October is the Financial planning month and a great time to meet with your financial professional to ask questions, review policy and portfolio performance, and make decisions that keep you on track with your goals. Regardless of your age, it is best to plan for your financial future.
Reviewing your insurance policies and portfolio during the final quarter of the year is essential for many reasons. Fall tends to be when many people think about next year and what they want to accomplish financially in the future. With the disruptions that 2020 brought to our lives, there is no better time than now to review, update, and make changes, so you are ready for 2021.
Have you checked the following with your financial professional?
Life Insurance Policies
Beneficiaries
Has anyone in your family married, divorced, or changed their name? Was there a new family member born this year? Update beneficiary names and include social security numbers for each to ensure the death benefit pays quickly to your beneficiaries.
Death Benefit Amount
Have you acquired more debt, retired, or had assets increase in value? Review each policy to ensure it will provide enough death benefits to cover all your beneficiaries’ financial needs. If you have a large estate, ensure the death benefit will offset estate taxes.
Additional Policies
Was there a new family member born, or did families combine this year? Life Insurance can benefit your new family member in future years. Consult your insurance professional to determine allowable coverage and stipulations if you are not the custodian of the minor child you wish to insure.
Retirement Portfolio
Allocations
Is your portfolio too heavy in one asset class? With today’s volatility, rebalancing and adding another asset class like annuities may help to balance portfolio allocations to align with your goals. Work with your financial professional to determine if annuities are a suitable investment for you.
Risk Tolerance
Are you taking too much risk or not enough? Changing jobs, being furloughed, or contemplating early retirement can affect your risk tolerance.
Performance
Reviewing your fund, stock, and cash performance during 2020 can help determine a future strategy. Although no one can predict future performance, you and your advisor can plan for any market condition.
Taxes
Your tax professional and financial professional may suggest extra contributions or other tax-savings strategies for lowering your taxable income for 2020 after your fall review.
Make your Bonus a Bonus
Fourth-quarter is when many companies announce an end of year bonus. If you anticipate a bonus, request it deposit into your pre-tax retirement savings account.
Plan for Next Year
Start the New Year with a financial plan. Those with a written financial plan are more likely to succeed when they work with their financial professional throughout the year.
2020 has not been ordinary and has taught us to prepare for anything. Your financial future starts by reviewing where you are today and initiating a step by step plan to get you to where you want to be. Contact our office today to schedule your fall review.
