wealth management |
Helping Clients Navigate Financial and Life Decisions
Every client who selects Ferguson Wellman is in a unique place in his or her investing life and is facing different opportunities and challenges. Through our eight disciplines, Ferguson Wellman and West Bearing Investments have the knowledge and resources, as part of a collaborative professional team, to help our clients productively steward their wealth.
Examples Include:
Evaluating sustainable annual spending in retirement
Assessing how net worth may evolve based on resources and projected cash flow
Understanding legacy objectives and facilitating estate and charitable planning
Designing investment, withdrawal and gifting strategies to optimize potential after-tax returns
Maximizing Social Security benefits
Planning for education expenses
Collecting and storing pertinent legal, health and financial documents
Providing timely communication regarding the economy and capital markets
Offering family members education on savings, investing and retirement
Wealth Planning
Wealth planning is a comprehensive process of understanding clients financial, family and philanthropic goals in the context of their current resources and projected cash flow. Wealth planning at Ferguson Wellman leverages our Wealth Horizon planning program for clients and includes:
Wealth projections
Asset allocation
Cash flow and spending analysis
Goal-based planning
Home purchase
Major purchases
Gifting
Philanthropic strategies
Education planning
Retirement
Retirement planning at Ferguson Wellman is a dynamic and evolving process. Our goal is to help clients enjoy the journey and make the most out of every life stage. We help clients evaluate the resources needed for their comfortable retirement based on a range of variables that include: current resources, savings rates, asset allocation and desired spending.
Preparing for retirement
Cash flow and spending analysis
Wealth projections
Withdrawal strategies
Employer retirement plans
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs)
Social Security strategies
Referrals to Medicare resources
Living a fulfilling retirement
Life Events
Ferguson Wellman helps our clients plan and thrive through life transitions, including:
Retirement
Marriage
Divorce
Death of a loved one
Inheritance
Business succession
Children and grandchildren
Kiddie tax
Coming of age
Trusts and Estates
Estate planning involves significant decisions, such as:
How funds will be spent during incapacity
Who will inherit the wealth
Will the inheritance be subject to any protections or restrictions
Who controls the decisions
What legacy is desired
What strategies will be used to manage estate taxes and income taxes
The complexity continues with issues surrounding account titling, beneficiary designations and various state and federal laws. Ferguson Wellman helps guide our clients through the process by providing education, referrals to estate planning professionals and tools for preparing for planning meetings.
Commonly used estate planning documents and terms
Purpose of an estate plan
Revocable living trusts
Irrevocable trusts
Beneficiary designations
Trustee and fiduciary selection
Trustee
Investment advisor
Referrals to estate planning professionals
Guidance in preparing for estate planning meetings
Collaboration with and resources for estate planning professionals
Assistance with account titling and beneficiary designations
Taxes
Structuring and managing portfolios to seek maximum after-tax return
Income tax efficiency
Asset location
Withdrawal strategies
Tax-efficient strategy
Tax-loss harvesting
Tax-exempt bonds
Kiddie tax
Capital gain strategy
Estate and gift tax considerations and mitigation
Charitable strategies
Retirement income strategies
Philanthropic Strategies
Ferguson Wellman helps our clients establish and clarify their philanthropic goals and provides education on basic charitable structures. We collaborate with CPAs and attorneys to evaluate and recommend the structure and source of charitable contributions for maximum tax savings and impact. Frequently, we help clients establish donor advised funds, process qualified charitable distributions from IRAs and identify highly appreciated securities for charitable donations.
Philanthropic goals and budget
Tax-wise philanthropy
Qualified charity distributions from IRAs
Donor advised funds
Appreciated securities
Charitable trusts
Cash
risk management
Most clients’ three main goals include wealth accumulation, wealth protection and wealth distribution. Risk management is part of wealth protection and includes understanding potential hazards clients may encounter and taking steps to mitigate risks.
Ferguson Wellman provides professional resources to help clients identify and understand the magnitude of their risks (e.g., assets, resources, profession, behaviors, health, aging), their current insurance coverage and any potential gaps. We also collaborate with clients’ professional teams to review risk mitigation opportunities through ownership and titling.
While we don’t sell insurance products, we help our clients manage risks as part of the wealth management process. We also collaborate with clients’ professional teams to review risk mitigation opportunities through ownership and titling.
After evaluation, some clients will choose to self-insure their risks and others may ask Ferguson Wellman for community resources to help them evaluate:
Long-term care insurance
Disability insurance
Umbrella insurance
Life insurance
Property and casualty insurance
Protecting your identity
Education planning and funding
Model projected educational expenses
Direct gifts to educational institutions
529 plans
Educational trusts
UTMAs
