The browning of the leaves, the slight chill in the evenings and the lethargic rising of the sun, like snippets from a familiar tale, reminds us that – life goes on! We are truly well on our way as they say, working our way through multiple daily challenges, many of which I wrote about quite extensively towards the close of last year.
You may recall that we kicked off the new year by reflecting and reminding ourselves about the importance of having the right perspective on what is happening all around us. As we are about to enter a new financial year, I wanted to reframe the conversation around the two priority functions we offer to all our clients at Oakfield, namely wealth management and leaving a longstanding legacy. Both important building blocks in the development of a personal financial plan and strategy.
The more volatile the world becomes, the more I am convinced that we simply have to be closely involved in the creation and management of our wealth in order to secure the financial future wellbeing of our offspring. Here is a quick link if you would like to do a quick recap of How to Create a Personal Financial Plan (Part 1 of 2).
This article focuses entirely of the second part of the personalised financial plan, namely the creation of a legacy for future generations. But before we get to the key components, I want to define the word legacy as a concept of wealth management.
Legacy, among others, is defined from an online resource as:
1. an amount of money or property left to someone in a will.
2. the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life.
So, to summarize, creating a legacy plan involves respecting and protecting your life’s work, financial efforts, and wealth, by making sure it transfers successfully to your loved ones.
At Oakfield we manage your legacy by asking 3 hard-hitting questions:
Some years ago, there was an industry joke that all brokers start the conversation with “suppose you died”. While we can all see the humor, the reality is less funny. As harsh as it might seem to ask someone what would happen if they died in the next twenty minutes, it is quickly evident who knows the location and status of their last will and testament and who doesn’t.
Where it relates to the last will and testament of our clients, we need to make sure all avenues are securely checked, and we cover a number of pertinent questions including:
• Is your last will and testament up to date?
• Is it easily accessible?
• Is it signed, dated, and witnessed correctly?
• Did you make provisions for testamentary trust, in case if minor children?
• Do you have appointed trustees for a testamentary trust?
• Do you have appointed guardians for minor children?
• Do you have a trust termination plan in place?
The courts are filled with sad stories of cases where the finalization of an estate is caught in the throws of legal red tape and court processes, just because a simple document has not been put in place. Don’t be caught in this needless situation!
We have all experienced death in some form or another. We want the world to stop; we want everyone to mourn with us; we want some form of acknowledgement that our emotions mean something; yet, the sun will rise and set, and life will go on.
What won’t change is the emotional pain and loss your family and loved ones will experience in your absence. Since there is no alternative, you simply have to make sure your loved ones are taken care of, and that they don’t fall on uncalled hard times.
We make sure of this by addressing three critical elements with our clients:
• Has sufficient provision been made for your spouse and or partner to maintain the current standard of living? Did you base this on the correct calculations, and did you also consider inflationary factors?
• Have you made sufficient provision for liquidity in the estate – in other words have you made provision for cash in the estate to pay for items such as capital gains tax, estate duty, income taxes, executor’s fees and so forth.
• Are all the beneficiaries on your policies up to date, and correct? Will the correct people receive the appropriate portions and allocations of the policy proceeds?
Do these questions make you uneasy? Don’t delay this conversation – it will do no harm to make sure this is in fact covered, and if it isn’t, it can be resolved, or we can put in place a plan to make sure it is resolved in due time.
Of course, we don’t call them daily threats, as in my case, this may also include my spouse! Jokes aside, we actually define daily threats more accurately as Living Risks and we deal with this in a separate session with our clients to create a specific Living Risk Plan based on each client’s unique profile.
In short a Living Risk Plan aims to protect our clients against a broad range of scenarios by offering the following types of cover:
• Disability.
• Severe Illness.
• Medical Aid / Hospital Cover.
• GAP Cover / Medical Assurance.
In many cases, we address some of the above items under existing products, but the insurance and life cover industry has come a long way in providing more bespoke solutions. Many of our clients are involved in jobs and industries that have particular stress profiles or they work with dangerous materials or in high-risk geographical locations. There are numerous permutations and options to choose from to offer the best cover.
I will be exploring, in more detail, the different components of effective management of Living Risks in future blogs, as it is quite a comprehensive number of items. For example, just depending on your health, emotional wellbeing, income, and risk profile, we can create a Living Risk Plan in as much detail as you like, and this can easily be more than five line-items alone. The old adage of how long a piece of string is, applies here.
I trust that you will now possess a detailed understanding of what the important components of a financial plan entail and how we go about developing unique and personal financial plans with our clients. Besides this, I also propose you read 5 Essential Things you Need to Discuss with Your Financial Advisor to create a deeper understanding and a bit of context.
If you are new to our blog and you would like to take a closer look at how we work, please visit our website and secure a no-obligation visit with one of our financial planners. Our website also offers important reasons why we believe we are a suitable financial partner in helping you create your personal financial plan.
Enjoy the last few days of summer and let us know if we can be of service to you in any way.
You may recall that we kicked off the new year by reflecting and reminding ourselves about the importance of having the right perspective on what is happening all around us. As we are about to enter a new financial year, I wanted to reframe the conversation around the two priority functions we offer to all our clients at Oakfield, namely wealth management and leaving a longstanding legacy. Both important building blocks in the development of a personal financial plan and strategy.
The more volatile the world becomes, the more I am convinced that we simply have to be closely involved in the creation and management of our wealth in order to secure the financial future wellbeing of our offspring. Here is a quick link if you would like to do a quick recap of How to Create a Personal Financial Plan (Part 1 of 2).
This article focuses entirely of the second part of the personalised financial plan, namely the creation of a legacy for future generations. But before we get to the key components, I want to define the word legacy as a concept of wealth management.
Legacy, among others, is defined from an online resource as:
1. an amount of money or property left to someone in a will.
2. the long-lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc. that took place in the past, or of a person’s life.
So, to summarize, creating a legacy plan involves respecting and protecting your life’s work, financial efforts, and wealth, by making sure it transfers successfully to your loved ones.
At Oakfield we manage your legacy by asking 3 hard-hitting questions:
1. WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU DIED IN THE NEXT TWENTY MINUTES?
Some years ago, there was an industry joke that all brokers start the conversation with “suppose you died”. While we can all see the humor, the reality is less funny. As harsh as it might seem to ask someone what would happen if they died in the next twenty minutes, it is quickly evident who knows the location and status of their last will and testament and who doesn’t.
Where it relates to the last will and testament of our clients, we need to make sure all avenues are securely checked, and we cover a number of pertinent questions including:
• Is your last will and testament up to date?
• Is it easily accessible?
• Is it signed, dated, and witnessed correctly?
• Did you make provisions for testamentary trust, in case if minor children?
• Do you have appointed trustees for a testamentary trust?
• Do you have appointed guardians for minor children?
• Do you have a trust termination plan in place?
The courts are filled with sad stories of cases where the finalization of an estate is caught in the throws of legal red tape and court processes, just because a simple document has not been put in place. Don’t be caught in this needless situation!
2. WHO WILL TAKE CARE OF THOSE YOU LOVE AND LEAVE BEHIND?
We have all experienced death in some form or another. We want the world to stop; we want everyone to mourn with us; we want some form of acknowledgement that our emotions mean something; yet, the sun will rise and set, and life will go on.
What won’t change is the emotional pain and loss your family and loved ones will experience in your absence. Since there is no alternative, you simply have to make sure your loved ones are taken care of, and that they don’t fall on uncalled hard times.
We make sure of this by addressing three critical elements with our clients:
• Has sufficient provision been made for your spouse and or partner to maintain the current standard of living? Did you base this on the correct calculations, and did you also consider inflationary factors?
• Have you made sufficient provision for liquidity in the estate – in other words have you made provision for cash in the estate to pay for items such as capital gains tax, estate duty, income taxes, executor’s fees and so forth.
• Are all the beneficiaries on your policies up to date, and correct? Will the correct people receive the appropriate portions and allocations of the policy proceeds?
Do these questions make you uneasy? Don’t delay this conversation – it will do no harm to make sure this is in fact covered, and if it isn’t, it can be resolved, or we can put in place a plan to make sure it is resolved in due time.
3. HOW DO WE BEST PROTECT YOU AGAINST DAILY THREATS?
Of course, we don’t call them daily threats, as in my case, this may also include my spouse! Jokes aside, we actually define daily threats more accurately as Living Risks and we deal with this in a separate session with our clients to create a specific Living Risk Plan based on each client’s unique profile.
In short a Living Risk Plan aims to protect our clients against a broad range of scenarios by offering the following types of cover:
• Disability.
• Severe Illness.
• Medical Aid / Hospital Cover.
• GAP Cover / Medical Assurance.
In many cases, we address some of the above items under existing products, but the insurance and life cover industry has come a long way in providing more bespoke solutions. Many of our clients are involved in jobs and industries that have particular stress profiles or they work with dangerous materials or in high-risk geographical locations. There are numerous permutations and options to choose from to offer the best cover.
CONCLUSION
I will be exploring, in more detail, the different components of effective management of Living Risks in future blogs, as it is quite a comprehensive number of items. For example, just depending on your health, emotional wellbeing, income, and risk profile, we can create a Living Risk Plan in as much detail as you like, and this can easily be more than five line-items alone. The old adage of how long a piece of string is, applies here.
I trust that you will now possess a detailed understanding of what the important components of a financial plan entail and how we go about developing unique and personal financial plans with our clients. Besides this, I also propose you read 5 Essential Things you Need to Discuss with Your Financial Advisor to create a deeper understanding and a bit of context.
If you are new to our blog and you would like to take a closer look at how we work, please visit our website and secure a no-obligation visit with one of our financial planners. Our website also offers important reasons why we believe we are a suitable financial partner in helping you create your personal financial plan.
Enjoy the last few days of summer and let us know if we can be of service to you in any way.