Financial Adviser Offers Three Wealth Management Tips

Mike Eldredge, a financial adviser for Beall Barclay Wealth Management LLC in Rogers, has three valuable tips for his high net-worth clients as they approach retirement:
Engage professional help with your financial resources, require your tax preparer to plan with you before Dec. 31 and don’t fall in love with any investment — no matter what sentimental value it may hold.
The first may be the most important since there are so many variables involved that can confuse the average person. Eldredge pointed out that a carpenter wouldn’t try to practice law and that a lawyer wouldn’t try to perform surgery on themselves.
Even though he’s a CPA, Eldredge said there is a reason he doesn’t prepare tax returns or do audits at his firm.
“That’s because the folks who do that in our firm are studying that stuff 50 hours a week, and it takes very bit of it to just to keep up,” Eldredge said. “The same thing can be said for our wealth management area. I do certain pieces of it, and my partner does certain pieces of it and so on.
“There’s just so much depth of knowledge needed for everything nowadays.”
If a mistake is made, it could prove costly. Eldredge said people who try to handle financial planning on their own can dig holes that are tough to climb out of.
“You want to at least be able to identify the holes if nothing else,” Eldredge said.
The second can be the most cost effective since requiring your tax preparer to address any issues before Dec. 31 can be beneficial. A lot of problems can be identified and proper steps can be taken that save money on taxes before the end of the year.
It’s an area Eldredge has been emphasizing since he got into the business nine years ago. He’s been with Beall Barclay for the past four years.
“Higher net-worth people have tons of tax issues,” Eldredge said. “When you talk about federal and state combined, we’re regularly talking with people that if we can do something that is tax advantage (before Dec. 31), we’re recapturing 40 cents out of the dollar back from taxes.”
Eldredge said the third tip of not falling in love with an investment is applicable to a lot of folks in Northwest Arkansas.
“Whether it’s Wal-Mart stock or a piece of property, the investment doesn’t fall in love back with you,” Eldredge said.
Most often this problem arises when stocks or a piece of property has been inherited and the heir doesn’t want to divest from something that has strong sentimental value.
But dead relatives surely wouldn’t have wanted the stocks or property they passed down to become a financial burden.
“That stock or piece of property is not your dad or grandfather … it is not them,” Eldredge said. “They are not ringing their hands from the grave, so to speak, hoping that you’ll remember them by hanging on to that precious stock, or whatever it is.”