Young Professionals
Those somewhat new in their career life and building their portfolio, who need advice and direction on the best way to save and to maximize employer benefits including retirement plans, and who may not yet own a home or have started a family will find our approach supportive and complete. We work with you to make the right decisions now, to prepare for your future.
Common questions at this life stage:
• What’s the best way to maximize my retirement plans and benefits at work?
• How much should I allocate to general savings versus long-term investments?
• Does it make sense to buy a home or should I rent?
• What kind of insurance do I need as a single person, or a couple without children?
Individuals & Families
The seasoned professional and those starting a family need to think about buying a home, saving for college or maximizing retirement offerings while paying daily bills. This stage of life is focused on investing for retirement, but also staying as debt-free as possible or maximizing loans and borrowing to the best advantage to pay for private school, college, a larger or second home, and family vacations. Having clear priorities and goals is critical, and we work with you to be sure you are thinking of everything — including timing — to make the best decisions now and to prepare for your future.
Common questions at this life stage:
• Where might it make sense to borrow, and what should we save for and pay for out of pocket, if possible?
• How do we balance the need to pay for education for our children with saving for retirement?
• How do we best plan for unexpected life events, such as death or disability, to ensure our children or older parents are cared for?
• What level of estate planning, life insurance and legacy planning do we need to do, and when?
Retirees
The long-awaited life transition to retirement means different things to different people. Sometimes it is the ability to finally kick back and stop stressing about making an income, and sometimes it is the chance to reinvent oneself and make money doing something new and different. There are varying ways to feel fulfilled in retirement, but considering health and financial strength is paramount. We work with retirees to design and develop their ideal retirement and then to take the steps necessary to live this new phase with as much meaning and joy as possible.
Common questions at this life stage:
• What sources are best for funding my retirement – when, how much and where should I draw income for best outcomes?
• When, optimally, should I take Social Security?
• How might my estate and legacy plans change in retirement?
• What documents do I need to review to ensure my beneficiaries, POAs, and charitable commitments are all updated?
Business Owners
Running a business is like having another family to care for – while you still have to care for your family, too. Launching the business, growing it and seeing it thrive are all exciting steps, but making the best financial decisions along the way is fundamental to long-term success. Business owners need to consider the merger of family and work-related finances and figure out how to best take advantage — on each side — of those tax laws and financial decisions available to them. We work hand-in-hand with both business owners who are still growing their businesses and those who are ready to monetize and figuring out the best ways to do so. We run a business, so we know the importance of being thoughtful and careful at each step of the way.
Common questions at this life stage:
• What is the best way to manage the business finances alongside personal finances – should they be aligned or not?
• How do I know when I should consider selling, and how do I increase value in my business in order to do so?
• How do I take advantage of any and all tax laws available to me as a business owner?
• When I do monetize, what steps should I take to protect the income I receive?
Jim Reed, CPA-Inactive, founded Reed Financial Services in 1984 and is currently its President. His vast knowledge of both financial planning and investment management, coupled with his mission of “helping others achieve their goals and dreams,” is exhibited throughout the culture at Reed Financial Services. He has worked for over 30 years to create a firm culture that helps investors seeking to accumulate assets with a focus on both good returns, capital preservation, and high-quality service. Reed Financial Services has grown to be one of the larger firms in the Cleveland, Ohio area.
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.
Liam joined Reed Financial Services as an intern in September of 2017. While interning, he completed his Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Akron. Shortly after graduating, he joined the team full-time as a financial analyst.
Evan Watson is an investment analyst and trader for Reed Financial Services. Evan began working in the financial services field in 2014 and joined Reed Financial Services in April of 2017. Prior to being with Reed Financial Services, Evan worked in the industry as an intern, which then turned into a full-time position. In that position, he gained experience in all aspects of the business, from working with clients to investment research.
Amanda Lisachenko, CFP, is the Chief Operating Officer 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.
Kristen Ibanez joined the Reed Financial Services team in December 2021 as our Client Relations Specialist. Kristen has fifteen years of client service experience, with nearly ten years focused within the financial services and banking industries.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cathleen Pegg joined the Reed Financial Services team in April 2018 as our client relations paraplanner, and brings 14 years of industry experience. Cathleen has always valued building strong client relationships and is dedicated to being on a team that is committed to going the extra mile for the 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.