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A Webinar Recap: Leaving Your Mark
A Summary on Navigating Major Life Events, Investing Through Headline Noise, and Leaving a Purposeful Legacy.
Exploring three vital aspects of your financial journey: Growth, Lifestyle, and Legacy.
Growth – The Impact of headlines and various investment strategies to stay the course
In the Growth segment, we discussed the power of headlines. They can range from seemingly minor events to grave predictions, and they have the power to evoke emotions, raise important questions, and influence investors’ decisions.
So how should investors handle those headlines?
In the investment world, there are 3 primary strategies for handling challenging situations:
- Market Timing
The concept of Market Timing involves trying to exit the market before negative events occur. While this may seem like a logical approach in theory, it often leads to poor results in practice. The difficulties of accurately predicting events and market reactions make this a challenging strategy to execute effectively.
- Diversification
The next strategy is the concept of Diversification, which involves spreading investments across various asset classes. Diversification helps mitigate volatility and risk, but it also requires a long-term time horizon, a solid plan, and emotional discipline.
- Staying the Course
Finally, Staying the Course is the key to our investment philosophy, centered around building a portfolio of high-quality businesses with competitive advantages. Fundamental analysis is crucial in forming an investment thesis, and it is extremely important to align with a long-term mindset.
These strategies remind us of the importance of ignoring market forecasts, maintaining a long-term perspective, and staying disciplined in the face of market volatility.
Lifestyle – Life transitions including retirement and planning for one’s legacy.
In the Lifestyle segment, we shifted the focus to life transitions in retirement and planning for one’s legacy. Matthew Cheney, CFP®, CPWA, CIMA® and Christina Garland, CFP® Senior Wealth Advisors at Hunt Valley Wealth covered the various life stages from becoming an empty nester to retirement, and the financial considerations during late career years.
Late career individuals, often approaching retirement within 5 to 10 years, face many financial concerns. These include determining when they can retire, defining their retirement goals, planning for healthcare, evaluating living arrangements, and managing financial responsibilities, including caring for aging parents.
Similar challenges are seen with the “Sandwich Generation,” the individuals who find themselves caring for both their aging parents and their own children while navigating long-term decisions.
Planning for one’s legacy requires a series of strategies to ensure lasting success. From the importance of organizing your finances to embracing lifestyle changes, following a thorough approach to ensure a fulfilling and financially secure retirement is key.
Legacy – Estate planning, legacy preservation and the importance of charitable giving.
In the final segment of the “Leave Your Mark” webinar, Christina Garland, CFP®, Senior Wealth Advisor, Hunt Valley Wealth was joined by Cheri Dorsey, Attorney & CoFounder, Sessa & Dorsey and they discussed estate planning and legacy preservation. Cheri emphasized the significance of reviewing estate planning documents regularly, ideally in coordination with an annual financial review. This practice ensures that your plan aligns with your current wishes and accommodates any changes in state laws or personal circumstances.
Communication with Family
Having open conversations with family members about estate plans and inheritance is key during your financial planning journey. When and how to discuss these matters depends on individual family dynamics, but proactive discussions are strongly encouraged.
Charitable Giving and Philanthropy:
Charitable giving is an essential aspect of legacy planning that can involve lifetime gifts to organizations, setting up donor-advised funds, or including charities in one’s will. Charitable giving can be a rewarding way to create a lasting impact.
Estate Planning Documents and Beneficiary Designations:
Estate planning documents include wills, revocable trusts, financial powers of attorney, and advanced healthcare directives. Reviewing and updating beneficiary designations for retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and annuities is extremely important. These designations supersede the instructions in a will or trust, making them crucial components of an estate plan.
Implementation and Post-Signing Items:
Estate planning doesn’t just end with document signing, the implementation is equally important. Post-signing items include updating beneficiary designations, ensuring proper titling of assets, and securely storing documents where family members can access them. Additionally, sharing estate plans with financial advisors and ensuring they understand the plan’s details is essential.
Conclusion:
Watch our webinar on demand now and take these steps to ensure your wishes are honored, your loved ones are informed, and your legacy creates a lasting impact for generations to come.
The “Leave Your Mark” webinar is the first in the Hunt Valley Wealth series. Coming up in November, “The Sandwich Generation”…considerations associated with caring for multiple generations of family members…