Comprehensive Financial Planning
A comprehensive financial plan addresses all key areas of your current financial situation. The purpose is to provide personalized recommendations tailored to your unique circumstances and needs, with the goal of developing clear, actionable strategies to optimize your financial outlook and provide for a financially secure retirement.
Comprehensive Financial Planning Fees:
The fee for a one-time comprehensive financial plan is $4,800 for a six-month engagement, with one-half of the fee payable upon signing the financial planning agreement and the other half due upon presentation of the financial plan.
Clients who have completed a comprehensive financial plan with Birdie Retirement Planning can update their plan annually for $3,600. Annual updates revisit all aspects of the initial plan and provide refreshed recommendations based on any changes in clients’ financial situation or goals. One-half of the update fee is due upon signing the financial planning agreement, with the balance due upon presentation of the updated plan.
The comprehensive financial planning process covers the following topics:
Cash Flow and Debt Management
Step 1 is to develop an estimate of annual cash flow needed in retirement. Step 2 is to develop a plan for funding annual cash flow needs. We take an integrated approach when determining the optimal method for meeting cash flow needs. Our approach will consider optimal timing of Social Security benefits, analysis of workplace pension programs, tax-optimized withdrawal from retirement accounts, Roth conversion strategies, and other factors.
College Savings
If applicable, we will analyze funding needed for college expenses, determine the amount that needs to be contributed annually and evaluate college savings options.
Employee Benefits Optimization
We will review documents and help with the selection of workplace benefits, based on the unique needs of the clients.
Financial Goals
In addition to creating a basic budget to meet ongoing needs, we will identify clients’ other financial goals, such as extended vacations, second home purchases, and legacy planning and integrate those financial goals into the financial plan.
Insurance/Risk Management
This includes a life insurance needs analysis and an analysis of current disability insurance, homeowners insurance, disability insurance, health insurance/Medicare decisions, and long-term care insurance. We also evaluate the emergency fund assets and make recommendations on where to hold emergency funds and the appropriate amount of emergency funds to hold based on the clients’ unique circumstances.
Investment Analysis
After consulting with clients, we determine the risk tolerance and risk capacity of the clients and make recommendations for appropriate investment allocations. This includes an analysis of the current portfolio’s risk, expense ratios of individual funds, and the mix of funds held in the investment portfolio.
Retirement Planning
Retirement planning integrates all of the items listed in the other categories, but there is a specific focus on the decumulation of assets. The focus of retirement planning centers around where to withdraw funds to pay expenses to minimize income taxes, avoid Medicare surcharges, manage required minimum distributions and whether or not it is appropriate to consider some type of guaranteed income in retirement beyond Social Security and/or workplace pensions. A strong emphasis is placed on such things as claiming strategies for Social Security and Roth conversion strategies.
Tax Planning Strategies
Tax planning involves trying to position assets so that income taxes will be minimized over the long term. This may result in a recommendation for Roth conversions, if Roth conversions will minimize lifetime taxes. State taxes are an important consideration when evaluating tax planning strategies.
