Our Process

Financial Adviser

Where are you getting your financial advice? Newspapers? Magazines? Web sites? Cable TV? While the financial media often provide helpful information, they cannot take the place of an experienced financial adviser who is familiar with your particular situation and can offer personalized advice.

Wealth Preservation/Estate Planning What you value may be more important than what you own. To follow through on your commitments -- to yourself, your family, and your ideals -- you need to think ahead. A personalized estate plan is important in helping to protect your family and your legacy. A well-constructed strategy can help address your specific estate planning needs including:
 

• Minimizing income and estate taxes
• Transferring wealth from one generation to the next
• Developing charitable gifting strategies
• Aligning existing portfolios and retirement accounts with your estate plan

Business Succession Strategies
 

Business ownership brings its own set of responsibilities. Changing your current business structure or successfully transferring your business before you retire requires careful planning.
Since many clients are faced with intangibles such as personal emotions, family relationships, and business associations, the objectivity of an experienced adviser can facilitate the process. A comprehensive business succession plan can help you address your specific needs such as:

• Growing your business
• Protecting your assets
• Ensuring the continuation and succession of your business
• Minimizing taxes
• Promoting, recruiting, retaining, and rewarding your key employees
• Maximizing your compensation benefits
• Providing for estate equalization
• Promoting family harmony

Retirement Planning

The amount you will need in retirement depends on the age you plan to retire, your desired retirement lifestyle, how long you expect to live and the rate of return that you expect to earn on your investments. Social Security and employer-sponsored pension plans will probably provide less of what you will need than they did for your parents.

Consideration should be given to one or more of the following strategies when trying to maximize your retirement income:

• Clearly prioritized retirement goals and objectives
• Retirement at a later age
• Saving more
• Spending less during retirement
• Invest to earn a potentially higher rate of return on investments while still feeling comfortable with the level of risk involved
• Liquidation of non-cash assets
• Social Security
• Maximize contributions to qualified retirement plans
• Invest in IRA

Education Funding

Education planning for your children can be a major financial consideration. Planning early allows you to take advantage of the time value of money and help minimize the savings requirement.

Consideration should be given to one or more of the following strategies when trying to maximize your college planning:

• Prioritize your education objective with your insurance needs, retirement needs, major purchases and current income needs
• Develop an effective savings strategy that considers asset allocation and takes advantage of education plans
• Consider the various education funding accounts -- Qualified State Tuition Plans (also known as 529 Plans^#), Uniform Transfer to Minor Accounts (UTMA) / Uniform Gifts to Minor Accounts (UGMA), Coverdell Educational savings accounts and prepaid tuition plans
• Ensure college expenses are properly planned -- include tuition, room and board and living expenses. Factor in an inflation rate for the rising cost of tuition. Should you consider planning for post-graduate studies? Do you expect your child/children to receive scholarships or financial aid?

Portfolio Management

You can now receive the same portfolio management services as many institutional investors-whether it is a separately managed account or a mutual fund wrap portfolio.
Some benefits of managed portfolios include:

• Providing access to top-tier investment management professionals
• Tailored portfolios to meet specific investment needs
• Ownership of individual securities
• Ease of pre-designed mutual fund portfolios

Every investor is unique, and investment advisory services provide you with professional investment advice and a personalized investment strategy. Whether you're seeking a tailored, professionally managed portfolio, or the convenience and simplicity of a diversified mutual fund wrap program, your investment choice should focus on meeting your financial goals. During this process, you should consider current and future growth objectives, income needs, time horizon and risk tolerance. These considerations form the blueprint for developing a portfolio management strategy. The process involves, but is not limited to, the following important stages.

• Set investment objectives
• Develop an asset allocation strategy
• Evaluate/Select investment vehicle
• Portfolio review -- Ongoing portfolio monitoring

^#Securities offered through NYLIFE Securities LLC (member FINRA/SIPC).
*Neither Eagle Strategies LLC nor any of its affiliates provide legal, tax or accounting advice. Please contact your own advisors for more information on your particular situation.
 

Risk Management
 

A sound financial plan must address the insurance coverages you, your spouse and family members may require.

• Life insurance is used to pay for funeral expenses, repay outstanding debts, make charitable donations and provide living expenses for surviving family members. It can also be used to cover estate taxes and probate fees to enable your estate to be liquidated in the most appropriate manner.
• Disability income insurance^§ is to help partially replace income of persons who are unable to work because of sickness or accident. In terms of its financial effect on the family, long-term disability can be just as severe as death. Disability income protection can come from several sources: social insurance programs, employer-provided benefits, and individually purchased policies.
• New York Life offers a number of Long Term Care insurance options, designed to help protect your assets and preserve your freedom of choice.

^§Products available through one or more carriers not affiliated with New York Life, dependent on carrier authorization and product availability in your state or locality.

Charitable Giving

You would like to make a charitable donation to a cause you care about, perhaps to a charity, or to an educational or cultural institution.  But you're not quite ready to give up all the benefits of the asset you'd like to donate.  By creating a charitable remainder trust (CRT) for a qualified charity, you can contribute to your charity, increase your income and save on taxes.  This way, you get the best of all worlds.

A CRT allows you to convert an asset that is worth a significant amount, such as stock or real estate, into income without having to pay capital gains taxes on the asset when it is sold.  It can also help you save a significant amount on current income taxes and on potential estate taxes when you die by removing a large chunk of assets from your taxable estate. 

When you transfer your asset into the irrevocable CRT, the trustee of the CRT can sell your asset without your having to pay any capital gains taxes.  The money then gets re-invested into income-producing assets and you receive an income for either the rest of your life, or for a specific term of years up to 20 years.  When you die or the term expires, the money that remains in the trust goes to the charity or institution you have selected.

A charitable remainder trust really can give you the best of all worlds - you get a tax break, and a cause you care about gets much-needed funds.  And you still receive income from the asset,  even after giving it away.  Keep in mind, while the CRT is a very useful tool, it is also complicated because tax laws are constantly changing.  Please make sure to consult with your tax, legal and accounting professionals.

It's a Matter of Trust

Selecting a financial adviser is not an easy decision.  It's a matter of commitment and trust.  At Eagle Strategies, we are committed to earning our clients' trust every day.  By working together, we are confident that we can help you achieve your financial goals and secure your financial future.

It All Starts With A Plan

Making sure you get the proper advice starts with taking an in-depth look at where you are today and where you want to be tomorrow.

And because we know your objectives may change over time, we approach financial planning as a dynamic, ongoing process that must accommodate changes in your personal circumstances, changes in the tax laws and changes in the marketplace.  We can help you design a plan that evolves with you and results in a well-coordinated series of recommendations that can be easily implemented.

*As a Financial Adviser with Eagle Strategies LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser, I can provide you with a plan to help you achieve your financial goals.

Please use my Web site as a resource. For additional information or to schedule a meeting, do not hesitate to contact me by email or by completing the Contact Form found under the Contact Us Tab above. Thank you for your interest. 

Mark Wiskus and Matthew Lyon are agents licensed to sell insurance through New York Life Insurance Company and may be licensed with various other independent unaffiliated insurance companies in the state of Iowa. No insurance business may be conducted outside this state referenced.

Mark Wiskus and Matthew Lyon are Registered Representatives of and offer securities products & services through NYLIFE Securities LLC.  Member FINRA/SIPC, a Licensed Insurance Agency. In this regard, this communication is strictly intended for individuals residing in the state of Iowa. No offers may be made or accepted from any resident outside the specific state referenced.

*Mark Wiskus is also separately registered as an investment adviser representative with Eagle Strategies LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser, offering advisory services in the state of Iowa. As such, these services are strictly intended for individuals residing in the specific state referenced. 
 

Mark Wiskus and Matthew Lyon are licensed to offer mutual funds and variable products.  Market Watch information is provided for informational purposes and is not considered an offering of securities.