A financial plan is not a document you create once and file away. It should evolve as your life does, as markets shift, and as tax laws change. June marks the halfway point of the year, making it a natural moment to ask: is my plan still working for me?
It’s a good question, and one worth sitting down with your advisor to talk through.
More Than Just a Portfolio
A comprehensive financial plan is more than an investment portfolio. It brings together retirement income, tax efficiency, estate planning, insurance coverage, education funding, debt management, and long-term goals, all in relation to each other. Each element affects the others, which is why reviewing one piece in isolation often misses the larger picture.
Our planning team takes a holistic approach by considering all aspects of your financial life and puts together a plan that fits your situation, including investment strategy, tax planning, and making sure everything is working together.¹
When Was Your Last Review?
Life moves quickly. A plan designed around last year’s income, last year’s tax situation, and last year’s goals may not reflect where you are today. Common triggers that warrant a review include:
- A change in income or employment
- A marriage, divorce, or new addition to the family
- A significant inheritance or financial windfall
- Buying or selling a home
- A shift in retirement timeline
- New health considerations or insurance needs
But even without a major life event, the annual review serves an important function: confirming that your plan is still calibrated correctly. Contribution rates, asset allocation, beneficiary designations, insurance coverage, and estate documents all benefit from a periodic check to make sure they remain accurate and appropriate. A good rule of thumb is to review your plan at least once a year, or whenever a significant life event occurs.¹
The Mid-Year Moment
June offers a particularly useful vantage point. Half the year’s income is known. Tax-advantaged contribution progress is trackable. Market performance has had time to drift allocations. The second half of the year still has plenty of room to act on things like year-end deadlines, open enrollment, and charitable giving decisions.
A mid-year check-in does not need to be exhaustive. It can be as focused as a single conversation with your Wedbush advisor or registered representative covering three key questions:
- What has changed since we last spoke?
- Is the plan still on track?
- What decisions are coming in the next six months that we should prepare for now?
Where Estate Planning Fits In
Estate planning is one of the most important parts of a comprehensive plan, and one that benefits from regular attention. A complete estate plan typically includes a will, durable powers of attorney for finances and healthcare, healthcare directives, and a review of beneficiary designations on all retirement accounts and insurance policies.
For those with more complex situations, such as significant assets, multiple beneficiaries, a business interest, or a desire to provide for heirs across generations, a trust structure may be an important part of the plan. Trusts can protect assets from creditors, reduce estate taxes, minimize conflict among heirs, and ensure that distributions are made according to documented instructions rather than left to interpretation.²
Your Wedbush advisor or registered representative can help evaluate whether a trust makes sense for your situation and coordinate with your attorney and tax professionals to implement it.
The Wedbush Financial Planning Team
You have access to a planning team led by John Lindsey, CFA, National Director of Financial Planning. The team works with you and your advisor on planning across retirement, investments, estate planning, education funding, and insurance. They also coordinate with your attorneys, accountants, and other professionals to make sure every piece fits together.
Your plan should reflect where you are today, not where you were a year ago. If you don’t yet have a comprehensive plan in place, or if it’s been more than a year since your last full review, now is a great time to start that conversation.¹
Sources:
[1] https://www.wedbush.com/wealthmanagement/financial-planning-overview/
[2] https://www.kiplinger.com/personal-finance/the-basics-of-estate-planning
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