Click on a topic above to go directly to that section

Your Plan

Most of us look for order and organization in our lives, but there is more to it than that. We all want to feel that we are doing the best we can–not just organization, but optimization. Nowhere is that more elusive than in our personal financial lives. Charleton Financial exists to fill that void. 

We will step with you through a rigorous, dynamic planning process, using principles that are common to all great decision making. We make it simple, logical, and clear, so that you never feel overwhelmed.  We will cover the following: 

Understanding Your Goals

We start by listening to your dreams, vision, and values.  Then we seek to understand your entire financial picture - your primary financial objective, your family information, the components of your net worth, the details of your assets, how you plan to distribute your estate, and your expected cash flow - both income and expenses.

Primary Financial Objective
Most clients have one of these four objectives: financial independence, investment planning, estate planning, or business and benefits planning.

Family Information
We essentially draw your family tree, understanding the details of your immediate family members, who depends on you, now and in the future, and whether anyone in your family has special needs.

Net Worth
Together, we do a quick estimate of your net worth breaking it up into six categories: business (if you own one), real estate, savings and investments (including employee stock options), qualified plans and IRAs, life insurance, and personal property of significant value, like art, antiques, and collectibles.

Asset Detail
Now we go into more details of each of the above categories of assets.

Estate Distribution
We review your wills and any trusts you have established.

Cash Flow
What are the elements and amounts, in general terms of your income and expenses?

Dreams, Vision, and Values
We take our time to get to know you before developing a plan because all financial goals stem from the most important thing of all–what really matters to you. For some clients, it may be providing a college education for their grandchildren. For others, it is simply having an income, for the rest of their lives.

Evaluating Your Options

We are the general practitioners of finance. We bring in specialists–for investment, insurance, long term care, and other life issues that our clients face. That is where the powerful resources of Wall Street Financial Group come in. No financial planner can do it all, any more than your family doctor can perform neurosurgery.

Together, your Charleton-Wall Street team will create financial models of your current and future situations, and explore different scenarios–considering assets, cash flow, taxes, and other factors.

You need to understand the alternatives facing you and the results of the various scenarios. We will work with you through every step, and give you our recommendations, backed up by solid data and analysis. The final choices, of course, are yours.

Implementing Your Plan

Your personal, strategic financial plan is custom designed for you and your situation. We always carefully document it, and present it to you. After all, your plan is the financial roadmap to help you meet your life goals! 

Your personal financial plan will cover goals like:

• Staying financially independent
• Planning for retirement
• Protecting what matters most to you
• Managing your investments
• Managing your taxes
• Accumulating wealth
• Managing your inheritance
• Leaving a legacy
• Investing in education

You are entirely free to take the plan we develop together and implement it yourself. None of our clients have ever done that though. They place great value on the work that the Charleton team brings to making your plan happen. You will work with Mike & April along with your personal Client Service Manager (CSM) - your point person, your coordinator, who will help facilitate the different aspects of our relationship.

Managing Your Results

Implementing your plan is the first step, but as President Harry S. Truman once said, “It’s not the plan, it’s the planning.” It never stops. Planning must be a dynamic process, because your situation, and even your goals, will change. In these volatile times, the US and world economies are also changing fast. We need to stay on top of that, and adjust course.

At regular intervals, usually every six months, we meet with you to review progress against your goals, and to understand changes in your situation and the world at large. Between regular reviews, we will monitor results against your plan, look for ways to optimize it, and suggest adjustments, if we think they are in order.