Financial Planning

Education Funding

If one of your financial goals is to pay for a child’s education, the earlier you establish a college savings plan, the better. A personalized education funding plan will not only help you save more, it will also give you more time to ride the ups and downs of the financial markets if you choose to invest your savings.

Two of the most common college funding vehicles are 529 Plans and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts, though there are many ways to save for a child’s education.

And although your wish may be to fully fund your child’s education, don’t allow that goal to put your own retirement at risk. It’s much like the instructions you’re given by flight attendants when you travel by air: In case of emergency, put your oxygen mask on first before putting it on your child. If you don’t take care of funding your own retirement, you may end up weighing down your kids with that responsibility later in life. Children have options for funding their education, such as loans and scholarships. Retirees don’t.

Working together on your education funding strategies, we can help you better understand your options to meet all of your financial goals.

Estate Planning

Most people associate the phrase "estate planning" with having a will – a legal document that names your beneficiaries and spells out who gets what when you die. And while the transfer of your assets is an important part of estate planning, a will or a trust is just one aspect of a broader estate planning strategy to ensure your wishes are known, honored and carried out as efficiently as possible when you're no longer able to articulate them.

We work with a team of estate planning experts at Northwestern Mutual. Together, we can help you develop an estate planning strategy that may include the following:

• A strategy to help reduce or eliminate gift/estate taxes for your heirs
• A plan to protect your estate from mismanagement or from claims of creditors or ex-spouses

 

In addition to the expertise our team can offer, you'll want to work with an estate-planning attorney to establish:

• Health care directives and a living will that specify the extent to which you want health care professionals to treat you if you become ill or incapacitated.
• Powers of attorney that grant people you trust the legal authority to act on your behalf in case of sudden accident or illness.
• A will or trust to ensure your assets are transferred according to your wishes. And Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company can serve as trustee, co-trustee or successor trustee in a wide range of situations.
• The naming of a legal guardian for children under the age of 18.

Wealth Management

Our wealth management services go above and beyond what you might expect from a financial services provider. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company offers:

Investment advisory services, designed to:

• Provide high-quality investment services and products.
• Build and monitor diversified portfolios.
• Develop objective, personalized plans.
• Focus on long-term results.

Trust services and partnerships, designed to:

• Provide continuity of stewardship that can last multiple generations.
• Preserve family harmony when carrying out your intentions.
• Carry out detailed record-keeping and accounting.
• Calculate taxes and file returns.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company serves as trustee on Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts. In addition, through our Trust Alliance Program, we partner with nationally-recognized trust administration firms that offer a broad range of services to revocable trusts, charitable trusts, endowments and foundations.

Online access to your account, so you can review:

• Comprehensive monthly statements.
• Performance reporting.
• Account access on a secure website.
• Current account balances on your investment holdings.
• Detailed transaction records on all accounts.

Retirement Planning

Now more than ever, retirement planning is critical. Gone are the days when pensions and Social Security provided all of the income you needed for retirement. The new reality is that you are responsible for managing your own retirement, and that starts with making sure you're strategic in your planning.

We can help. At Northwestern Mutual, our approach to retirement planning is designed to help you get to—and through—retirement with a greater level of financial confidence, so you can relax knowing you have a road map to achieve your goals.

You'll want to start by considering how much to save for retirement and where to save it. By accumulating as much as you can as soon as you can, you can put time on your side—time to plan, time to weather the ups and downs of the market and time to let your money grow.

And then, as you zero in on retirement, you'll need a different set of strategies to manage risk and make your money last through retirement.

Fee-Based Financial Planning

When you want a financial plan built with your goals and interests put above all else, it’s a good time to engage one of our fee-based financial advisors.

We’ll be transparent about what our planning services will, and will not include, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting upfront. And when it comes to the cost of our services, we’ll let you know upfront about that, too.

Under this fee structure, your advisor will act as a fiduciary, so they have a legal and moral responsibility to place your interests first. They’ll work with you to understand your unique circumstances and provide expert guidance in the creation of your personalized financial plan.

If it makes sense for you, your advisor’s role can go beyond planning to help you find the best insurance products, brokerage, advisory and/or private client platform solutions to put your plan into action.

Making smart decisions about your wealth, whether you want to grow it, protect it or both, starts with a broader perspective and sound thinking. Here’s our unique way of thinking when it comes to helping you make important financial decisions.

Reach your new level of financial confidence

We approach financial planning differently. Not only can we help you grow your money, but also help protect everything you’ve worked so hard for—so your finances can take you further.

The planning process consists of four quadrants or phases, each one representing one planning cycle: Discovery, Creative Solutions, Strategy Deployment, and Results Management.

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