Your Financial Matrix

02/01/18 • 28 min

Your Financial Matrix

Summary:

In today’s 7th episode of the Confident Wealth Podcast, Bill Bush and Pete Bush from the Horizon Financial Group of Baton Rouge, Louisiana discuss the value in utilizing an internally developed tool called “Your Financial Matrix.” Learn all about the benefits of the seven categories of this financial planning strategic device which are: Cash Flow an Budget, Investment Planning, Retirement Planning, Income Tax Planning, Risk Management and Insurance, Estate Planning and Charitable Giving, and Assistance to Others. Bill and Pete will get you up to speed on the importance of customizing your wealth-building methods to your particular lifestyle.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:56 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush start the discussion on the multiple components of building wealth.
02:26 – “Your Financial Matrix,” developed by Peter Bush, spells out financial situations the Horizon Financial Group can assist with.
03:15 – The 7 Categories of “Your Financial Matrix”: Cash Flow and Budget, Investment Planning, Retirement Planning, Income Tax Planning, Risk Management and Insurance, Estate Planning and Charitable Giving, and Assistance to Others.
03:31 – 1.) Cash Flow and Budget: a foundational part of a person’s financial plan because it is out of discretionary cash flow that they can save, buy insurance, and help other people.
06:22 – Sometime during 2000 Horizon Financial Group shifted to the holistic planning model and fee-based planning.
08:32 – 2.) Investment Planning: major factors that effect this include: risk tolerance, time, volatility, taxable vs. tax-deferred, and asset allocation.
11:25 – 3.) Retirement Planning: factors to consider include: business exit strategy, social security, Medicare, and withdrawal strategies.
14:36 – 4.) Income Tax Planning: make sure that you are maximizing deductions. Look at your tax return from a financial planning standpoint instead of a tax standpoint.
17:54 – 5.) Risk Management and Insurance: you are guarding yourself against catastrophic potential risk. Look for old policies that are not needed, too expensive, or outdated.
20:40 – 6.) Estate Planning and Charitable Giving: trusts, setting up powers of attorney, estate taxes, giving to your favorite charities, and wills fall under this category.
23:17 – 7.) Assistance for Others: this category can apply to preparing for your kids to go to college, or assisted living facilities for your elderly parents when they can no longer take care of themselves.
28:08 – The closing credits

3 Key Points:

Key factors that have an effect on investment planning include: risk tolerance, time, volatility, taxable vs. tax-deferred, and asset allocation.
Factors to consider with retirement planning include: business exit strategy, social security, Medicare, and withdrawal strategies.
With charitable giving and estate planning, you are dealing with trusts, setting up the proper powers of attorney, estate taxes, giving to your favorite charities, and setting up your will.

Tweetable Quotes:

“Cash flow and budgeting, very, very foundational to someone’s financial picture.” – Pete Bush.

“For the most part, everybody’s accumulating wealth in the value of their homes and their 401K plans.” – Pete Bush.

“There’s a lot of different components to your money and financial life, more so than just your retirement or your investment portfolio.” – Pete Bush.

Resources Mentioned:

Horizon Financial Group – website for Horizon Financial Group
Confident Advisor Practice – podcast for Confident Advisor Practice

Your Financial Matrix

Summary:

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:56 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush start the discussion on the multiple components of building wealth.
02:26 – “Your Financial Matrix,” developed by Peter Bush, spells out financial situations the Horizon Financial Group can assist with.
03:15 – The 7 Categories of “Your Financial Matrix”: Cash Flow and Budget, Investment Planning, Retirement Planning, Income Tax Planning, Risk Management and Insurance, Estate Planning and Charitable Giving, and Assistance to Others.
03:31 – 1.) Cash Flow and Budget: a foundational part of a person’s financial plan because it is out of discretionary cash flow that they can save, buy insurance, and help other people.
06:22 – Sometime during 2000 Horizon Financial Group shifted to the holistic planning model and fee-based planning.
08:32 – 2.) Investment Planning: major factors that effect this include: risk tolerance, time, volatility, taxable vs. tax-deferred, and asset allocation.
11:25 – 3.) Retirement Planning: factors to consider include: business exit strategy, social security, Medicare, and withdrawal strategies.
14:36 – 4.) Income Tax Planning: make sure that you are maximizing deductions. Look at your tax return from a financial planning standpoint instead of a tax standpoint.
17:54 – 5.) Risk Management and Insurance: you are guarding yourself against catastrophic potential risk. Look for old policies that are not needed, too expensive, or outdated.
20:40 – 6.) Estate Planning and Charitable Giving: trusts, setting up powers of attorney, estate taxes, giving to your favorite charities, and wills fall under this category.
23:17 – 7.) Assistance for Others: this category can apply to preparing for your kids to go to college, or assisted living facilities for your elderly parents when they can no longer take care of themselves.
28:08 – The closing credits

3 Key Points:

Key factors that have an effect on investment planning include: risk tolerance, time, volatility, taxable vs. tax-deferred, and asset allocation.
Factors to consider with retirement planning include: business exit strategy, social security, Medicare, and withdrawal strategies.
With charitable giving and estate planning, you are dealing with trusts, setting up the proper powers of attorney, estate taxes, giving to your favorite charities, and setting up your will.

Tweetable Quotes:

“Cash flow and budgeting, very, very foundational to someone’s financial picture.” – Pete Bush.

“For the most part, everybody’s accumulating wealth in the value of their homes and their 401K plans.” – Pete Bush.

“There’s a lot of different components to your money and financial life, more so than just your retirement or your investment portfolio.” – Pete Bush.

Resources Mentioned:

Horizon Financial Group – website for Horizon Financial Group
Confident Advisor Practice – podcast for Confident Advisor Practice

Previous Episode

The Confident Wealth Experience

The Confident Wealth Experience

Summary:

The hosts of The Confident Wealth podcast Bill Bush and Peter Bush spend this episode explaining each of the six steps that make up the financial planning system Peter developed for the Horizon Financial Group called “The Confident Wealth Experience.” You will learn all the important steps that include: “The Discovery Conversation,” “Your Confident Wealth Strategies,” “Your Confident Wealth Action Plan,” “The AdvisorLink Advantage,” “The Confident Wealth Monitor,” and “The Confident Care System.” Learn the valuable reasons why many Horizon Financial Group clients have benefitted from “The Confident Wealth Experience” to plan for a more financially sound tomorrow.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:35 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the episode’s topic of financial planning.
01:32 – The importance for planning to let your money outlive you to leave legacies.
02:28 – The mindset for leading by planning for retirement savings.
03:50 – The kind of technological tools that Pete Bush used pre-internet and post-internet
04:58 – The Confident Wealth Experience system, once called The Financial Coordinator Solution that Pete Bush created and has been using for over 10 years.
06:40 – Step 1: “The Discovery Conversation,” of The Confident Wealth Experience takes place. Where have you been financially, and where you do you want to go?
09:56 – Step 2: “Your Confident Wealth Strategies”: after gathering the client’s financial data, the feedback and analysis that lead to discoveries to create your roadmap to success.
11:48 – Step 3: “Your Confident Wealth Action Plan”: where specific, recommended, customized steps take place to put into action to gain results.
13:45 – Step 4” “The AdvisorLink Advantage”: gathering experts to support your focused plan of action.
16:37 – Step 5: “The Confident Wealth Monitor”: the method of checking in on the progress of our plan to keep your hands on the wheel to keep driving straight towards your goals and to keep your confidence.
18:27 – Step 6: “The Confident Care System”: assistance for navigating an changing future.
20:43 – Pete shares some unique stories of people that have completed “The Confident Wealth Experience.”
23:43 – Final Thoughts: having a plan will help your money outlive you.

3 Key Points:

Either your money is going to outlive you or you are going to outlive your money.
Steps 1-3 of “The Confident Wealth Experience” make up your strategies to identify your financial goals and translate them into action steps.
Steps 4-6 of “The Confident Wealth Experience” form the way you gather your support system to keep your financial goals on track.

Tweetable Quotes:

“There’s two main outcomes you can have in your life. And one is you outlive your money, and the other one is your money outlives you.” – Pete Bush

“The outcome of planning is confidence.” – Pete Bush

“Financial planning tends to get emotional, because you start to deal with people, and dreams, and goals.” – Pete Bush

Resources Mentioned:

Confident Wealth – Website for Confident Wealth
The Confident Wealth Experience – Horizon Financial Group’s planning system

Next Episode

The Real Deal About Retirement Plans

The Real Deal About Retirement Plans

With Melissa Terito, CPA

Summary:

In the 8th episode of the Confident Wealth Podcast, Bill Bush and Pete Bush talk with Melissa Terito, a partner and CPA at the accounting and business advisement firm Faulk & Winkler. She oversees their third party administrative practice (TPA) – branded as Sentinel Pension & Payroll. They share valuable information about the benefits that business owners have in setting up retirement plans for their employees. They also dispel a few misconceptions and assumptions that have been applied to retirement plans as well.

Time Stamped Show Notes:

00:35 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce Melissa Terito and she shares her professional life.
01:33 – Businesses establish retirements plans because their employees are asking for this service and it makes for a great tax deduction.
03:15 – Melissa will run a contribution projection so that the business owner can see how much their new retirement plan will cost them and save them.
03:31 – Faulk & Winkler offers multiple retirement plans that include medical groups and a 2000-particpant union plan.
04:20 – Melissa does consulting on simple IRAs,
05:00 – Advantages to the employee for participating in retirement plans: it is easy, it is tax deductible, it grows tax deferred, and it gives them a knowledgeable advisor.
07:44 – The profit sharing contribution doesn’t need to be funded until the company files their tax return.
09:16 – The new plan tax credit can offset some start-up costs.
10:18 – The biggest problems that Melissa sees includes people not following the retirement plan document and assuming that part-time employees can’t participate in a 401K plan.
12:37 – Faulk & Winkler educates their customers on an ongoing basis.
13:12 – Full-time employees that drop down to part-time employees can’t be kicked out of their retirement plan.
13:57 – Options that clients need to make decisions on include: eligibility and do you want to be a safe-harbor plan.
16:44 – Trends that Melissa sees in terms of changing plans is making it possible to do during every pay roll period.
18:04 – Steps that a plan sponsor can make in giving themselves confidence that the plan is running smoothly for them: check that they have a fiduciary folder, discussion with an advisor, and 401K vs. Roth IRA.
20:50 – The closing credits

3 Key Points:

Retirement plans offer advantages to employees such as being easy to set up, being tax deductible, growing tax deferred, and providing knowledgeable advisement.
The profit sharing contribution is one of the few accrued deductions that a company can take on their tax return.
Full-time employees that become part-time employees can’t be pushed out of their retirement plan.

Tweetable Quotes:

“Expensive is relative...there are fees with setting up anything.” – Melissa Terito.

“If your business gets audited, there is a chance that they are going to take a look at the simple IRA at some point.” – Melissa Terito

“A lot of people don’t think that part-time employees can participate in a 401K plan.” – Melissa Terito.

Resources Mentioned: