A Guide to Wealth Management

Whether you are heading into retirement in a few years or are just beginning to plan for the future, learning how to manage your money is crucial to making the most of your wealth. To learning how to prepare for stock market fluctuations to learning how to increase your funds, wealth managers can help prepare you to live comfortably during retirement and get the most from your money now. Financial planning is offered by professional outlets who work with people who need help planning their assets. Figuring out who is best to assist you with these monetary issues is as important as financial planning itself. Knowing what you want from a manager and what to expect, will ensure you are properly prepared for the future.

Organization

The first step to managing your finances is to organize your assets, which will allow you to easily access information. This includes keeping your tax information for up to ten years. Create either a paper or computer filing system that keeps track of your insurance, checks, bank statements, credit records and pay stubs. You should also be recording your receipts and other expenses in a spreadsheet, which makes it easy to see all of your spending in one place. You also want to create a separate spreadsheet that tracks your monthly expenditures from bills, groceries, clothes, entertainment and gas, amongst others, to see where you spend the bulk of your money, and where you might be able to cut back. This organization is helpful for when you seek professional assistance with wealth management, as well.

Goals and Investments

You also need to become realistic with what you want in terms of money, for the future. These financial goals will help you to plan now and learn how to budget to achieve your long-term needs. These goals should be small, like what you want in a year, to long-term goals, like retirement. This will allow you to calculate how much money you need at the end of the year, to retire with the exact amount you want.

Investments are crucial to achieving long-term goals, as it helps with inflation and emergency spending. It can be as simple as signing up for your company's 401K program or bigger investments, like expanding your stock portfolio. Diversifying your investments from one to two stocks to at least four or five stocks will help you to make the most of your stock investments. Don't set yourself up for failure by only choosing one industry, choose different stocks from across the board to make sure that if an industry plummets, you don't lose all of your investment. These are only a few ways to achieve your goals with investments, to see all of your options hire a Boulder wealth management team that can help you explore all of your options, tailored to your monetary goals.

Choosing the Right Wealth Management Team

The function of a wealth management team is to help their clients with short-and long-term financial planning goals. Originally the term was used for those who only accepted clients with high net worth, but the now the best planners will accept those from across the financial board, which gives them a more well-rounded experience.

When it comes to selecting the best wealth manager, experience is crucial. You want to find someone with over ten years of experience, who knows the ins and outs of the investment economy, and who knows how to create an investment program that fits the needs of each of his clients. Avoid management teams that boast a plan that fits everyone. The truth is that how much money you earn, have saved and your industry strengths actually determine what path is best for you. When researching a potential wealth manager, look into their track record on how much their clients receive from their annual investments. You should be looking at the experience over longer time periods, which show a consistency of their return investments.

When talking with different wealth management teams, you want to make sure their style fits yours. Depending on the manager, some will want to have authority over certain investments because they know it is their strong suit. Others want you to have more of a say in dealings. Decide your strengths and what approach is best for you. It's your money, and you should make sure you are hiring someone that works for and with you, while listening to your needs.

Lastly, listen to their company policies and ideas on risk management. This will give you insight to their confidence, as the right team will provide you with data to back up their claims. Of course, in any investment you are making a monetary risk, but an experienced wealth management team will ensure that you lose a little as possible and quickly recover.

About the Author: David M. Shaw is a retired financial analyst and contributing author, specializing in financial planning. He resides with his wife in Boulder, Colorado.