Building and Protecting Your Wealth

Different stages of your life will determine the focus of your financial plan. No matter where you are on your financial journey, a holistic and thorough plan will help you grow, protect and preserve your wealth at different stages.
 

Your wealth journey

Your wealth journey will take you from managing your daily expenses, to protecting your savings, to investing for growth, all the way to preserving your wealth and building a meaningful legacy. 

Intertwined in this journey is minimizing your taxes, getting the most out of your investments and improving your financial situation. 

The main goal of investing is to build your savings for your future but protecting your wealth can be just as important as growing it. With global economic uncertainty, a low interest rate environment and high inflation, there is much to consider no matter which stage you are at in your wealth journey. 
 

Investment strategies

• Growth
  Investment and portfolio management are the focus during the growth stage. Flexibility and responsiveness are important factors when you are developing your career, building your assets, and investing for returns. 
  
  During the years of wealth accumulation, there may be opportunities for more risk. You have time to recover from any losses and reallocate resources to balance the difference. 
• Preservation
  Once you have reached a certain threshold, your strategy will shift to ensure stability in your assets and work to prepare your legacy. Important factors during this stage include tax strategy, estate planning and philanthropy. 
  
  Structuring your portfolio to favour more conservative investments (like bonds), while including a small element of growth to protect against taxes, inflation or the need to draw income from your investments, will help preserve the wealth you have built. 
  
  Important note: don’t overlook tax planning. When it comes to taxes, your strategy will help maximize real returns and protect your wealth for the next generation.  
   

Determining your risk appetite

Depending on where you are in your journey, your focus will be different. 

At the early stages of your life, you can afford a higher risk profile. You can aim to maximize returns and endure periods of loss. As you grow your career, family and general responsibilities, you will probably want to balance your portfolio. Your focus could shift to long-term investment products that will generate returns but limit your risk of substantial losses. Eventually, you will be focused on your retirement. Depending on your lifestyle, you may focus solely on the preservation of your wealth.
 

Outlooks and investments

Throughout each stage of either growing or preserving your wealth, there will be short- and long-term outlooks and investment decisions you will have to make. Financial plans are constantly changing. Even though you have a plan in place that takes every aspect of your life into account, the unexpected still happens. 

This means that your financial plan will ebb and flow. Growing and preserving your wealth is not linear nor are they mutually exclusive of each other. As you focus on growing your wealth, there may be times that protecting what you have built will become a priority. Global economic factors, politics and personal changes could all force adjustments to your strategy. 
 

A financial advisor’s role

No matter where you are in your life journey or your risk appetite, getting a financial advisor to build a comprehensive financial plan will keep you on track and ensure you reach your goals. An advisor will help you during times of great change – whether they are difficult or extremely positive! 

There are countless reasons to partner with a financial professional including:

• Getting objective insights into your finances
• Creating a comprehensive financial plan
• Building your wealth
• Continuously monitoring your progress
• Ensuring your portfolio is diversified
• Employing tax-efficient strategies
• Preparing for unexpected changes 
   

Whether you are focusing on growing or preserving your wealth, you should seek a second opinion to ensure your financial plan is optimizing your current strategy. You will get peace of mind and a deep understanding of how you are tracking against your financial goals. 
 

Take control of your future

Feel secure in your future by identifying your goals, aspirations and current needs. Work with an advisor to identify an investment approach that will thoughtfully pursue growth and transition your portfolio during times of change. Together, you and your financial advisor can plan for every stage of your wealth journey. 

Talk to an advisor today to build your financial plan.

Financial planning services are available only from advisors who hold financial planning accreditation from applicable regulatory authorities. Mutual funds and other securities are offered through Aviso Wealth, a division of Aviso Financial Inc.