FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hope Katz Gibbs
Inkandescent Public Relations, www.inkandescentpr.com
hope@inkandescentpr.com / 703 346–6975
WHAT, EXACTLY, IS WEALTH MANAGEMENT?
Although many people know that saving for their financial future is important, many don’t know what steps to take to accomplish their goals. Financial planner Rita Cheng explains how to shift the paradigm.
Arlington, VA, August 15, 2012 — “Financial planning is the process of meeting your life goals through the proper management of your financial resources,” explains Rita Cheng, a veteran financial planner who specializes in working with diverse populations to help them plan and prepare for their financial futures.
“These strategies may include purchasing a home, saving for college, or planning for retirement,” she insists. “It’s important to know that financial planning is a process, not a transaction. The goal is to adopt a big-picture, integrative approach to your personal finances.”
The key is to understand the playing field of financial planning, Cheng says.
Here are five important concepts to consider:
1. Investment planning in isolation does not constitute financial planning. Financial planning is about controlling spending, managing credit, reducing taxes, increasing savings, protecting family and assets, and building wealth for the future. This process entails gathering financial information, establishing life goals, evaluating your current financial status, and developing a strategy to help you achieve your life goals.
2. Financial planning helps you understand the impact that each financial decision has on other areas of your financial life. For example, increasing contributions to your employer-sponsored retirement plan affects your cash flow, taxes, investment portfolio, and retirement plan. This integrated approach to managing your wealth provides clarity and confidence to your financial decisions. You can also adapt readily to life transitions and gain a sense of empowerment knowing that you are progressing towards your financial goals.
3. Wealth management is a comprehensive investment practice that encompasses financial planning, investment-portfolio management, risk management, tax-planning strategies, and estate-planning services for high net-worth individuals. There is no generally accepted standard for what products or services constitute wealth management. Wealth management is a holistic approach to understanding and providing solutions to the many concerns of a client’s financial life. Just as a primary care physician coordinates care given by varied organizations and collaborates with referral specialists, a wealth manager acts a relationship manager to better serve the client.
4. Finding a wealth manager is important. This person will be committed to identifying and understanding your financial challenges, and proactively identifying solutions. I encourage my clients to think of this in the same way that doctors and patients embrace the philosophy of integrative medicine, which is designed to treat the person, not just the disease. Just as the success of integrative medicine depends on a collaborative partnership between the patient and the doctor, the relationship between you and your wealth manager must be collaborative and take into account your lifestyle, your spending and saving habits, as well as your complete financial picture.
5. Collaboration with a financial team is also critical. As the financial lives of wealthy clients have become more complex, the notion of working with a team of professionals has become more important. Many of my clients value a streamlined integrative approach to managing their financial affairs, and I encourage my clients to build a group of experts who are each focused in a different area, including:
- an investment advisor managing the assets
- an attorney implementing the estate plan
- an insurance agent recommending insurance
- a CPA addressing taxes
- About Rita Cheng*
Rita Cheng, CRPC®, CFP® is a Certified Financial Planner TM based in Bethesda, MD. She works with individuals and families to help them identify, clarify, and quantify their life financial goals and objectives. Through her personalized approach, she educates and empowers her clients to plan for their financial future. She proudly serves as a CFP Board Ambassador to help raise awareness in the public, policymakers, and media about the benefits of competent, ethical financial planning.
For more information, visit www.ameripriseadvisors.com/marguerita.m.cheng.
To read more of Cheng’s thoughts and ideas on financial planning, log on to Be Inkandescent magazine at www.BeInkandescent.com.
About Be Inkandescent Magazine
Be Inkandescent magazine is a monthly, online business publication for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, published by Inkandescent Public Relations, an Inkandescent Group Company. Founded in January 2010 by journalist and entrepreneur Hope Katz Gibbs, the magazine has 30,000 subscribers and gets more than 400,000 hits/month. For more information, contact Gibbs at hope@inkandescentpr.com. For a free subscription, log on to www.beinkandescent.com/subscribe.
END