The Ultimate Guide to Wealth Management in Ontario, California
Many people find that managing their wealth becomes complicated once they’ve reached a certain affluence level. They face many moving pieces, and the decisions they make in one area of their finances can affect multiple other areas. Financial planning takes time—which they often don’t have since they’re busy taking care of their families and careers.
If this strikes a chord with you, you may wonder whether professional wealth management is the solution. This article can help you decide whether wealth management is for you and how to locate a wealth manager in your hometown of Ontario, CA.
What Areas Does Wealth Management Address?
Your wealth manager (they may also be called a financial advisor or financial planner) should look at all areas of your finances. Areas can include:
Cash flow: The advisor creates a cash flow plan to help you balance today’s spending with tomorrow’s goals.
Retirement income planning: You receive guidance on the retirement accounts to invest into and how much to contribute to help provide the retirement income you need.
Taxes: Strategies such as tax-loss harvesting and Roth conversions can be implemented to help minimize your current and lifetime tax burden.
Investment management: Your portfolio is constructed according to a personalized investment strategy to help achieve your goals. Your advisor provides ongoing management of your portfolio.
Company benefits: You receive advice on optimizing benefits such as stock options without falling into common tax traps.
Insurance analysis and advice: Fee-only firms like ours do not sell insurance. However, we review your current policies and offer guidance on where you need more or less coverage.
Estate and legacy goals: Strategies are implemented to pass on your estate to future generations and minimize the taxes paid.
Philanthropy and gifting: If your goals include philanthropy, your advisor helps set up tax-efficient strategies to achieve your aims.
Your financial advisor should have the education and experience to pull all these areas together into a comprehensive whole, with each strategy supporting your current and future goals.
How to Find Wealth Management in Ontario, California
You can start by asking for referrals from people you trust, such as your colleagues or CPA. You can also search Google for advisors who have offices in Ontario or will meet you virtually.
Finally, you can take advantage of professional search sites. For example, the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) is a professional organization for financial advisors working in a strict fee-only, fiduciary capacity, meaning they don’t accept commissions and must put clients’ best interests first. You can use the NAPFA Find an Advisor search tool to locate fee-only, fiduciary wealth management firms in Ontario.
Once you have a potential list of firms, review their websites to ensure they offer the services you need. For example, our NAPFA-registered firm helps clients in Ontario retire with confidence. We welcome the opportunity to talk with you if you seek to turn your retirement savings into retirement income. We provide wealth management services such as the ones above as part of a client’s personalized financial plan.
While you review a potential advisor’s website, be on the lookout for specific keywords. As mentioned, “fiduciary” and “fee-only” help ensure the advisor is putting you, not a commission, first. If the firm is a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), it must serve as your fiduciary. Finally, the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) certification means an advisor has attained education and experience to provide comprehensive financial planning services based on a client’s goals.
You can also download the firm’s Form ADV or Form CRS for critical information, such as disciplinary history and how the firm addresses conflicts of interest.
Once you have a shortlist of advisors, schedule a complimentary call to see whether they’re a good fit. You’ll discuss the concerns and goals prompting you to reach out to a financial planner, and the advisor will share how they may help you. You can then decide whether to move forward.
About RPA Wealth Management
We invite you to schedule a call with one of our advisors. We are a fee-only, fiduciary RIA offering wealth management services to help people leverage their resources for a comfortable retirement. You can meet our wealth management team at our Ontario location, online, or at one of our other meeting locations: Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Los Angeles, Irvine, or Pasadena. Schedule a call today.
This material was prepared by Kaleido Inc. from information derived from sources believed to be accurate. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice.