We’re excited to share the latest edition of Worth a Reed, packed with timely updates and helpful insights for the season ahead. In this issue, you’ll discover how we’re upgrading our technology to deliver even more services and value to our clients. We’ll also cover the IRS’s move away from paper checks and what you need to know about setting up secure electronic tax payments. With fall upon us, we’ve included a practical checklist to help you tackle important to-dos before year-end. And finally, don’t miss our update on upcoming changes to the Corestone check ordering process—so you’ll know exactly what to expect!
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Every business is different, and we’re here to help you maximize the value of what you’ve worked so hard to create. Since several of our clients own closely-held businesses, we are keenly aware of how difficult it is to distinguish one’s business finances from one’s personal finances. We are here to help business owners look at the big picture, to review what options are available to structure their financial situation to suit their future endeavors. We provide perspective and advice to business owners in areas such as passing your business along to the next generation or other exit strategies, addressing employee benefits, incentivizing key employees, or minimizing taxes. We generally work closely with your other advisors in this process.
Charitable giving helps you support issues that matter to you. Philanthropy is its own reward, but there are tax incentives for your generosity as well. Our team can help you determine the most effective strategies for donating assets to charities that have a place in your heart, or even help research organizations that you may want to know more about. We strive to understand your giving goals and implement a giving plan that benefits you and the recipients of your goodwill.
Effectively managing wealth requires a thorough understanding of how taxes can impact a portfolio. Tax efficiency involves a detailed and focused plan. We will work closely with your accountant to help manage your tax liability and increase the tax efficiency of your overall financial plan. We routinely review areas such as which account (taxable versus non-taxable) should we take money from first, the amount of withholding for taxes, whether a ROTH IRA makes sense, when is the best time to exercise employee stock options, and the best ways to make tax-efficient withdrawals of required minimum distributions from retirement accounts and tax loss selling, when appropriate.
Once we understand what’s important to you and learn about what you’ve done to date, we will create a customized plan that specifically addresses your unique questions and concerns. Our planning utilizes software to help us evaluate and make recommendations regarding investments, insurance, estate, retirement, education, and tax.
Our philosophy is to invest to achieve good returns with reasonable risk. Typically, clients want us to grow their assets but be defensive when necessary to preserve assets. Our goal in retirement is to invest in a manner that allows continuous distribution to maintain your lifestyle, but also to never worry about your retirement income.
We view retirement as just part of life’s journey, not an end point. You will want to establish targets and strategies to accumulate sufficient monies to allow you to maintain your desired lifestyle throughout retirement. Pre-retirement planning for Medicare coverage, timing to take Social Security benefits, and various tax planning ideas to make retirement most tax-efficient are common discussions. Our goal is for you to have a carefree retirement and not worry about money, while also encouraging you to spend and enjoy.
Most advisors focus primarily on getting documents prepared and sometimes asset and beneficiary designations adjusted on various assets. We find, however, clients frequently have many questions and want someone to talk through the issues affecting their wealth transfer plan before they are ready to have documents drafted. The Executor and Trustee decisions you make will have far-reaching impact for years to come. So we talk with you to consider how best to determine guardianship for your children, allocation of your estate, and who best should carry out your wishes after death. Designing a plan to deal with unique family situations is a common discussion for us, along with various contingencies for managing a trust, as if the grantors were still alive. Providing creditor or divorce protection for you, your heirs and grandchildren are also key provisions to consider.
We review life, disability, long-term care needs, and existing coverage. In the event clients must deal with lawsuits or divorce, we provide suggestions to protect you and your heirs during these difficult times. We have expertise in identity theft and can provide guidance to help review credit reports looking for errors or advise you when to freeze them, if necessary. Navigating Medicare/Medicaid insurance planning and Social Security decisions is also part of our normal planning.
Troy Hammer is the Operations Manager at Reed Financial Services. He joined Reed Financial Services in 2018. Troy’s area of focus is accounting and finance-related problem-solving. He has excelled in his position and benefits RFS and its clients by bringing his experience in other business projects and industries into the financial services industry.
Mark Lisachenko is the IT and Risk Management lead at Reed Financial Services. Mark has been with RFS since the summer of 2012, bringing 16 years of prior information technology and management experience. He supports the internal operations and systems of the company, from portfolio accounting to information technology.
Nikki Huffman is Executive Assistant at Reed Financial Services. Nikki has the ability to make people feel welcome and comfortable at Reed which helps build the strong relationships that exist between Reed and its clients.
Michelle Hohlbaugh has been the Senior Executive Assistant at Reed Financial Services since 1999. She is a very self-motivated individual who enjoys the variety and challenges of projects that come from working in a company that puts its client’s needs and desires first.
Janet Edwards, Certified Wealth Strategist® is our multi-talented Director of Client Relations who’s passionate about taking on new challenges, building relationships with clients and supporting them in all areas of their needs. She applies professional insight and attention-to-detail to implement our clients’ financial plans. This often involves researching and acting as liaison with outside providers in working with topics such as education planning, charitable endeavors, retirement, cash flow, and insurance. It is her goal for all clients to know that a knowledgeable, friendly contact is only a phone call away.
Amanda Lisachenko, CFP, is the President of Reed Financial Services. She has spent her professional career working with Reed Financial Services since starting in 1998. Amanda works with a broad range of individuals, including pre-retirees, those living in retirement, professionals, doctors, multi-generational families, and business owners, providing financial planning, estate planning, retirement planning, investment management, business succession planning, and charitable planning.