60% of investor underperformance.*** At PARAGON, we have observed that education, coaching, and reinforcement of successful investor behaviors significantly improve returns - and reduce stress and worry all the while! We believe this benefit alone is hugely valuable – who wants to spend their retirement years worrying about running out of money?
Timely client emails about the market, economy, current events, and how they relate to portfolio performance
Quarterly client workshops with timely, updated data and economic forecasts
Webinars with video replays of our workshops and presentations so you can watch them at your convenience
Progress meetings to check up, measure progress, make changes, and reinforce successful behaviors
“Stress Tests” of your plan under various market conditions to to help you know if you are on track - or need to step up your game
TAX PLANNING & TAX MINIMIZATION
How can I save taxes in retirement? Can I save taxes - AND save for my retirement? Of course!
No matter how well your investments do, if you give that extra return to Uncle Sam, it is wasted! Tax laws change often, affecting how to best generate retirement income. Many strategies which were recommended only a few years ago are NOT effective today. We keep up with tax law changes to help you maximize your tax savings – not only for the current year, but for future years as well.
Tax efficient ETFs that do not generate taxable “phantom income” in your portfolio
Proactive tax planning strategies such as Roth conversions, Charitable RMD’s, tax harvesting, cost basis reset, tax lot optimization, tax bracket "fill-up," and others
Optimizing the use of retirement accounts such as 401k’s, IRA’s, solo 401(k)’s for small business owners and retirees who consult, and others
Proactive coordination with your CPA or other advisors to project the impact of recommended strategies or take advantage of tax opportunities
Tax free income strategies as appropriate
Strategies to Protect Your Wealth
How do I protect my retirement savings and other assets? Wealth preservation strategies! This means organizing your affairs in such a way that your assets are not unjustly taken away! We routinely make recommendations to help you protect against catastrophe, litigation, identity theft, errant family members, elder abuse, and more. Additionally, we are one of the few firms who will automatically take steps to protect your portfolio against market crashes caused by recessions.
Insurance recommendations as a part of your financial plan and referral to an appropriate provider (we do not sell insurance)
Assistance with understanding Medicare, Medicare supplements, and referrals to trusted sources of specialized advice
Veterans Benefits, Medicare supplement, and Special Needs planning as appropriate
Identification of which assets may be at risk because of your profession, unexpected events, or improper titling – and coordination with an attorney as necessary
Realistic, pragmatic planning for aging in place – for you, or for your elderly parents
Survivor, Special Needs, and Estate Planning
Unfortunately, this wild ride we call life comes to an end for everyone eventually. Our job is to coordinate your financial plan with your Estate Plan. By distilling complex ideas into simple and easily understood language, we help you decide how you want your survivor plan or estate plan to look. Your attorney drafts the documents and provides legal counsel – we help you execute the plan by ensuring that your financial assets reflect your estate plan properly.
Coordination of asset titling and beneficiary designations with your estate plan so conflicts or extended probates are avoided
Trust Funding and other account titling as directed by your Estate Planning Attorney
Survivor planning using the Survivor Needs Analysis technique to allow a surviving spouse to determine their own lifestyle should one of you die
Specialized knowledge and referral resources to help you provide for loved ones who may not be capable of taking care of themselves or effectively managing an inheritance you leave behind
Lifetime gifting, income shifting, installment notes, gift splitting, family foundations, and other strategies to maximize wealth transfer and minimize taxes
As fiduciaries, PARAGON’s financial advisors work as a team, not as individual advisors. This allows each of us to acquire specialized knowledge that each financial advisor can bring to the table as a part of an integrated team working on your behalf. Few of our clients need ALL of our services, but most need at least some of them. These services are usually provided to our Wealth Management clients without additional costs. If you are paying investment management fees to an advisor, but are not receiving these services, we encourage you to explore how working with PARAGON can benefit you by scheduling a Discovery Meeting.
* Vanguard: Quantifying Advisor's Alpha, September 2016. Francis M. Kinniry Jr., CFA, Colleen M. Jaconetti, CPA, CFP ®, Michael A. DiJoseph, CFA, Yan Zilbering, and Donald G. Bennyhoff, CFA
** Does it Pay to Forecast the Business Cycle? A U.S. Update and an International Perspective, September 2016. James A Conover, PhD, David A. Dubovsky, PhD, Marilyn K. Wiley, PhD. (link to study)
*** Dalbar, QAIB - Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior, published annually by Dalbar. (link to DALBAR)
*Please Note: Limitations. The scope of any financial planning and consulting services to be provided depends upon the terms of the engagement, and the specific requests and needs of the client. Paragon Wealth Strategies, LLC does not serve as an attorney, accountant, or insurance agent. Paragon Wealth Strategies, LLC does not prepare legal documents or tax returns, nor does it sell insurance products.
HEALTH CARE FOR EARLY RETIREMENT
