Dear Clients and Friends,
On behalf of The Bahnsen Group, we want to thank all the COVID-19 helpers and heroes worldwide. We are confident that we will persevere successfully through this adversity. We always do! I like the quote – “a diamond is just a piece of coal that has handled stress exceptionally well.” It gives me hope that perseverance makes us stronger, builds perspective, and cultivates a heart of gratitude. As we navigate our way through COVID-19, let’s reflect on what we learned, reimagine our goals, and refresh our wealth management plans.
The Financierge Purpose
If you are new to Financierge, our purpose is to reflect the diversity of services and thought leadership we provide. Not only do we guide you through all the phases of wealth management, but we also do so in a context that is holistic and comprehensive. We devote as many resources to being consultative planners, as we do to being quality investment managers. To this end, the Financierge provides perspectives across all the services we provide including investment solutions, financial and retirement planning, accounting, tax, risk management, insurance, estate planning, charitable planning, real estate, business consulting, and family and lifestyle management.
In this Issue of The Financierge, we are going to talk about wealth management planning, setting comprehensive and holistic goals, and the benefits of charitable planning.
Wealth Management Planning
We invest a lifetime into our family, business, and wealth, yet throughout the world, it’s not uncommon to see wealth lost within three generations. Oftentimes, the first generation creates wealth, the second generation preserves it, and the third generation consumes it. The cause for this is not necessarily a failure in proper financial planning but a failure in preparing heirs on how to think about and steward their wealth. For this reason, our planning focuses on both success and significance.
- We Discover – simply put, we listen. A good plan comes from having a clear picture of your goals and gathering information.
- We Analyze – we assess your current situation, explore options, and recommend custom solutions.
- We Implement – from the plan you approve, we coordinate and lead your advisory team to prioritize and implement your strategy.
- We Maintain – we manage on-going tasks, monitor, and communicate performance, and work with you to refine your plan as needed.
Our overall objective is to provide you with a trusted advisor team and family roadmap for success and significance.
Goals
I want to take a moment and focus on goals because of the importance they have in setting the foundation and direction of your wealth management planning. We spend a lot of time with you in this area helping you establish comprehensive and holistic goals. Some common goals include retirement, lifetime income, wealth preservation and growth, tax reduction, business succession, risk management, children inheritance, and charitable giving. We help you focus both on goals for your success and on goals for your significance. I use SHAPE as an acronym to remind clients to balance goals across various dimensions of their life where you build capital.
- Spiritual Capital – what goals do you have for your purpose, values, passions, charities, and faith?
- Human Capital – what goals do you have for your network of family, friends, work and community?
- Asset Capital – what goals do you have for you (your biggest asset), and your money, investments, business, and property?
- Physical Capital – what goals do you have for your health, nutrition, fitness, and physical wellness? and
- Emotional Intelligence Capital – what goals do you have for your formal education, experiential knowledge, and wisdom?
Connecting Success to Significance
One component of your wealth management plan that I like to focus on is philanthropy and charitable planning. Philanthropy and charitable planning help you connect your success to your significance. Financial success shapes our hearts, families, and lives. It also gives us the opportunity to be significant by being generous, making a difference in the world, and living and leaving a legacy. As part of charitable planning, we help you think about generosity, find and investigate charities, consider tax planning strategies, and track the impact of contributions.
Supporting COVID-19 Needs
Many of you have asked about ideas for supporting COVID-19 needs. Our guidance has been to focus on meeting medical needs, protecting vulnerable populations, and sustaining non-profits. Sometimes a good way to start is to contact the charities you already know. There are many wonderful charities supporting COVID-19 efforts. Here is a partial list of those organizations:
- American Red Cross
- American Heart Association
- BIOLA University
- CDC Foundation
- Chapman University
- Claremont Lincoln University
- Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)
- Doctors Without Borders
- Feeding America
- HOPE International
- Mariners Christian School –
- Mariners Church
- Newport Harbor High School Angel Fund
- Orange County Community Foundation
- The Dream Center
- Samaritan’s Purse
- Tilly’s Life Center
- United Way
- World Health Organization
- World Vision
- YMCA
And just for fun, if you want to be eaten by a dinosaur in the next Jurassic Park movie, golf with Tiger Woods, sing with Brad Paisley, have dinner with Mariah Carey, or several other events, you can visit Fanatics All-In Challenge to enter their sweepstakes and auctions. 100% of donations go to several non-profit organizations to provide food for kids, elderly and frontline heroes.
Bottom Line
Now is a good time to plan. At The Bahnsen Group, we are an experienced team of private wealth advisors that are passionate about helping you grow, protect and steward your wealth toward a multigenerational legacy of success and significance. Let’s start a conversation to assess and refresh your wealth management plan.
Thank you for your time. May you and your family persevere in faith, hope, and love, and be blessed with health, prosperity, and wisdom.