By Michael Donahoe
How do you feel about managing your investments? If you’re the kind of person that can make it through years of schooling and sleepless nights to become a physician, you likely have already started saving for retirement. You are responsible and conscientious and know that you won’t be able to work forever. So, you invest.
By now, you probably have multiple investment accounts from various employers, IRAs, or just brokerage accounts that you opened on your own. You have done the hard part of saving and investing already, but how are you doing managing those accounts?
We find that investment management is an area that trips up most physicians. You have done the hard work of building a successful career and setting money aside, but you just don’t have the time, energy, or interest to become well versed in investments and manage them strategically. We understand, which is why we at Harvest Asset Group are here to help.
Organize
Every day, we help physicians like you manage their investments. The first step is organization. If you are like most physicians without a financial advisor, you have investments in multiple accounts with no coordination between them. Our account organization approach is a key tool to help actively manage your investment risk and taxation once you retire.
Strategize
Once we organize your current investments, we take a step back and look at the big picture. What are your goals? What are your priorities? How comfortable are you with risk? The answers to these questions help us to develop a personalized investment strategy for you. It doesn’t stop there, though. Having a well-thought-out strategy only counts if you actually implement the strategy, which is what we will do for you. We have a disciplined investment management process that will keep your assets aligned with your personal strategy and we will oversee it all for you.
Consolidate
After we develop your strategy, we will compare it to your current investments. Do your current investments align with your goals or are adjustments necessary? Unless you had an overarching strategic plan as you opened your initial accounts, we will likely want to make some changes. It is important to be careful about how changes are made, as there are a lot of moving parts and potential tax consequences. Accordingly, we will propose steps to consolidate your current assets into a strategic account and asset organization.
Manage Taxation
Taxes play a major role in investment decisions. How you go about making changes to your accounts or even the types of accounts you choose to use can make a big difference in the amount of taxes you will pay over your lifetime. If necessary, we will offer a tax transition strategy to efficiently move assets from your current allocation to one in better alignment with your overall investment strategy. In all of our decisions, we will also keep in mind the tax consequences associated with asset withdrawals for retirement income.
Do You Need Help?
As you can see, a wisely strategic investment process involves a whole lot more than just throwing some money into an account and watching it grow. Investments are complicated, especially if you want to minimize taxes and maximize your potential to reach your goals.
If you don’t want to have to figure it all out, that’s okay. We can help. Just like you spent years becoming an expert in the human body, we have spent years becoming experts in investments and finances. Together, we can align your investments with your goals so that you can live the life you have always wanted. To learn more about how we can help you manage your investments, call us at (207) 775-1151 or email us at info@harvestassetgroup.com. If you aren’t quite ready to talk, you can still access our best financial insights and tips by signing up for our valued-packed newsletter.
About Michael
Michael Donahoe is the founder and principal of Harvest Asset Group, LLC, an independent, fee-only financial planning and investment management advisory firm in Portland, Maine. Michael enjoyed a successful corporate career in marketing and sales before transitioning to the financial planning profession, founding his firm in 2012, where he now leads the client services team and serves as the firm’s chief compliance officer. Michael earned his MBA degree from George Washington University and completed his educational requirements to earn the CFP® mark of distinction at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Fee-Only and NAPFA registered financial advisor, a designation which followed the completion of rigorous continuing education requirements. Michael has lived in the Portland area since relocating from San Francisco in 1995 to be closer to family. He is active in community affairs and spends his non-working time enjoying the natural beauty of Maine.
