By Wealth Management Solutions
There’s a quote by Roy E. Disney, nephew to none other than Walt Disney himself, that goes like this: “When your values are clear, your decisions are easy.” This not only applies in everyday life, but also—and sometimes even more so—to your business and your finances.
If you’re like many of our clients, you’ve worked hard to build a family business that you can be proud of. And you probably dream of the day that you can pass that torch to your children and grandchildren. But in today’s day and age, simply dreaming of something won’t make it a reality, especially something as nuanced and delicate as business succession.
The best way to prepare for the future and strengthen your business is to align your business and your finances with your core family values. When you know your values and the why behind your financial decisions, they become that much easier to implement, maintain, and pass to the next generation.
In order to do this, you will first need to define your family values so that both your decisions and those made by future generations can be easy. At Wealth Management Solutions, this is our specialty.
Our Story
After I, Richard, lost my own father abruptly, I experienced firsthand how important it is to have a plan for your family’s legacy. Most of our clients are family business owners who want to do right by what they’ve built and want to see it maintained for generations to come.
To do this correctly, there are four cornerstones of managing wealth that must be addressed: advice, planning, strategy, and governance. Without the alignment of these cornerstones, it’s impossible to manage wealth with any sort of moral focus. Like the cardinal directions of a compass, without all four, you will end up lost.
We offer a comprehensive approach to financial planning, life planning, wealth management, and investment management that defines and aligns your family values with your finances, no matter which life stage you’re in.
Advice
We first look at the alignment of your values with the advice you are receiving. Many of our clients come to us with questions about advice they’ve received from family, friends, Google, and others. Should I buy Bitcoin? Move to a state with no income tax? Downsize my house or property?
We address how those bits and pieces of advice mesh with your core values. For instance, if you are opposed to the tobacco industry, we would never recommend that you invest in Big Tobacco. The same goes for investing in Bitcoin or moving to a different state. They may be good for your financial plan in theory, but if they don’t match up with your purpose, your financial plan may ultimately fail.
Planning
The next step in our process is to build a life and financial plan with your values at the center. In this step, we will integrate any advice you may have received from your CPA, tax advisor, asset manager, or real estate experts, so that all pieces of your plan fully align with your family’s morals. We like to think of this stage as the foundation. If you want to prevent your home (meaning your family legacy) from collapsing, make sure your cornerstones (or values) are set before you build. Consider this: If the cornerstones of the Great Pyramids were even an inch off, they would have collapsed long ago!
Strategy
Once your values and general financial goals are outlined, we begin strategizing. This part of our process concentrates on the systems, people, and processes to reach your current and future goals. This includes the approach to your estate plans, income plans in distribution, and business succession goals. The strategy you implement in fulfilling your plans needs time and attention in order to align to your values and to ensure that future decisions will work well in the context of your family’s financial objectives.
Governance
The last cornerstone for a well-aligned financial plan is governance. Here we look at aligning our management approach with your business governance, as we deliver the policies, practices, disclosures, and governance standards designed to reduce conflicts of interest, redundancies, and cost controls required in protecting your family’s wealth. Again, it can’t be overstated: When your values are clear, your decisions are easy. This is so important in terms of how your business is managed.
For instance, we provide the legal reporting requirements, maintain records, and meet regulatory requirements of the agencies that have oversight of our industry. Our professional custodians further externally protect clients’ investment accounts, and we design our policies, procedures and strategies in mind with the family’s morals and values, as if we were operating as the family’s private office or board of wealth advisors.
Are Your Values and Finances Aligned?
Life gets busy and complicated at times, and it’s easy to lose sight of why you are doing what you are doing. At Wealth Management Solutions, we identify and integrate your financial advice and your values so that you can pass on your family’s legacy with confidence. If you’d like to learn more about our process, reach out to us at (949) 475-9700 to schedule an appointment today.
About Wealth Management Solutions
The story of origin: Wealth Management Solutions was created in 2003, following the personal family tragedies felt by both partners of the firm. First, Richard Riva, the founding partner, lost his father unexpectedly and before any legacy planning was done that could have extended his family’s legacy beyond the fourth generation. Secondly, Martin Lombrano lost his father before plans and strategies were designed to protect his family’s wealth and legacy. Our partners and team members all share similar experiences due to a lack of planning for their families and are committed to our clients not experiencing the loss of their legacies due to a lack of planning. This is why we say: Our Planning; Your Future.
All investing involves risk, including loss of principal. No strategy assures success or protects against loss.
The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual.
