I emphasize to our clients that investment is simply one of many things they need to think about as a part of their overall financial planning as a high-net-worth individual (HNWI).
According to a broad definition, an HNWI is someone having liquid assets of at least $1 million. Notably, the United States has the highest concentration of HNWIs worldwide.
Long-term investing and diversification
Everyone has heard anecdotal tales of how just one investment led to a lucky break that generated a lot of money quickly. Buying Nvidia stock after it was reduced in half last year and watching it soar in recent weeks is a very modern example. Concentration can result in significant investment returns, but it also has drawbacks.
You may be able to prioritize your investment dollars if you’re just starting out on your road of saving and investing. This can entail creating a business or making selective investments.
The idea is that if there is a setback or big loss, you will have time to make it up and that it would be with money that wouldn’t permanently compromise your well-being.
Many HNWIs have reached a point in their financial lives where taking a significant step back would cause relatively significant monetary losses that would require a very long time to recover. For illustration, suppose a person has $1 million saved for retirement and loses 50% of it. That is a sizable sum to strive to earn and save again—$500,000.
If a person starting their financial adventure and career invests $10,000 and experiences a 50% loss, their opportunity to make back $5,000 is greatly diminished over a working career be doable.
To assist avoid this kind of outcome, HNWIs should think about being widely diversified and having a wide variety of investments in their portfolio.
Tax management
HNWIs must make sure their advisory team includes a tax expert. This is a person that can assist with tax return preparation, offer advice, and create plans to ensure you are maximizing your tax-code potential. Even if someone may be regarded as HNWI, that doesn’t mean their tax return is necessarily complicated. People who are on the route to becoming HNWIs frequently file tax returns that are substantially more complicated than those of people who have financial assets and get Social Security.
How one handles a taxable portfolio is another consideration in this situation. It’s quite important to pay attention to your tax status and how different investing methods affect you from year to year.
Insurance and risk management
Having the appropriate insurance for different circumstances is a crucial factor. Preventing your portfolio from needing to pay for costs that can be adequately covered is crucial if you’re an HNWI.
Auto, house, and umbrella insurance are the three most popular types. Making sure real hazards are covered at the appropriate amount is the key concern here. Let’s imagine you don’t have enough insurance and your house gets damaged beyond what your policy would pay for. When this could have been avoided by increasing your insurance coverage to the necessary level, you might need to draw from your portfolio to make up the difference.
Health insurance is crucial, and if you want to enroll in Medicare when you reach 65, you should consider whether you should keep your current level of coverage. Medical costs typically increase as you get older, and if you don’t have adequate health insurance, this could make it difficult to withdraw money from your investment account.
As you can see, insurance covers a wide range of possibilities, so it’s crucial to routinely examine them to ensure you have the appropriate level and kind of insurance in place.
Estate planning
Since estate planning includes creating preparations in the event that a person dies away or becomes incapacitated, it’s not the most enjoyable subject to discuss. Every person, not just HNWIs, ought to have a plan that depends on their state of residency because this, too, is not a one-size-fits-all situation. For instance, Washington’s probate law differs from California’s.
A consideration in this area is the use of trusts, wills, healthcare directives, and powers of attorney. Many HNWIs use this area to reduce prospective federal estate taxes once they pass away. When someone dies with a specific amount of assets, some governments impose their own degree of taxation.
Making sure you have the appropriate paperwork in place now is crucial so that your family is aware of your desires and that your estate’s disposition is not left up to a court.
Financial planning
Last but not least, creating and maintaining a financial strategy includes everything mentioned above. In the process of financial planning, advisors attempt to forecast future requirements and obligations and match them with available financial resources. It can also be a useful tool for determining how much risk should be accepted in a portfolio in order to try to attain objectives.
It helps to address methods you should think about before you retire if you are still working and planning to retire. People frequently have a target retirement age in mind and want to know what it will take to confidently reach that goal.
Future planning will always involve unknowns and uncontrollable occurrences, but a sound financial strategy can offer a path with the flexibility to make adjustments along the way with confidence.
Concentrating on all five of the aforementioned areas at once may seem overwhelming. The first stage is to decide on a plan of action to complete each within a specific time frame. A financial advisor may assist you in choosing where to start, how to prioritize each task, and how often to check your progress as circumstances change.