Laura Russell-Jones, CEPA

Listening to you and understanding your situation is the first step in building trust and establishing the important connection between financial advisor and the client. We believe getting to know you personally is as important as learning about your financial picture. The Discovery Process includes establishing your personal goals & objectives.

• What is most important to you?
• What are your goals – personally, professionally and for your family?
• What areas are of potential concern to you?

Next, we gather important data, documents and financial statements pertaining to bank accounts, business assets, personal property, qualified retirement accounts, deferred annuity accounts, investments, real estate, residence, Social Security benefit statements, insurance policies, pension estimates, and liabilities.

• We analyze your current financial situation and identify optimal, more-efficient strategies to better help reach your goals.
• We take a deep dive into your current investments. By looking under the hood, this comprehensive, analytical portfolio review will determine your Risk Tolerance Level, Portfolio Risk Analysis, Asset Allocation, Diversification & Performance and answer the questions: Are you taking on too much risk? Are you appropriately allocated? Is your Portfolio properly diversified? How are those investments performing relative to their benchmarks? Are your investments aligned with your core beliefs? What improvements to your investment strategy can we make?

Based on your defined goals (i.e.: retirement at a certain age, a home purchase/remodel, college tuition funding, a philanthropic gifting strategy, legacy planning, etc) and any potential concerns (medical/health, elder care, earlier retirement), we next develop a comprehensive financial plan, which will serve as a road map to help you achieve your goals.

• We incorporate any unique considerations: concentrated stock positions, business sale consultation, liquidity needs, income needs planning, etc.
• We also identify tax-efficient solutions that are tailored to your goals, which may Education Savings (529), Retirement (401K, IRA, Roth), Estate Planning (Gifting, Trusts, Beneficiary Review), Long Term Care and other Insurance options.
• We evaluate various asset protection strategies to help preserve your wealth.
• Because life is dynamic, our dynamic plans can also look at various "what-if" scenarios that help you in your planning and decision-making.

Our integrated planning based approach ensures that your asset allocation reflects your objectives, risk tolerance, liquidity needs and time horizon. We determine your investment strategy and appropriate asset allocation by taking into account outside assets, legacy positions and illiquid investments. We strive to minimize volatility through diversification while making tactical shifts to protect portfolios or capitalize on opportunistic market conditions.

• Since many clients are sensitive to taxes and capital gains, tax efficiency and after-tax returns are a key focus throughout our process and investment strategies.
• For clients who want more socially responsible or sustainable investing options that align with their values, we can integrate within the portfolio strategy.

Just because a plan is in place, doesn't mean our work together is done. Life is dynamic. Markets change. Regular quarterly review meetings provide an opportunity to discuss changes in life events, market conditions and other situational changes that may impact your life goals. We also evaluate the portfolio and make necessary tactical adjustments to your strategy and financial plan to ensure you stay on course to achieve your long-term goals. We are always available to you and your trusted advisors.

Whether selling a business or transferring ownership to family members, various strategies can help you achieve your objectives. Monetizing a privately-held company requires seamless coordination of your personal wealth management and business exit strategies. Planning ahead as much as 2-5 years is critical to properly position your business for a sale. As your Financial Advisor, we can assist you at each stage of the exit process, highlighting key decisions, deadlines and milestones.

How we can provide tremendous value before the transaction:

• Assemble an Advisory team – identify and retain a highly qualified, multidisciplinary team of professionals (legal, tax, estate planning, MA, growth strategists) to help prepare your business for sale, guide you through the exit process and provide strategic advice.
• Evaluate Readiness – Create a goals-based financial plan that integrates your personal and business goals and determines the income you will need to support your lifestyle. Also provide various cash flows scenarios.
• Pre-Monetization Preparation & Transaction Execution - Analyze each exit opportunity to determine which is financially most optimal for you and develop a plan for managing post-transaction liquidity. (Will help in deal negotiation.)

After the transaction is completed, now you need professional financial guidance on how to manage the proceeds of the sale. With a likely hefty capital gain, taxes will be top of mind. We can help by constructing financial strategies intended to help business owners create personal wealth by reducing or deferring taxes, moderating risks, and helping to be more intentional with their new wealth.

How we can provide tremendous value after the transaction:

• Coordination with Advisory Team – Work with your key advisors to determine your tax liability and construct a sophisticated tax-efficient investment strategy to help offset capital gains.
• Financial Plan - Build a financial plan supporting your lifestyle and financial goals with various scenarios and cash flows.
• Tailored Investment Strategy - Construct a sophisticated portfolio that meets complex needs of offsetting capital gains, generating income to replace business income, transferring wealth and legacy planning, managing risk and maximizing philanthropic impact.
• Access to world-class Alternative Investment Strategies (private equity, real assets, private credit, hedge funds and digital assets) that offer potential to reduce volatility, provide tax efficiency, generate income, and enhance returns.
• Values-Alignment - Construct a portfolio that is aligned to your values and has a positive social and/or environmental impact – this could include gender diversity, racial equality, climate change, renewable energy, circular economy, etc.

The lifeblood of any business is cash, whether accessing capital or managing receivables and payables. We can help integrate solutions for managing investments and day-to-day cash management needs of the business.

Offering a retirement savings plan (such as a 401K, Defined Benefit Pension Plan, Profit Sharing, Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEP)) for you and your employees has many benefits. It can help the business owner plan for retirement, offer tax benefits, and help recruit and retain key employees. As a Qualified Plan Financial Consultant (QPFC), I help business owners customize a retirement plan that fits the needs of their business and employees. We also review your current plan, especially if the plan originally set up may no longer best serve your needs as your business grows, cash flow tightens, employees come and go, markets change, laws and taxes change.