How Financial Quarterbacking Can Maximize Your Impact, Now and Into the Future
These days, it’s challenging to feel settled. A global pandemic, the war in Ukraine, social unrest, and recurring natural disasters capture our attention and keep us up at night. At the same time, many of us find ourselves blessed with abundant resources. By some estimates, we have never been wealthier. Between 2000 and 2020, global assets grew from $40 trillion to $1,520 trillion, with a significant wealth concentrated in the U.S. Yet, many of us find ourselves faced with a sometimes-crippling predicament – how to embrace life and have a meaningful impact in the face of an uncertain future.
A few months after the federal mask mandate was lifted, I found myself seated next to a gentleman and his daughter on a flight to Burbank. As we prepared to take off, I could tell the man was agitated. I braced for a potentially disruptive flight, only to be pleasantly surprised when the man engaged me in conversation as we began our descent. He shared that his family was on vacation and excited to explore Southern California. It dawned on me that his initial irritation was just a cover for fear in the face of uncertainty. He just needed some reassurance that it would be ok.
In the wealth management space, fear is a sentiment we encounter often. Uncertainty begets anxiety, which leads to paralysis that, if left unattended, leads to regret. So many of us yearn to live meaningful lives and to have an impact with the resources we’ve worked so hard to accumulate. However, in the face of so much turmoil beyond our control, we often feel stuck in the “what-ifs.”
But life is too short to be wasted on “what if” paralysis. It’s possible to answer many of those questions and ultimately permit yourself to have a purposeful impact with your wealth – not just after you’re gone, but now. And we believe all of that starts with having a cohesive picture. So often, we view our finances in compartmentalized chunks. There’s a box for our taxes, investments, estate plans, and day-to-day finances. The problem is that those elements are optimized when they’re executed in concert. Your choices concerning your estate affect your taxes, which affect how you should invest. For instance, in 2026, an expansion of the lifetime estate and gift tax exemption will sunset, altering how estates greater than $6 million for individuals, and greater than $11.18 million for couples, will be taxed. Thankfully, with proper planning, there are opportunities for maximizing that provision now that can significantly impact your ability to optimize your estate.
At Sherwood Financial Partners, we specialize in bringing all the pieces of your financial story together to create a coordinated picture that allows you to make the most of what we call your living legacy. We offer boutique, family-office style, tailored solutions that combine your tax situation, estate wishes, and day-to-day financial needs with your goals, intentions, and passions to create a vision for your legacy that you can freely enjoy now. If you’d like to discuss your legacy and learn more about how we can help, we invite you to make an appointment with us – we’d be delighted to host you in our newly remodeled office or
meet virtually.
Adams, Hayden. “The Estate Tax and Lifetime Gifting.” Schwab Brokerage, March 14, 2022. https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/estate-tax-and-lifetime-gifting.
Woetzel, Jonathan, Jan Mischke, Anu Madgavkar, Eckart Windhagen, Sven Smit, Michael Birshan, Szabolcs Kemeny, and Rebecca J. Anderson. “The Rise and Rise of the Global Balance Sheet: How Productively Are We Using Our Wealth?” McKinsey & Company. McKinsey & Company, November 15, 2021. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-rise-and-rise-of-the-global-balance-sheet-how-productively-are-we-using-our-wealth.
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