Cash Flow Management. What To Know and How Can It Help You?

If you ever google financial planning, there is no doubt that you will quickly come across the idea of budgeting. At Creekmur Wealth Advisors we prefer to focus less on budgeting and lean more into cash flow management as a foundation for beginning your financial journey.

Over several decades of working with people from all walks of life we have witnessed first hand that 

How do you make investment decisions? Do you look at data? Or look for an interesting opportunity?  Interestingly, most people don't look at facts when making decisions. They prefer a good story.¹

The biggest and most important decision an individual can make when starting retirement is the age they will decide to take social security. I stand by the fact that this is the most crucial decision you will make in your financial life and will have a huge impact on your financial plan depending on the decision that is made.

The majority of Americans are under informed about the rules surrounding social security and how the benefits program works. And we are not alone. If you have ever called the social security office, you may have realized that the workers may even be ill-informed as well.

A common question I receive as a wealth advisor is, "What investments someone can make to get a big return?"

While Creekmur Wealth Advisors spends a substantial amount of time researching, modeling, and planning investment strategies we do not believe that rate of return is the most important rate to focus on when it comes to investing. We do appreciate seeing a high rate of return and strive to achieve that.

However, the most important rate I would encourage clients to focus on and monitor is their savings rate since it is totally under the investors control and is the largest contributor to your final net worth.

Your savings rate is calculated by taking the total amount of your annual savings and dividing it by your gross or net income. I prefer using gross income as this encourages us to find tax-efficient methods of savings to maximize our savings rate.

Tax season has come and gone, but that does not mean the planning stops! While much of your focus prior to April 18th may have been on making sure you get your tax return submitted properly, the focus can now shift towards some other items that can improve your financial well-being over the course of the rest of the year.

Learn the 3 R's

to help you prepare for market volatility.

It's impossible to predict when the market will drop or how far it will fall. With this in mind, investors should take steps to position their portfolios against potential risk during times of growth.

“Nothing is certain but death and taxes” -Benjamin Franklin.

The more time I spend in the financial services industry, the more I see this quote proving to be very true. 

There are not many certainties in life, but the things we do know for certain, we like to plan for and taxes are one of those certainties. You may have already filed your taxes, but planning for taxes is different matter.  Since it's tax season, there is no better time to review your financial plan to ensure your financial life is operating as efficiently as possible!

Many people in the workforce have a retirement savings vehicle option available through their company benefits program. The most common are the 401(k) or 403(b). These retirement vehicles that allow people to save money in a tax deferred account and receive tax deferred growth throughout the course of their life.

This means that the money going into this account is not taxed at an individual's current income rate, but is deferred until that person decides to remove dollars from the account.

Believe it or not, we are only one month away from the tax filing deadline! With that in mind, we figured it would be beneficial to discuss some last minute 2021 tax planning ideas as well as one that could help you out when it comes time to file 2022 taxes.