Long-Term Care: Settle it Before the Time Comes

As you enter your “golden” years, the reality is that it can often be too late to protect your family from unforeseen events as you continue to age. That’s why you need to start planning now for your financial future. If the idea of long-term care is making you lose sleep, it’s time to settle it before the time comes. Let us show you how.

Estate Planning Protects Your Wishes

No one can accurately forecast what will happen in the future. And most people think that having a will is all they need to protect their wishes – but they’re wrong. If you don’t have an estate plan created and something suddenly happens to you, your intentions may not get carried out as you had planned. Only an estate plan can provide clear direction and an accurate representation of your intentions. So take the time now to define what is most important to you and how you wish for your assets to be handled before you can no longer make the decisions for yourself.

Your Assets are Your Retirement

Your more substantial assets are a crucial factor in your overall wealth. If you plan to sell your assets (whatever they may be) or transfer some down to your children, take the time now to make a detailed succession plan. Having a professional financial planner by your side can ensure that you make all the right choices when it comes to obtaining the wealth that you and your family will need during your long-term care.

Tax Planning For Your Future

It’s especially important that you have an effective tax strategy in place that will help minimize the effects of taxation during your long-term care needs. There are a number of strategies that can optimize your tax position such as maximizing government-sponsored programs, creating tax-efficient cash flow, and legacy planning. Tactics like these can help you reduce your taxes and leave you with more money in your pocket for when you need it most.

Insurance Planning Is Your Safety Net

The requirements of long-term care can have a significant impact on your family’s financial future and health. Without a safety net in play, it may be difficult for them to manage all the financial risks associated with any illness or disability. To ensure everyone is protected, it’s crucial to have an insurance plan in place as part of your wealth management strategy. Setting up life insurance coverage will ensure everything is settled before the time comes.

The Beacon Group of Assante Financial Management Ltd., we provide a number of services to ensure that your wealth is always protected. We can help you put a meaningful plan in place that will protect you and your family now and in the future.

Why Major Life Changes are Good for You

Change is inevitable. Even when you try to avoid it, there will always be unforeseen challenges and less than perfect conditions thrown your way. However, you shouldn’t fear these situations; significant life changes can be beneficial for you in many ways. The life lessons you learn during these difficult times can help you to be more prepared for the future and teach you how to deal with change more effectively. To show you how this works, here we feature a few of the ways that a major life change can benefit you and what you can do to be better prepared for the bumps ahead.

Fosters Growth

When you experience a major change, you’re often faced with challenges you’ve never had to deal with before. In most cases, your belief system is tested and you’re pushed beyond your limitations – but this isn’t always a bad thing. When you go through a life-transforming event, you’re forced to step outside of your comfort zone and grow. With each step, you become more skilled, confident, and eventually more successful as you begin to see things in a new light.

Makes You More Adaptable

Some people fear the idea of change, but in reality, change is inevitable and something we need to get used to. We can’t always prepare for a significant life transition to occur, but we can learn how to cope with one. Experiencing a significant life change can be useful for you as it can push you to be more flexible in your approach. As you drive through the challenges, you learn how to change plans and adapt to circumstance. Best of all, you build confidence to take on new situations and become better equipped to deal with other obstacles that may arise.

Teaches You To Be Prepared

It’s impossible to forecast everything that will happen in your life, but you can at least be prepared financially for any unexpected circumstances. Major life changes can be costly, especially if you lose your job or undergo a divorce. Experiencing a life change can teach you why it’s essential to have a backup plan in place to make sure you protect yourself.

Changes can be jarring, no matter what area of life they affect. The best way to deal with these uprooting events is to know that in the end, you’ll always come out on top a different person. The changes you go through will shape who you become – embrace them!

Methods to Gauge Any Investment’s Risk Level

Every investment has risks. If you put your money into individual securities, your risk lies solely with that company and how they perform in the market. When you purchase a mutual fund, your money is spread across a number of individual securities, and the performance will be the result of the whole. To give you an idea how to gauge any investment’s risk level before you add it to your portfolio, follow these rules.

Check The Beta

Many investors use Beta to determine how volatile a particular security or portfolio is in comparison to the entire market. Any beta number greater than 1 will indicate a higher level of risk. For instance, a beta of 1.5 means that an investment return will be 1.5 times as volatile as that of the market. On the other hand, if the beta dips below 1, it implies that the investment will be less volatile than the market and pose less risk.

Look At The Company History

It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of investing in a start-up that could be the next Amazon or Facebook, but the odds of that happening are not in your favour. Instead of throwing money into unknown start-ups and crowdfunding campaigns, pick companies that have illustrious histories of success and trends of making money. You can reduce your risk by putting your money into businesses that have spent decades navigating through the competitive marketplace and generating solid returns to their investors.

Research The Owners

Before you put your money into a security, you should know who you are investing with. Do the owners have a track record of success? Can they easily raise capital if needed? Can the team execute their vision? It doesn’t matter how great the idea is if they don’t have the right management team. If you can’t get a clear view of where the company is headed and whether they are positioned to carry through the market storms, then it’s best to avoid the risk.

Know What Risk Profile They Fall Under

It’s important to understand which investments are considered high risk and which ones are deemed safe. Options, Futures, and Collectibles are considered high-risk because they can provide significant returns as well as big losses. Mid-risk investments like equity mutual funds, large and small-cap stocks, high-income bonds, and real estate investments still carry risk, but they are relatively safe and usually provide stable returns. The safest investments you can purchase are government bonds, money market funds, and treasury bills. You won’t get the biggest returns but the likelihood of a return is very high.

Check If They Are Diversified

When investing in funds, you should only put your money in something that is diversified across a number of asset classes. Without asset allocation, you’re susceptible to risk during market swings. When you have a portfolio that is properly diversified, your investments will continue to grow no matter what the market condition.

Predicting the markets is challenging, especially if you don’t have a background in finance. At The Beacon Group of Assante Financial Management Ltd., we can help you manage your risk and create a balanced portfolio that will take advantage of the markets up and downs, maximizes your wealth, and provides you with stable returns into the future.

 

4 Things to Consider Before Selling Your Business

Have you been thinking about selling your business? There are some things you should determine first before you make any decisions, or you could risk selling for the wrong reasons or the wrong price, which can jeopardize your future wealth and security. Here are four things to consider before deciding to sell your business.

Is the Timing Right?

Timing is essential when you plan to sell your business. To determine if the timing is right, you need to look at the current state of your business and the overall market.  For one, you want to sell at the top of your game, not when your business is on the decline. When you’re profitable, not only will you become more valuable to a buyer but you will also have the power to set yourself up for financial freedom. Market timing is also important. If the market has been declining, you should likely wait until things begin taking a turn to sell.

Is My Business Valuable?

Buyers are not going to be interested in a business that has decent revenue but zero profits. If you’ve pumped your company full of tax write-offs or are highly leveraged, you will likely appear less profitable to a potential purchaser. Before you decide to sell, make sure you take these factors into consideration and spend time structuring your business to be more attractive to buyers.

Do I Have a Tax Strategy?

By the time most business owners decide to sell, it’s far too late to implement a tax strategy. Without one, you could end up paying hefty taxes to exit your business. To avoid any tax repercussions and maximize your sale proceeds, it’s best to set up a well-thought-out tax strategy ahead of selling your property.

Are There Alternatives to Selling?

If you’re not sure whether selling is right for you, or if you’re feeling pressured to sell because of poor performance, you should evaluate your other options first before selling. You may be able to leverage some of your capital, pass on ownership through employee stock options, sell as an asset and retain ownership, or take on silent investors. Regardless, it’s wise to talk to an advisor who can help you make a better-informed decision that is right for you.

At The Beacon Group at Assante Financial Management Ltd., we provide practical solutions designed to help you make smart choices about your business to gain wealth and prosperity now and into the future. Contact us today if you’d like some advice on your unique situation.