Instead of hauling out those familiar New Year’s resolutions about keeping a journal or drinking more water, how about focusing on your financial well-being? Here’s a set of resolutions that can help ensure your long-term financial confidence.
Update your beneficiaries
If you don’t correctly document your nominated beneficiaries, who gets what may be determined by law, or by the default plan document used in your retirement accounts. When did you last update your designations? Have life changes (divorce, remarriage, births, and deaths) occurred since then?
Create flexible liquidity
Cash has inflation and opportunity trade-off¬s, but a lack of access can cause greater problems if you find yourself needing to draw from your investments. Finding a balance in line with your life and goals is important to avoid disrupting your long-term plans.
Evaluate your retirement progress
What changes are needed given your current lifestyle and the market environment? Don’t fixate solely on your assets’ value – instead, drill down into what types of securities you hold, your expected cash flows, your contingency plans, your assumed rate of return, inflation rates and how long you’re planning for. Retirement plans have many moving parts that must be monitored on an ongoing basis.
Review your account titling
Haphazard account titling can create problems down the line. If one partner dies and an account is titled only in their name, those assets can’t be readily accessed by the survivor. The solution may be creating joint accounts, but it’s not always that simple. Titling has implications across a range of estate planning issues.
Develop a charitable strategy
Giving comes from the heart, but you can also do well when doing good. Start by deciding on your values and areas of concern. It may help to discuss these with your family, to get a better idea of what areas are most important. You can then begin to plan your strategy, incorporating how and when you will contribute.
Spark a family conversation
Sustaining the benefits of wealth for generations is nearly impossible without a mutual understanding among family members. Consider creating a family mission statement that outlines the shared vision for your wealth and legacy.
Digitise your record keeping
You likely receive emails, letters reports and updates from multiple accounts. Consider going paperless and centralising important files in one place to reduce frustration and ensure easy access when needed.
Invest with your values
Your portfolio should reflect what matters to you. So whether you want to promote the transition to clean energy, advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, or support companies with strong data privacy practices, your portfolio can be tailored to reflect those priorities.
Check in with your wealth manager
It’s important to note that no two long-term plans are identical, so reach out to your wealth manager for more specific guidance about progressing toward your goals in 2025. Communicate openly about what’s happening in your life today and what may happen in the future.
Bear market of 1974The severe bear market of 1974 threatened the existence of Raymond James, which was bleeding capital by the day. Tom James, his father and other leaders took extreme measures to keep the firm afloat, slashing costs, forgoing pay checks and even attempting to sell the firm for just enough capital to protect client assets and retain as many associates as possible. The story could have ended very differently if not for a sharp upturn and continued rebound in the stock markets late in the year. |
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Black MondayOn 19 October 1987, the stock markets experienced a dramatic plunge that prompted many firms to shut down their trading desks and turn off their phones to minimize internal losses. Raymond James refused to do the same. Our desks stayed open to help meet clients’ needs, resulting in our first and only unprofitable quarter since the firm went public in 1983. |
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Who was Raymond James?The Raymond in our name is actually from Edward Raymond, owner of a 15-employee mutual fund sales group, Raymond and Associates, along Florida’s west coast. He sold his company to Bob James on 15 July 1964, on condition that the surviving firm be called Raymond, James & Associates. Three days after the sale, Ed Raymond was involved in a near-fatal automobile accident and never joined the firm. Nonetheless, even after Raymond had passed away, Bob James insisted that his name remain on the door – ahead of James’ own. That was a promise he made to Ed Raymond three days before the accident, and Bob James was a man who kept his promises. |
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Taking Raymond James PublicWhen consideration was being given to taking Raymond James public, Tom James penned a letter to shareholders (largely employees at the time). ” … the public offering should be considered as a statement of our independence. While this is a psychological rather than an economic rationale, it is nonetheless very important. We have asserted for some time that we are not interested in becoming a small part of a very large corporation. That assertion results mainly from the inclinations of management rather than the economic benefits associated with either alternative. The public stock offering affords us the opportunity to enjoy a little bit of the best of both worlds. While shareholders will be given liquidity at fair market value, we will still have the ability to control our own destiny.” After 40+ years of Tom’s leadership, upon becoming CEO, Paul Reilly was often questioned about whether the company might ultimately surrender its cherished independence and be acquired by some larger entity. His response: “Not while I’m around.” It’s a theme that continues today. |
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