Wealth management has a way of confusing people. Not only is the term vague, but it also encompasses a wide array of financial services, enough that you would be forgiven for swapping the wrong one or eliminating it altogether. While common, though, it won’t save you from a drop in your portfolio’s value. Skip West, President of West Financial Group, talks more about how to go about wealth management for better results.
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Know Your Portfolio
When a person edges against a certain amount of wealth, there comes a point where it’s easy to forget what you have, how you got it, or what’s being done with it all. Even the most savvy people are prone to misplacing pockets of money here and there. When it comes to the wealthiest sector, even so-called small investments can end up adding up to a lot of loss if there’s no monitoring being done.
For those trying to accomplish wealth management on their own, this can be done with a more rigorous system, which might include anything from spreadsheets to monthly phone calls with account managers. Sometimes the mere act of asking questions and double-checking the numbers is enough to catch small discrepancies. It’s time-consuming, but the constant attention may be the only thing that stands in the way of a bigger catastrophe down the line.
Get Advice About Your Investments
Skip West notes that estate planning, insurance policies, and taxes: are all a part of your wealth management. In the end, though, they’re largely dependent on the strength of your investments. If they’re not performing as well as they could be, it might be time to seek advice about whether to double down or cut them loose. From the Wall Street Journal to informal blogs, there’s no lag in information out there. The much bigger questions are whether you have time to sort through it all and if you can discern which pieces of information are relevant to your portfolio.
Skip West on Hiring the Right Financial Advisor
When there are endless ways to invest your money, there are endless ways to manage it all. Wealth management can look like a lot of steadfast rules from the outside (and certainly, that’s how some professionals approach it all). However, when you’re actually in the financial world, you’ll start to see just how much nuance there is in terms of how money is allocated and what it’s allocated to.
Skip West says that what all wealthy people need to remember is that value can change on a dime, so it’s more of a necessity than a luxury to have someone who can stay on top of every fluctuating number. To truly do wealth management correctly, it’s often best left in the hands of a specialist. Finding the best financial advisor for your investment style may not always be easy, but your homework will pay off. Whether you have a partner or not right now, if you’re unsatisfied with your wealth management returns, it might be time for a change.