Consulting with a Financial Advisor Can Lead to Big Financial Moves
Oftentimes, Young Professionals come to us after they’ve started their first career job, accrued assets through their employer retirement plans or other investments, or have just started a new chapter of their lives such as getting married or having a child. These Young Professionals so often need advice and assistance with how to start and build on their financial journey. Take for example, a client who recently met with us, thinking she had very little cash flow despite having considerable assets in employee stock. Through our guidance on tax and investment planning, she found that she had more options available to her than she realized.
Meeting with an Advisor Can Set You Up for the Future
While meeting with a Storen Financial advisor to discuss investment and tax strategy, a Young Professional in her thirties expressed that her cash flow felt majorly restricted, despite having over $500,000 in assets with a highly successful company. Thinking that she did not have access to these assets, she had been living sparsely due to high rent, other bills, and consistent contributions to her retirement plan. She often felt she did not have enough money leftover to live the life she desired.
Turns out, there was a lot this client did not yet understand about her stocks and the options available to her. For instance, she didn’t understand whether her stocks were vested, i.e. if she would be given non-forfeitable ownership of the assets after a certain period of time working at the company. In this case, the stocks were vested, and she’d been working at the company for long enough that she had access to them now. Plus, what her employer contributed had tripled in value, leading to the sizable $500,000 in total stocks. After discussing with our team, she learned that money was hers to sell or keep. Her problem wasn’t not having money; it was not understanding her money.
To improve her cash flow, our advisor helped liquidate some of the stocks, which freed up cash the client used to buy her first home. With this move, she can pay the same amount or less on a house payment as she would have on rent, but now she’s able to build equity on the house. In other words, that money is a long-term investment that goes toward her future. Our advisor also helped her navigate rules with capital gains from the stock sales, and she was pleased to find out the capital gains are taxed at 15%, not at the higher rate of ordinary income that she had expected. Moreover, with the advice from our Financial Advisory team, the client was able to utilize her assets to her advantage and make financial decisions that will not only impact her in the now but can set her up for success in the future.
Our Storen Tip: Stay Engaged with Your Advisor
It’s so important to highlight that this particular client was successful because she remains engaged and devoted to her financial plan. When meeting with our team, she expressed not only an interest in learning more, but she completed the action items we gave her that can help her achieve her goals.
Your financial journey can only be as successful as the work you put into it. As advisors, our passion is helping you find ways to grow, update, and improve your financial plan so that you can strive toward building security and wealth. That’s why we emphasize advisory relationships as valuable partnerships, where we provide the action steps you can take to be successful, and you work with us to adjust and complete these based on your specific goals.
Interested in learning more about how to establish a foundation and build wealth as a young professional? Check out our Young Professionals Program. (Click here to read more.)
Have questions? Or interested in meeting with our Storen Advisory team? Click here to contact us now. Or click here to learn more about our Financial Planning Investment Services.
Blog by Joseph Cavazos – Financial Assistant
Learn more about Joseph and the rest of the Storen Financial team here.
This is a hypothetical situation based on real life examples. Names and circumstances have been changed. To determine which investments or strategies may be appropriate for you, consult your advisor prior to investing. There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.