Mike Gertsema, Senior Wealth Advisor
Have you ever considered getting a second opinion on your financial planning, health wellness or other matters that concern you, but were unsure if the feeling was warranted?
I recently went to the Red Cross to make a blood donation. I went through the normal check-in process and when it was time to draw the blood, the health care technician asked if I had a preference on which arm to take the blood. After sharing my preference would be my left arm, she became concerned about her ability to draw blood from that arm and asked to look at my right arm. At this point, I was getting concerned about her level of experience as I have never had issues with either vein before.
After carefully surveilling both arms, the technician asked one of her peers for their opinion. The other technician simply looked at my right arm and said, “You’re fine,” reassuring her that she was right on target with the selected arm and vein. I was impressed that she was proactive in getting that second opinion on my behalf and I immediately felt relieved. I could see that she too felt more comfortable and confident. She immediately hit the right vein and everything went smoothly from there.
I went back to work and told my colleagues about my experience and how this applies to all of us working together for the greater good of our clients. We often run into something similar in our line of work. Our clients may be concerned about their existing financial plans and are worried that their current advisor isn’t hitting the vein, so to speak.
Rest assured, my team has the knowledge, experience, and talents to take care of our client base. Each team member has their strengths in the financial world and we are encouraged to rely on each other for extra support in order to provide the best service possible to our clients. My team recognizes that there’s a lot of grey area in financial planning and it’s not strictly investments we have to consider—it’s also risk management, emotional and behavior management, budget and cashflow, tax strategies and estate planning.
Here are a few examples of questions my team frequently addresses when discussing financial planning:
- We have investments but we don’t have a financial plan. Should we have a plan?
- Are we making money on our investments and are we saving enough for retirement?
- How much risk am I taking in my portfolio and is it too risky or too conservative?
- Am I supposed to invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and annuities?
- If we save more money, where do we invest it?
- Should I invest in an IRA, ROTH IRA, annuity, savings account or in our after-tax brokerage account?
- Should we invest in annuities and are annuities good investments?
- What should we do to reduce our income taxes?
- Are there income tax strategies for us to look at?
- How do we protect our family in the event of a premature death?
- Will my heirs have to pay a lot of taxes when they inherit my estate?
- How do we avoid probate?
- What if we live too long and end up in a nursing home? Will we spend all our saved investments for long-term care?
- Do I need long-term care insurance or am I self-insured?
By answering these questions and developing a formal financial plan, all of your concerns will be addressed and taken into consideration. You will have a better understanding of how one decision will affect the other parts of your financial well-being. It will give you the confidence of knowing you are managing all your finances in a logical, goal-driven manner.
At the end of day, it’s all about you and your comfort level with your financial plan. You may find that you’re right on target, just like the technician drawing my blood. Or you may feel like you need that second opinion.
Whichever the case, if you are ever unsure about your current financial plan and would like a second opinion, please contact us 816-259-5060 or schedule a consultation at www.gertsema.net.
There is no cost or obligation. We are here to serve you.
