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The Wealth Group Planning Process Thumbnail

The Wealth Group Planning Process

By: Dan Johnson, CFP®


When we work with clients we work through the seven major areas of financial planning for each individual plan.

  1. Cash-flow Planning

  2. Investment Planning

  3. Retirement Planning

  4. Insurance Planning

  5. Tax Planning

  6. Estate Planning

  7. Education Planning

Each one of these areas plays a critical role in ensuring you maximize each dollar to accomplish your family’s financial goals and we enjoy walking through every one of these parts to the financial plan with our clients.


  1. Cash-flow planning is being able to effectively manage your income and expenses so that you can accomplish your family’s financial goals. Every other area of financial planning builds off of this and if you cannot manage this foundational area of your financial life than it will be more difficult to successfully plan for the other six areas of the plan.

  2. When it comes to investment planning we do not chase returns, but believe in sticking to the plan and that based on historical data will yield results that help each client accomplish their financial goals. We have a very skilled and knowledgeable team that ensures each client’s portfolio aligns with their financial plan, risk tolerance, and any other factor that plays a part of their portfolio.

  3. Retirement planning is a critical piece of each client’s plan that heavily relies on effective cash-flow planning. Accurately, knowing a client’s savings rate and withdrawal rate in retirement are two of most crucial aspects to successful retirement planning.

  4. Insurance planning is simple and can be broken-down as such: If there is a potential catastrophic financial risk in your plan then you need to insure that risk.

  5. When working through tax planning it is important to not get too caught-up in focusing on how to lower taxes this year, but look at the big picture and understand how we can lower your taxes for the next 10 to 20 years and beyond.

  6. Estate planning is another area that is often unnecessarily overcomplicated. Effectively transferring clients assets in the case of their death or disability can often be simply taken care of through the use of beneficiaries, proper titling, and clearly communicating guardian wishes early on.

  7. Education planning starts with making sure that you have had the discussions of how college will be paid for early and often with your children. Many people feel the need to pay for their children’s secondary education but if this is their wish than they need to ensure that it fits within their overall financial plan.

Building a successful plan across these seven key areas begins with a conversation with each client. We look forward to having that initial conversation with those of you who are thinking of working with us and continuing that conversation with those of you who already do work with us.


Because The Wealth Group, Austin B. Colby & Associates is independent of Raymond James, the expressed written opinions above are our own and not necessarily reflective of Raymond James’ opinions.