What Makes Smith-Kastner Different?
A football team without a quarterback is unlikely to win many games. We believe the same is true of financial planning. Too often our clients, whether it be a family or a business owner, arrive at our doorstep with one person selling them insurance, another managing their investments, a CPA preparing tax returns, and an attorney handling their estate plan. But no one person is ensuring that all of the pieces fit together. Their financial team lacks a quarterback. And the results can be disastrous. Over our forty years of being in business, some of the most severe problems brought to our firm are the result of one advisor giving advice and taking action without considering (or understanding) the impact those actions have on the other areas of a client’s life.
At Smith-Kastner Wealth Management, we truly believe in a comprehensive and holistic approach to financial planning. Our advisors have gone above and beyond the basic licensing and education requirements to obtain professional credentials that cover all areas of financial planning, including insurance, investing, estate planning, and tax guidance. And every recommendation we make is done only after careful consideration of your entire financial life. It is not our intention to replace all of your existing financial advisors, but to enhance the value they bring to our clients and ensure they are all operating in harmony. That said, most of our clients do choose to have us provide insurance and investment management services, once they’ve see our capabilities.
And lastly, we are the only firm in the Auburn-Opelika area that has a dedicated estate planning attorney in our office. We believe we are unique in this respect, and our holistic approach to wealth management gives our clients an advantage that cannot be easily found elsewhere.
Financial Independence is the starting point for your Smith-Kastner Plan. Some people see financial independence as relying on income from different types of investments to have the freedom to do the things they like to do and are good at without the concern of having to earn a salary to maintain their lifestyle. Others might define it in terms of retiring from a business they own or from a high-level executive position, where the goal is to plan for a stress-free future. No matter how it is defined, financial independence requires comprehensive planning where financial, human, and social capital are protected, managed, and maximized to provide income for a lifetime and to ensure that wealth is transferred when and how the owner wants and to whom the owner wants it to go. At Smith-Kastner Wealth Management, our team of experts in the areas of business planning, financial planning, investments and wealth management, insurance solutions, and life and legacy planning work side by side to provide clients with the solutions that are in their best interest for making the most of their financial independence. This way clients can enjoy all of their other wealth even more, including the wealth that comes from human, social, and cultural capital.
Legacies are about how one lives, not about what one leaves when they are gone. What is left can help a person’s legacy live on, but will not define it. The freedom that comes with financial independence provides opportunity for further cementing a legacy or to start building a more purposeful one. Often people are aware of the kind of legacy they want to have and they act accordingly. In other instances, people have very hectic lives and are too busy with the day-to-day to think about the impact they have on others and on the world. Also, some clients might find themselves overwhelmed by the reality of their financial independence because it has come all at once after many years of work, or unexpectedly as in the case of some inheritances or another kind of windfall. The Smith-Kastner process is designed to guide clients in defining their own legacies from whatever their starting point may be. Including legacy in the planning process produces unique and personal results for clients because it incorporates their own life-story, beliefs, and circumstances.
Our process at Smith-Kastner will help clients make an inventory of all their sources of wealth, accounting for everything from investment portfolios, interests in investment partnerships, and art or other type of collections to business interests, intellectual property, and real estate and mineral interests (to name only a few). It also uses quantitative and qualitative values for wealth that come from human, social, and cultural capital. The process at Smith-Kastner includes steps to ensure that clients’ wealth transfer plans incorporate considerations for transferring values and traditions, while not compromising the client’s financial independence. Smith-Kastner plans provide clarity to complex household balance sheets that often includes business interests and/or stock options and contribute to providing certainty and peace of mind around preserving financial independence. This further enables clients to commit to and be passionate about taking steps to transfer wealth as part of their living legacy and in preparation for the distribution of their estate as well. Smith-Kastner plans include wealth transfer plans that reflect and respond to the client’s goals, protects them from potential liabilities and, as applicable, includes communication with family members and other potential beneficiaries.
