Financial planning addresses an individual’s investment needs, asset allocation and the suitability of different types of securities while considering your goals and risk tolerance.
1| Why are you accumulating assets?
Is it for a child's or grandchild's college education, to fund retirement, finance charitable intentions or realize the dream of a lifetime?
At Independent Wealth Management, we believe that we're better investment managers when we know WHY you're accumulating wealth.
In today’s rapidly changing environment, having an investment strategy that addresses your unique needs yet monitors the economic landscape is more important than ever.
2| How are your assets allocated?
Asset allocation is the process investors use to divide capital among asset classes.
This process means that you own different asset classes, including large and small company stocks, government bonds, cash, real estate investment securities and inflation-protected securities.
Allocating to different classes will:
- Reduce overall investment risk.
- Create more reliable investment forecasts.
- Improve the risk/return tradeoff of your portfolio.
Some situations require different expertise than typical stock and bond portfolio investments. These situations usually pertain to employer-related retirement plans and stock options, margin strategies and real estate exchanges.
3| What is your desired risk/return scenario?
The goal of asset allocation is to provide you with the risk/return scenario that is most comfortable for you.
If worrying about your portfolio is keeping you up at night, then you might be investing too aggressively or not aggressively enough. The best portfolio is the one that you're comfortable with both in up and down markets.
Investors should note that diversification does not assure against market loss and that there is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will outperform a non-diversified portfolio.
Alternative investments may be illiquid in nature, redeemed at more or less than the original amount invested, subject to special risks, and not suitable for all investors.