Financial Freedom Assessment

Based upon your answers to this assessment I’ve highlighted below some potential target areas that you may consider prioritizing, yet as you may imagine these are just the tip of the iceberg as to potential opportunities you could explore, in taking your next step towards the financial empowerment you so richly deserve.

In my 42 years of practice as a certified financial planner one of my single biggest financial accomplishments was saving a client a quarter million dollars of capital gains. 

So few investors factor in Tax-Dollars-Saved in their analysis of their Return on Investment relative to their overall wealth, yet it’s all dollars and it’s all shaping our wealth—positively or negatively. 

I don’t expect everyone to know the tax code and yet partnering with someone that does know the tax code can literally be a key component in creating intentional wealth. 

Most investors focus on researching, selecting and monitoring individual investments, yet the overall mix between stocks and bonds and cash, called Asset Allocation, ultimately determines whether one is poised to achieve their goals or not.

Modern Portfolio Theory describes this well, and this Investopedia explains MPT in layperson’s terms.

In all my 4+ decades of Financial Planning and Asset Management practice, we consistently received completed risk tolerance questionnaires stating ‘I would like no risk’ and ‘I seek complete upside potential’ on my capital. And while that is indeed possible, there won’t be much capital to fund many goals, with that approach, and in an inflationary environment, it will likely bankrupt folks.

This is investment speak for the various types of risks and clearly risk is the currency for our reward or our return so we must balance the need for either long term growth or short term income within our portfolios in congruence with our goals.

And because no one has a crystal ball it’s impossible to know if the latest fad in investing (including cryptocurrency and NFTs—Non Fungible Tokens, in the last several years) is ultimately a viable investment class or indeed a fad. This is where the discernment between compensated and uncompensated risks come into clearer focus.

Many investors enjoy buying investments for a host of reasons—emotional and/or financial. Yet absent from most people’s discipline is the criteria by which they would consider selling these investments.

Clearly if one holds an investment too long they have given up a better opportunity perhaps in an alternate investment. This is often the result of various biases which are hard to combat for the average investor. As a professional money manager I didn’t get involved emotionally in any investment I had one criteria does this meet the client’s goals and objectives, generally based upon past performance. 

Statistics show that most people really shy away from selling their losers (“I picked it and I’m sure it will go up”) and yet they also hesitate to sell their winners (“What, sell my WINNER?”) so they’re in a tight spot, often leading to paralysis and taking no action(s). 

Often the optimum solution is doing a little of each and counterbalancing taxable gains with taxable losses but few investors are tuned into these detailed strategies, especially given the ‘pass through’ capital gains and dividends some mutual funds distribute in the 4th quarter of the year. Investors may have a spreadsheet of all their gain or loss recognitions in the year, yet are surprised when these mutual fund distributions arrive, generally upending the planning they may have achieved. 

So as you can read, the ultimate best answer for most investors is “it depends” as finances involve highly individualized characteristics, all of which need to be vetted with a Fiduciary (non-commission earning) professional to better ensure optimum wealth building. 

Without a doubt, these and more can be uncovered and discussed in a phone call with me, so please use the button below to schedule your call.


To your enhanced wealth!

Debra L. Morrison, CFP®, MS, AEP

We Can Do It Women™

Your Chief Financial Navigator

Debra draws on her four decades of financial expertise, including her Master’s Degree in Retirement Planning where she partnered with clients to chart their financial plan and managed their assets accordingly on a Fee-Only Fiduciary basis. She holds the Accredited Estate Planner designation which armed her with specialty knowledge that helped her clients and their families KEEP more of their hard-earned estates, leaving rich legacies.

She has since retired from active financial planning and asset management and now serves as the Founder and Chief Navigating Officer of Women Navigating Finances.

As a financial coach, she’s equally passionate about alerting women to pitfalls to avoid as well as charting, and then navigating each woman’s finances.

She strategizes with her growing number of coaching clients to either accumulate maximum wealth or, once retired, enjoy an inflation-adjusted lifetime income stream so that they can still afford to buy higher priced goods and services as they age.

Together, Debra and each client, discuss both how to avoid financial perils while at the same time, effectively manage known and unknown risks, not the least of which is increased longevity, to better ensure financial security.