Retirement Wealth Advisors
MAY/JUNE 2016
| TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 67
is to realize legal documents cost
money, and a packaged offer with legal
documentation included (based on the
purchase of a product) should be a giant
red flag.
Step 4: Beware of online
“resources.”
Information online should be
viewed with a very skeptical eye.
Today it is not uncommon for
retirees to jump online to do “research.”
The critical question is, are you getting
information from a credible source?
This can be very difficult to decipher
online. Information overload is another
problem. If you enter the keyword
“revocable trust” on Google, you’ll
come up with about 962,000 articles,
websites and “resources” to look at.
Yes, you need to do research, but on
the right thing: finding the right help.
Focus your due diligence on finding
the right planning team to assist you
(as we discussed in step one).
Step 5: Demand Proof
There’s nothing worse than getting
sold a bad idea. Slick talk can be very
persuasive, but it may prove to be
financially disastrous. When seeking
professional advice, we recommend
that you assess just how accomplished
your potential advice-giver really
is. How that person answers the
following questions should give you
a good idea of their qualifications and
passion for their work.
What services are actually
being provided, and by whom?
The Holland Group Retirement Wealth
Advisors is a full-service financial firm
that offers many different strategies
to help increase income and reduce
portfolio risk. But there’s much more
to us than that: every year we prepare
hundreds of tax returns, even state
income tax returns for our “snow
bird” clients. But in addition to tax
preparation we give tax reduction and
tax planning advice. Some of our tax
reduction strategies include: reducing
or illuminating social security taxation,
reduction of possible estate taxation,
reducing “ticking tax bombs” such
as 401-Ks, IRAs and other qualified
and non-qualified investments and
creating or increasing tax-free income
during retirement. We find that most
investors have separate advisors for
investments and separate advisors for
tax preparation. If this is the case, ask
yourself the following questions:
• Does my financial advisor personally
know and work with my tax
preparer?
• Is my tax preparer aware of
investment opportunities that may
be beneficial to me because of my tax
structure?
• Do I have any income tax and
financial strategies working for me?
• Is the right hand talking to the left?
What about my estate
documents? How often are
they reviewed?
A classic mistake in retirement
planning is not hiring the right type
of estate planning attorney for the
job, and not reviewing the documents
for possible updates every few years.
Unfortunately, we have witnessed
far too many of these estate planning
disasters, all of which could have been
prevented by having an experienced
estate planning attorney on your team.
Ask us about our estate planning
process, and how we can prevent
future costly estate planning mistakes.
ALL of these services are here under
one roof – and have been for over
twenty years.
Which professionals refer
business to you?
It’s common to ask for references, but
I believe this is a loaded proposition.
It wouldn’t be too hard to find three
or four people who like an advisor or
lawyer and would give them a good
reference.
Our question is much different. A
number of healthcare facilities refer to
us because they know we help their
patients pay for care and help their
families. That certainly means more
than just having a friend or client say
nice things about us. The professional
referral source has zero incentive to
give false praise. To them it’s all about
how well we get the job done. This
is a much more credible source of
information to assess just how good
an advisor or lawyer is at their craft.
Again, truly effective planning advice
comes from well-organized teams of
professionals, which is logical since no
one person can be good at all things.
Step 6: Be smart and trust
your feelings.
Much is revealed when you
meet face to face. See how
you feel. We believe that
every person who walks through our
doors needs to be treated as if they are
a member of our own family. We invite
you to come meet us and see if you
feel comfortable and more confident
about your future. There’s no cost or
obligation to become a client after our
Comprehensive Analysis Research &
Evaluation (CARE). * This material has been prepared for
informational and educational purposes only. It
is not intended to provide, and should not be
relied upon for, accounting, legal or tax advice.
Please consult with a professional specializing
in these areas regarding the applicability of this
information to your situation.
Investment Advisory Services offered through
Mutual Trust Asset Management
Your Financial Architects
www.THEHOLLANDGRP.COM
727.724.3334
2637 McCormick Drive #101
Clearwater, FL 33759
WEALTH MANAGEMENT