Creating a Wealth Management Plan

My husband, Matt, just loves to tease me on my need to have a wealth management plan. There is the One Year Plan, the Ten Year Plan, and of course, the Retirement Plan. One might think he would understand given the 18 plus years he has been in the Navy; after all, he is certainly accustomed to structure, process and organization.

What I recognized is that Matt doesn’t need all those details, but I do. I am more comfortable reaching towards my goals knowing there is a planning process in place. Perhaps, you feel the same way.

The first step in creating a solid wealth management plan is the information gathering stage. If you are married or have a significant other, they should be involved. They may have different concerns or a different time frame than you. They may also need more or less details. It is imperative your advisor understands this. Otherwise, how can they really help you?

The first thing I did when purchasing my first home was to find a realtor. He was very personable, however, in hindsight; he never took the time to understand who I was. We looked at 15 different properties and one was worse than the next. They weren’t me. A friend recommended I see his realtor. My new realtor suggested we sit down first and answer a variety of questions. I realized there were things I had never even considered. After looking at our first home together, she didn’t want to know what I liked about it, she wanted to know what I didn’t like! The next home we looked at, I bought and lived in very happily for 12 years. She took the time to understand who I really was and what was really important to me.

This same approach has to be taken with your wealth management plan. Wouldn’t you be better off with a plan that is customized to your situation? It is very common when you are further away from your goals to have only a few basic items to address, for example, retirement planning, education planning and/or estate planning. As you get older, the plan will need to become more detailed. It will need to be updated more frequently. The possibilities are unlimited and you can be as creative as you choose. Planning is always a work in progress. There may be a vacation home to add, a wedding to include, or additional funds that will be needed to help care for an aging parent. The plan becomes real – it becomes an integral part of you. But most important, as you create the plan with your advisor and together monitor it on an ongoing basis, you build a solid relationship; she understands who you are and what is truly important to you.

Matt still finds it humorous that I have created this detailed roadmap for our future and how we are going to get there, especially since he doesn’t think I will ever actually retire because I love working. I asked him why he so enjoys teasing me about my need to have a wealth management plan. I was expecting a logical answer, one offering clarity and understanding, but his response was a simple; “Because I can!” My reply was also simple; I create wealth management plans for people, “Because I care!”

Andrea Satter is a Financial Advisor with The Baum Consulting Group of UBS Financial Services, Inc. Andrea can be contacted at 1-800-368-4070 or via email at andrea.satter@ubs.com.