We all want the best for our children – for them to have every opportunity to grow and learn and to make a success of their life. The challenge we face as parents of young is how to properly fund our children’s education without draining our current cash flow.
What should you do if they are a few years away from college and your education fund won’t be enough? How can you increase your chances of getting financial aid? What tax benefits might be available to you? Your professional advisors are able to help you answer these question and any others you may have. With the costs of a college education rising every year, the keys to funding your child’s education are to plan early and invest shrewdly. However, there are steps you can take if you get a late start. Moreover, there are a number of effective techniques for increasing financial aid opportunities and reducing taxes.
The thought of funding your child’s education—the cost of which has grown at about 6% a year— can be mind-boggling. However, proper planning can lessen the financial squeeze considerably, especially if you start when your child is young.
We can help you to make the right financial decisions and begin saving for that college education today.
Preparing for the pitter-patter of little feet can be such an exciting, heady time that it can be easy to overlook some of the more serious issues relating to this event. As soon as you start your family, financial planning for the future becomes even more essential. How will you finance childcare, medical bills, food, education, clothing, toys, and education savings? What will you need to spend money on and how much will each item cost? It’s important to take into consideration the ongoing costs associated with starting and raising a family. To get you started, here are some of the things you’ll need to factor into your financial planning:
- Doctor and hospital expenses
- Nursery furniture and clothing
- Baby supplies and equipment
- Formula
- Childcare
- Healthcare
- Toys and clothes
- Education costs
- Extra curricular activities (e.g., ballet classes, school camps, sporting events and activities)
- Doctor and medical expenses
- Increased insurance
Be certain you’re well prepared. Talk with us today about how best to prepare for a life-changing event such as the birth of a child.
Goodness knows you have more than enough to organize when you’re preparing for a marriage. Not only is it a time filled with excitement and happiness – it’s also a hectic busy time. All too often the financial implications of marriage (and of divorce and re-marriage) are overlooked, or not considered fully in the excitement.
People who have recently changed their marital status or who are planning such a change may have important financial and legal decisions to make. These decisions might deal with property ownership, providing for children’s welfare, postmortem planning and day-to-day finances. You should always consult with your financial advisor to discuss the financial steps appropriate to a change in marital status.
If, at the other end of the scale, you are considering a divorce, it’s imperative that you take appropriate action to plan for the dissolution of the financial partnership in your marriage. Such dissolution involves dividing the financial assets you have accumulated during the years of marriage. If there are children involved, future support given to the custodial parent must be planned for. If you take the time and the correct measures now to prepare and plan for all eventualities, it will pay off later on. As always, you should seek the advice of your professional advisors to ensure you take the steps that are appropriate to your individual situation.
We have developed services to help you manage your personal finances. Our staff can assist you with budgeting, cash flow analysis and developing a personal balance sheet. Members of our firm are knowledgeable in a variety of personal accounting software, including Quicken, Financial Navigator, Quickbooks and Money Works.
We are available for consultations on a variety of financial services such as: insurance needs, including life, disability and long term care, rollover of pension and IRA, qualifying for a home mortgage and other loans, exercising stock options, early retirement packages, estate administration, and home inventory video.
In addition, we have developed a unique financial service tailored to senior citizens. We offer a service which allows you to remain in charge and independent, yet have the security of knowing that all financial details have been addressed each month. On a regular basis a member of our staff will meet with you and family members to review your financial needs. Within our personal affairs division we offer the following services: Bill paying with regular visits to you for check signing. Periodic reconciliation of your checkbook. Administration of medical claim forms. Monthly accounting of all income and expenses with a summary report each period.
At Canon Capital Investment Advisory we believe a successful financial program develops over months and years and is constantly evolving to adjust to changes in family circumstances and changes in tax law.
Whether planning for your retirement, devising an estate plan or planning for your children’s education, we can help you obtain your goals by assisting you through the financial planning process.
This process includes an analysis of your: assets and liabilities, monthly cash flow, life and disability insurance contracts, employee benefits, retirement plans, and wills and trusts.
From this data, we will provide you with a current balance sheet, income tax statement, estate tax analysis, and cash flow analysis. These statements will be a starting point to begin planning for your future and reveal any immediate actions which may be necessary before proceeding to other steps. Based on your financial knowledge, we will develop a plan to meet your goals.
Our plans will include recommendations for: Income and estate tax planning, Retirement planning, Cash flow management, Education funding, Investment strategies, Life and disability insurance planning, Family/generational planning, and Trust administration.
Once a plan is developed, it must be implemented. We look forward to developing and implementing strategies for you to meet your financial goals. We will work closely with your attorney, accountant, insurance agent, and other advisors. Our ongoing monitoring is designed to assure you that we will be available and prepared to meet your ever-changing financial needs.
Members of our staff have successfully completed the Uniform Investment Advisor Law Examination and the General Securities Examination administered by the National Association of Securities Dealers.
When designing an investment portfolio, we review a number of factors with our clients. Some of these factors include risk tolerance, income taxes, retirement needs, and educational needs. From this information we develop a model portfolio for you. Based on the model portfolio, we select investments that are appropriate for your needs. Some of the investment vehicles we use include no-load mutual funds, stocks and bonds.
To assist our Clients in achieving their goals and in obtaining satisfaction by providing innovative, high-quality, personalized service; to provide an environment that will allow the members of our firm to grow individually recognizing the importance of family to each member; to be giving members in our profession and community; to maintain the highest level of professional ethics and independence; and to recognize that success is not necessarily defined by money or status, but by happiness in our daily lives.
To ensure that the client ultimately obtains the greatest benefit, we look at all aspects of our clients’ financial position. Our firm is strictly fee-only which means we do not have the potential bias of having to make commission sales, therefore we can always be objective and keep the clients’ best interests first and foremost. We are our clients’ greatest advocate and realize that our growth and well-being is dependent upon how well we assist our clients’ growth and well-being.
We stress the right of privacy and confidentiality regarding our clients’ personal and business information. Our relationships are built on trust and we will do everything in our power to earn and ensure that trust.
How we take advantage of the Internet
By giving our clients the ability to access information concerning their accounts. We use the internet to gather investment information which we pass along to our clients. We also use the internet to individually communicate with our clients.
These tools help in our search for sound investment opportunities, as well as in our effort to track them. Not only is the Net a useful tool when we are initially looking for a new company to invest in, but it is also useful for tracking news and earnings changes for the companies we have already bought, or identified as a potential buy.
This tracking is done automatically and electronically so that we do not have to rely on memory, or manual systems to do it. Each day our electronic mail-boxes are filled with press releases, earnings changes, and key stories effecting the stocks and industries that we own or are considering the purchase of.
