FINANCIAL &/OR RETIREMENT PLANNING
Financial &/or Retirement Planning is much more than just decided to stash away savings into or take simple unplanned withdraws from a company 401k or your Bank IRA. It includes phases with each phase having different emphasis.
A Financial Plan is the lens to look thru for financial decisions. It can help you put all the individual pieces together in one place; taxes, investments, Social Security, risks, inflation, diversification, insurances, inheritances, accumulation strategies, income & expenses, debts, pensions, estate valuations, distribution strategies, etc…
Since the effects of financial decisions can be felt by all financial matters its very useful to have them compiled together to see how they interact. Questions like: What strategy of debt payoff will help the big picture best? Roth or a Traditional IRA/401k, which will benefit me most? How will the risk of an investment help me sleep or accomplish my goals? What are all the things I need to be aware of for retiring? What about Social Security or Pension and how do they work? These are just a few examples of questions I hear all the time.
ACCUMULATION PHASE
This is what a typical household Money Flow Sankey diagram looks like while working or the accumulation phase. Making sure everything is flowing where it needs to be can be important to see and understand the short and long term outcomes of decisions and goals.
DISTRIBUTION PHASE
This is what a typical household Money Flow Sankey diagram looks like while in retirement or the distribution phase. Making sure everything is flowing where it needs to be can be important for taxes, risks, income, & estate planning to see and understand the short and long term outcomes.
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
The Financial Plan and putting all the moving parts together is really the first step. Focusing on investing strategies before you have a plan is putting the cart before the horse. You need both however most focus on the investing first because its the exciting part. Once you have a plan together, either by us or from somewhere else, the asset(s) need to be managed according to the plan. If you’re not interested in managing the investments and portfolio on your own we can help with that. If we manage the portfolio, a full complete customized financial plan is included. If you have your own plan, we can help manage the portfolio as a stand alone service.
By using a Financial Plan as the lens to look thru for financial decisions you will be able to feel comfortable that your investments, portfolio, & assets are all working for you towards that end. Monitoring, rebalancing, adjusting, adding, subtracting, evaluating as time goes on all contribute to the end.
SPECIALIZATION
Cook Financial LLC wants to be your private financial trail guide. We are well versed in many financial areas and will operate in those areas to work for you to help find that Simple Financial Path that is understandable and attainable. However, there are areas that are deemed specialties and your situation may warrant that need. We will help you find those individuals that can work for you in a similar manner as we do, like CPAs, accountants, Lawyers, Attorneys, P&C Insurance, Realtors, etc…