Families are pulled in hundreds of different directions on a daily basis, and it is difficult for them to take the time to set up (and execute) a smart financial plan. The Lineage Group works with families to put a plan in place so they can rest easier knowing that their financial future is on the right track.
Young families have a lot going on. With work, school, soccer practice, and making sure the dog gets walked they don’t typically have much time to think about their financial plan. They usually know they are saving money, but not exactly sure how well they are preparing for their kid’s college and their own retirement. A family like this would need both an analysis of where they currently stand as well as a plan to make sure that all of their financial goals are met in the future.
Each family is unique in their goals, propensity towards risk and ability to save, so designing a plan must fit their unique style. Cookie cutter solutions will not work.
The first step would be to sit down with the couple so that they could individually verbalize their concerns and goals. This can be a key part of the process, because typically couples never have this fundamental planning conversation. We can help them open up and discover what is important to them.
Through our conversations, and by analyzing their past investments, we can identify exactly how much of their income is allocated to qualified plans through their employer, education funding, short term savings, and insurances. We also can help determine how much debt they carry and tailor a plan that balances debt repayment with new investments.
Oftentimes, parents, in the event that something happens to them, have not identified how to protect their children through the use of wills and trusts. None of these are easy conversations (such as deciding on caregivers) and many people avoid them. We can help facilitate these conversations and work through the difficult decisions together.
Understandably, this type of client can be scattered, as there are so many life events that lay ahead. The initial few meetings would be used to clearly identify what is important to them so we could design a custom plan that would help them achieve their defined goals. We would present a number of different options and recommendations for how they could diversify their investments and help them select the plans that are right for them.
In the end, our goal would be to help them make these important decisions. We would let them know exactly where they stand and set up each part of the plan to get everything in working order. We would become a resource for life events as well as financial decisions as their kids get older and they get closer to retiring.