Areas of Financial Planning
Cash Flow - Tax Planning - Investment - Insurance - Financial Planning Process
See An Example Of How Financial Planning Operates at Financial Life Advisors
Cash Flow
Identify current and future goals. Assist with the budgeting process needed to meet current and future goals.
One of the biggest questions we hear is, “Do I have enough money to retire?” We help clients identify their goals before, during, and after retirement. After identifying what people want, we can design a plan of saving, spending, and giving which seeks to meet those goals.
Cash flow is the where the rubber meets the road in personal finance. Financial Life Advisors will assist you with budgeting for current expenses as well as for future goals. A cash flow analysis will include a current accounting of where your dollars are going and a personal balance sheet showing your assets, liabilities, and net worth.
The one thing we can tell you with absolute certainty is that things will change over time. That is why we build relationships with our clients— so as life changes, we are here to help you adjust to those changes through ongoing financial planning.
Tax Planning
Income and Estate Tax planning, review of wills, powers of attorney, charitable giving, trusts, FLP’s, ILIT’s
Most financial planners do not have a strong background in tax planning. Typically, financial planners come from investment and insurance backgrounds. The complex interactions of income and estate taxes often are unrecognized or ignored by financial planners.
Jim Oliver is a principal of and owner of Jim Oliver and Associates, a CPA firm practicing in south Texas for over 25 years. Comprehensive tax planning at Financial Life Advisors is a rare and unique quality in financial planning. Jim Oliver and Associates specializes in the areas of tax planning and tax preparation for small businesses, retirement plans, trusts, and personal estate planning.
Whether you are a small business owner with complex business structures and arrangements, or simply need help with a tax efficient withdrawal strategy for your various retirement accounts, Financial Life Advisors desires to provide you with the best possible tax planning.
Investments
Mutual Funds, Stocks, Bonds, CD’s, Annuities, Options, Pensions, 401(k), 403(b), College Savings Limited Partnerships, and more.
Financial Life Advisors takes an individualized approach to investments. We want to understand your current situation before we recommend anything. This is accomplished by first establishing your risk tolerance. Once we know how you feel about investments and your experience with them, it helps us build an investment approach that you are comfortable with and one which fits your individual needs.
After establishing your risk tolerance, we evaluate your current portfolio for diversification, risk , and expenses. If your current portfolio doesn’t line up with your risk tolerance and investment time-horizon, we will recommend a portfolio asset allocation tailored to your situation. As you might have noticed, we have not even discussed “product”. This is because we want to find the “product” which is best for your situation, after we know what your situation is!
When selecting the “product,” we generally take one of two approaches, and the approach completely depends on the preference of our clients:
Passive Management
We will not try to beat the market but will simply buy the market through index mutual funds and ETF’s. This provides the following advantages:
• Low Expenses
Index funds do not pay a money manager and team of Wall Street analysts,
so expenses are a fraction of what active money managers charge.
• Capital Gains Exposure
Index funds do not actively trade and therefore almost eliminate the annual capital gains
from active money management.
• No Style Drift
Index funds do not try to pick the next big sector, so you get the allocations you purchase.
Active Management
We will seek to find the best money managers for each asset class (large cap, international, bonds, etc) based upon the following criteria among others:
• Manager Tenure
How long has this fund been managed by the same person?
• 3yr, 5yr, & 10yr Track Records
Not only the actual return but risk they took to do it.
• Expense Ratio
How much does this manager charge? The higher it is, the harder it is
to beat the market after expenses.
Insurance
Risk management and asset protection through insurance (life, health, liability, property, etc.) and through structured planning.
Many insurance agents would have you believe insurance is an investment and that “you can never have too much insurance.” Financial Life Advisors believes that insurance is fundamentally a risk management tool. Our goal is make sure our clients are adequately covered for the big “just in case” situations that we all hope never come, but we want to minimize the cost of providing this vital coverage. Through our experience and background in the insurance industry, we can help you pick what coverage is necessary and which policies are appropriate for your situation.
Asset protection is not just about having proper insurance in place but also structuring your portfolio and personal assets in a manner which can protect it from creditors and legal action. Seemingly small decisions on how to structure these vehicles may become one of the most important parts of financial plan.
Financial Life Advisors provides advice to our clients on all areas of insurance. We are not owned or affiliated with any insurance companies, and therefore can give you truly objective advice.
Here are some examples of the types of insurance we assist clients with:
Life and Health Insurance
• Major Medical (HMO, PPO, POS, HDHP/HAS)
• Life Insurance (Term, Whole, Universal Life, ILIT)
• Disability
• Long Term Care
Property & Casualty
• Homeowners
• Automobile
• Liability
• Personal Property
Financial Planning Process
Financial Life Advisors prescribes to the Certified Financial Planner
Board of Standards, Inc. “Standards of Professional Conduct”
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We start with a free consultation to find out what help you need. We will outline what to expect from us as well as what you will need to do. Our fees are always disclosed, up front, before we begin.
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We will ask for lots of information when putting together a plan. If we do not have a complete picture of your situation, our ability to make quality recommendations is severely hampered.
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After collecting information, we will look at all the possible solutions and run computer simulations to test the probability of success.
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Our recommendations are always based upon what we believe to be in your best interest. After sharing the recommendations, we will modify your plan based upon your feedback.
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We only look at specific products for your situation after the need is identified. As an independent firm, Financial Life Advisors will help you find the product that best fits your situation.
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Life constantly changes and so will your financial plan. We build trusted relationships with our clients and will be here on an ongoing basis to assist you with changes as they come.
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This firm is not a CPA firm.
Financial Life Advisors (FLA), a Registered Investment Adviser, and Jim Oliver & Associates, P.C. (JOA) are under common ownership and control. Team Oliver is used to describe collaborative services of both firms. Professional tax services are provided by JOA and investment advisory services are provided by FLA, each under separate agreements.
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Does your portfolio’s risk level match your needs and goals?
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