Financial planning in a nutshell

You may have noticed in last month’s newsletter that Azzad was named in Financial Advisor magazine’s 2019 RIA Ranking. It’s a premier industry ranking of investment advisors based on assets under management. Azzad moved up the list from last year, which is great news. More important than that, however, are the relationships that our advisors have with our clients. As a wealth management firm, we pride ourselves on taking the time to understand the unique needs of each client and crafting responsible, appropriate financial solutions. The way we do that is through the financial planning process. We’ve gotten some questions about it, so here’s a walk-through of our five-step program: 1) Identify goals: We start with listening and learning what is important to you and identifying and prioritizing your financial goals. At what age would you like to retire? Do you want to buy a home? 2) Collect financial data: We gather and organize your financial information such as assets, income and expenses. Figuring out your net worth (assets minus liabilities) get incorporated into your plan. 3) Put it all together: We develop recommendations to optimize your goals and meet with you to go over them. Unlike other advisors you

September 3, 2019 No Comments

2016 Year-End Financial Planning Basics

As we end the year, it’s time for some housekeeping tasks such as updating your beneficiary information for retirement accounts or other investment accounts. Plus, the window of opportunity for many tax-saving measures ends on December 31. There’s still time to affect your bottom line for the 2016 tax year, but you need to act quickly. Here’s a roundup of some key concepts you may want to act on as we approach the end of the year. Timing is everything If there’s a chance you’ll be in a lower income tax bracket next year, consider deferring income to 2017. That could mean delaying a bonus, rental income, or payment for your services. Doing so may not only allow you to postpone paying tax on the income, but ultimately your tax bill may be lower. Similarly, you may want to accelerate deductions into 2016. If you itemize deductions, you might accelerate some deductible expenses like medical expenses or state and local taxes by making payments before the end of the year. Or you might consider making next year’s charitable contribution this year instead. Some clients will find it better to do just the opposite: accelerate income into 2016 and postpone your

December 5, 2016 No Comments