Integrated Planning

Integration is a commonly-used term these days. However, in reality most families have very little coordination among their financial components and their professional advisors, often resulting in an unconnected mix of investments, strategies and services that may not meet the family’s objectives.

Just like a successful business brings together various disciplines to work cooperatively (such as sales and marketing, accounting, finance, operations, legal, etc.), families of substantial wealth must also take a coordinated approach to their affairs to ensure the best results.

Goal Setting

The first and most important step in the management of your financial life is determining and quantifying your goals and objectives. We’ll help you do that. You’ll have a solid foundation and a clear decision-making framework that acts as a litmus test for all other decisions going forward.

Financial Planning

We work with you and your other key advisors to identify priority issues, map out a game plan and develop solutions together to meet your objectives. We prepare cash flow forecasts, match expected spending with available resources, and integrate tax planning, estate planning, investments, and philanthropy. This approach allows us to see the big picture and manage all aspects of your net worth.

Investment Management

Based on your objectives, we help you determine investment goals, investment policy, and an appropriate asset mix. We then build unique, open-architecture portfolios designed to meet those goals, focusing on the long-term, downside protection and after-tax returns delivered by best-in-class investment managers.

Tax Planning

We work closely with your accounting and tax advisors to determine the most tax-effective strategy and structures for your financial wealth and ensure that all the other components of your financial affairs are managed in a consistent manner.

Estate and Succession Planning

We help you determine how much of your wealth will be required for your lifetime spending goals, and how much you want to pass on to others. We also work with you and your other advisors to decide the best strategies and structures to ensure a smooth succession to heirs and charities.

Philanthropic Planning

For families who are philanthropically inclined, we help you determine how much you can give, where you want to focus, what the most effective vehicles are, and when is the best time to give, and then develop a strategy and implementation plan to ensure it happens.

Risk Management

There are many risks facing families of wealth including loss of capital, poor decisions, conflicted advisors, family discord, reputation risk, and cybercrime. Our plan takes all of them into account and helps families chart the safest course possible.

Management and Monitoring

Markets change, the economy changes, family situations and preferences change. So every plan has to be flexible, adaptable, and be reviewed on a regular basis, without losing track of the core principles. We report on all of the relevant metrics, track progress on the accomplishment of goals and make adjustments as needed.

Our Approach

We take integration seriously. We identify priority issues, map out a game plan and develop solutions together to meet our client's family objectives. Northwood’s breadth and depth of experience in all key financial disciplines makes us uniquely positioned to pull all the pieces of the puzzle together and get results.

We typically work with our clients’ existing accountants and lawyers, especially where a trusted relationship has existed for years. If our clients don’t have a trusted advisor in a particular discipline, we will introduce them to professionals from our network of specialists, who we believe can best meet their needs.

Services

Integrated Planning

Our Approach

Interested in Learning More?

The Northwood Perspective

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Services

Integrated Planning

Our Approach

Related Links

Interested in Learning More?

The Northwood Perspective

Post-Election Reflections: Why Discipline Matters More Than Overreaction

Chairman's Message: What I Value as a Northwood Client

Northwood Staff Profile: Olivia Waszkiewicz

Northwood Around The World: Greece

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