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Retirement PlansRetirement plans for businesses
We offer a wide range of plans to fit your business' needs. These plans can be a great way to recruit, retain or reward employees. They can also be used by business owners and the highly compensated to shelter money from taxes and save for retirement. The two big questions when considering a retirement plan are usually: 1. How much can I put away? and 2. What will it cost me?
We've reduced the complexities of these plans to a simple chart which compares the various types of plans, what they offer, and how much they cost. You can view that chart here. -
Investment ManagementWhy Fees are Better than Commissions
We often say, "When you understand how advisors get paid, you may understand how they behave."
Advisors can make between 3-8% of initial investments up front on commission based products. That's $30,000 - $80,000 on a $1 million account for a few hours of paperwork. We feel this is like a financial one-night stand. If an advisor makes all their income up front, it leaves no financial incentive to continue to care for the client long term. Too often the ethical obligation to care for the client is overcome by this financial incentive and, instead of serving the client, the commission advisor is off looking for new money.
The way we structure our compensation is the best way...of course. Fee-based advisors make a much smaller percentage, closer to 1% of assets under management. However, we make that every year IF we are doing a good job of serving our clients, returning calls, monitoring retirement and estate planning goals and making sure their needs are being met. Our ethical and financial incentives are aligned to take care of our clients into the future, whether they have new money or not.
Retirement PlanningRetirement Income Options and Projections
We offer a range of planning to our clients. Some of our advisors specialize in robust plans using the best software available to advisors. The cost of these plans is based on the level of detail and analysis that's desired.
We also do a more simplified version of planning to help clients see what investment options are available and project the result over time. These simplified plans and projections are often done on one page and help the clients see the big picture of our recommendations. We do this work usually up front and without charge to earn the trust and confidence of the people we hope to serve.
Risk ManagementProtection from Unforeseen Tragedies
A large part of financial planning is providing for loved ones in case of an unforeseen tragedy. Life, disability, and long-term care insurance can be a way to minimize those risks.
We consult regularly on these issues and can provide quotes from almost any insurance company available.
Tax PlanningStrategies to Help Reduce Taxes
While we do not prepare taxes at our firm, we have experience with tax planning and can advise on investment strategies that would limit taxes on investments for our clients. Some of these would include investing in traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs and utilizing retirement plans for business owners and self-employed people.
For the high net worth individuals, municipal bonds can be a great way to reduce taxes on interest earned. We don't do this alone and would work with our client's current CPAs or tax preparers to ensure the strategies we recommend are the best and most effective way to lower thier tax bill.
Estate PlanningPassing Wealth to the Next Generation
Part of the financial planning process is to ensure an individual's assets pass to the desired heirs and to minimize estate taxes at death. Most estate plans are set up with the help of an attorney. We can work with the attorney of our client's choice or can refer them to some we trust in the area.
Some of the tasks of the estate plan include:
- Creating a will - Limiting estate taxes by setting up trust accounts
- Establishing a guardian for living dependents
- Naming an executor of the estate to oversee the terms of the will
- Updating beneficiaries on plans such as life insurance, IRAs and 401(k)s
- Setting up funeral arrangements
- Establishing annual gifting to reduce the taxable estate
- Setting up durable power of attorney (POA) to direct assets-
AboutSMB Financial Services Inc. is a registered investment advisor in the states of Oregon and Washington, and doing business in all 50 states.