RETIREMENT SERVICES

Retirement can be a wonderful period in one`s life. However, complexities can set in due to poor health and/or the onset of advanced age due to significantly longer life spans. CAWM provides Personalized Retirement Services including Investment Management, Comprehensive Financial Planning, Retirement Accumulation and Distribution Planning, as well as Tax Planning and Preparation. CAWM’s objective is to deliver customized services to ease the everyday burden that retired clients face, in addition to the innovative financial advice that we believe is unequaled in terms of quality, from which clients can derive maximum value.

CAWM expects to achieve its objective by providing all firm members with extensive, ongoing internal and external education by utilizing cutting edge financial information, management, technology, hardware and software, while capitalizing on our Strategic Alliance Network of other financial professionals. CAWM continually creates new services not offered by our competitors that are of value to the client.

INITIAL DEVELOPMENT:
After a client completes an extensive data questionnaire and delivers all relevant financial documents, CAWM will develop a comprehensive financial plan. It will address the following areas:

• Preparation of financial statements including federal and state income tax projections 
• Basic finance issues, such as debt structure, liquidity and cash flow issues 
• Development of Investment Strategies including hedging and tax-sensitive strategies 
• Retirement planning as well as accumulation and distribution strategization 
• Insurance Planning Services
• Estate tax reduction analysis and philanthropic decision-making 
• Risk Management/Asset Protection, including analysis of all insurance coverage
• Trust Services through one of our independent trust company strategic alliances, if applicable 
• Income Tax Strategy Optimization, including providing alternative financial and legal structures 
• Survivor needs analysis 
• Education funding

RECOMMENDATIONS:
As part of the financial planning process, CAWM develops specific recommendations addressing each of the above-listed areas. During this first part of the process we like to meet with the individual and family several times. Each meeting will vary in length, depending upon the complexity of the client`s situation.

Once the recommendations are made, CAWM will then assist in the implementation of the recommendations where it can. A few examples include:

• Sending financial information to attorneys so that they prepare the necessary estate documents, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, health care proxy, and living wills
• Sending tax information to accountants, such as bonus payments and gains and loss information on the sale of securities, etc. in order to prepare the tax return and make appropriate estimated tax payments 
• Requesting information on the policy status of life insurance and annuity policies on behalf of the client (This information would include such items as death benefits, cash values, surrender charges, beneficiaries, tax basis, investment return, etc.) 
• Requesting the tax basis of securities on behalf of clients 
• Requesting insurance quotes on behalf of clients

Our objective is not to necessarily reduce the complexity of the client`s financial situation, because sometimes it does make sense to utilize trusts and other strategies to reduce taxes and achieve family friendly objectives. Rather, our goal is to save the client the time and the energy that it takes to manage his/her complex situation so that they are free to focus more closely on matters that mean the most to them.

ONGOING SERVICE:
As long as CAWM is retained, you will have access to all of our services and our ongoing commitment to you and your family.  With our many different compensation arrangements you will be able to choose the one that`s right for you, so that you have the piece of mind in knowing that you are receiving what you are actually paying for.

CAWM offers customized Investment Management Services to individuals and institutions. Investment portfolios are developed to match the client`s return and risk requirements, which are determined by the client`s completion of a Risk Tolerance Questionnaire. Each type of investment portfolio is managed to achieve both short and long-term investment objectives.

Investment Research:
CAWM performs extensive research as to how to structure investment portfolios. Emphasis is placed on developing portfolios that have historically achieved high returns, but with lower than normal risk.

Sources of Current and Historic Worldwide Financial Market and Economic Data include:

• Investment Newsletters, Newspapers, Periodicals, Research Publications, and Professional Journals
• Portfolio Managers, Private Money Managers

Client Education:
Education is very important to us. CAWM is dedicated to educating each client about the different investment portfolio types and how they relate to market volatility, time horizons, and investment returns. Furthermore, we assist each client in selecting a risk tolerance level with which they are comfortable. Ultimately, an investment portfolio is designed to meet the client`s objectives.

Many of our clients are interested in receiving guidance regarding retirement planning services. They especially want to know how much they need to accumulate, when they can retire, how to spend down their assets in the most tax-efficient manner and finally to distribute their assets to their heirs upon their death. CAWM’s retirement accumulation and distribution planning services address all these areas and more.

CAWM assists each client during this stage of their life in a number of ways including:

• Counseling each client with regard to how to invest and accumulate monies for retirement during their employment years 
• Performing extensive retirement calculations both before and during retirement to determine if the clients` assets will be adequate to live on 
• Advising each client as to what assets to spend down 
• Guiding each client through the complex regulatory environment as how to distribute these assets from IRA`s and other retirement plans in the most tax-efficient manner, especially if the client is younger than age 59½ 
• And finally, facilitating the planning and transfer of the assets to the client`s heirs

These services are part of the comprehensive financial planning service.

CAWM’s Comprehensive Financial Planning service is geared to assist clients with stock options in publicly-traded companies or those in the pre-IPO stage. Stock options come in two varieties - Non-qualified and Qualified. Qualified stock options are more commonly known as Incentive Stock Options or ISOs. The rules differ dramatically for both.

We will discuss the rules for the type of stock options clients have and the types of strategies that can be used to maximize their value to those that hold them.

This service is designed to assist clients who have a large percentage of their net worth in one investment. While the simple solution is to sell the investment and pay the taxes owed, it may not be the most optimal one. There are a number of alternatives that can be utilized to maximize value. However, since many of the strategies are long-term in nature, finding the one most comfortable for the client entails a significant amount of planning around the overall financial goals of the client. CAWM will review with each client a myriad of strategies including; gifting to family members, charitable-giving strategies, tax loss harvesting or the transfer of a highly appreciated security into a diversified private equity pool of securities.

CAWM utilizes its Strategic Alliance Network in the development or revision of a client`s estate documents. Some of the documents include:

• Wills
• Trusts 
• Revocable Living Trusts 
• A/B Credit Shelter Trusts 
• Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts 
• Q-Tip Trusts  
• Intra-Family Gifts 
• Family Trusts 
• Powers of attorney 
• Health care proxy
• Living wills

Trust services can be provided through one of the independent trust companies that we have strategic alliances with. The use of trusts allows clients to make a conscious decision regarding the passing of their wealth, during their lifetime and upon death, while retaining control.

In addition to estate document preparation, CAWM will assist clients by verifying that their beneficiary designations on retirement plans and life insurance policies coordinate with the language within their estate documents. The titling of assets will also be reviewed to coordinate with the estate documents.

If applicable, additional advanced estate planning techniques that CAWM will advise clients on include: 

• Family Limited Partnerships
• Limited Liability Companies
• Standby Trusts
• Foreign Situs Trusts 
• Medicaid or Special Needs Trusts
• Generation-Skipping Transfer Trusts
• Qualified Personal Residence Trusts
• Self-Canceling Installment Notes
• Private Annuities
• Sale-Leaseback Transactions
• Remainder Interest Transactions and Split Interest Transactions.

CAWM assists clients in identifying their personal and family philanthropic and charitable values and priorities as well as designs a plan to fulfill them. Individuals can take advantage of different methods of making philanthropic and charitable gifts. For example, an individual investor could gift a highly appreciated investment, instead of selling the investment and incurring the capital gain taxes. A real estate owner may want to give property, which has low earnings and because the management of the property is time consuming or facing a declining market value, but still is marketable. Here again the owner would avoid the capital gains tax as well as obtain income tax savings from the charitable deduction. Specific strategies that will be evaluated will include, but are not limited to:

• Charitable Gift Annuities
• Charitable Lead Trusts
• Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts (CRATs)
• Charitable Remainder Unitrusts (CRUTs)
• Net Income Charitable Remainder Unit Trust with Make-up Provisions
• Flip Trust
• Charitable Pooled Income Funds
• Private and Public Charitable Foundations

CAWM assists its clients in making wise decisions regarding gifting. Gifting has always been a method of reducing an estate. Individuals and Married Couples are permitted to make gifts of certain amounts as pre-determined each year by the IRS to as many individuals as they wish without paying gift tax. Individuals can also gift unlimited amounts for tuition payments and medical bills. Therefore, careful planning is necessary to stay within the limits, otherwise gift taxes will be assessed. CAWM counsels its clients regarding various types of gifts including:

• Securities
• Real estate and business ownership interest
• In addition to cash gifts so as to avoid gift taxation while accomplishing estate planning objectives
• CAWM also advises those clients who would be affected by the Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax as to how to avoid the tax

CAWM, through its Strategic Alliance Network, offers tax planning and preparation assistance to individuals. The areas of service include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Federal, state and local income tax preparation 
• Calculation of federal, state and local estimated quarterly income tax payments 
• Individual securities cost (tax) basis calculations 
• Audit Management 

A service included in the Financial Planning process is the review of social security benefits. As a client approaches retirement, does it make sense to begin taking benefits at age 62 or should they wait until age 65? Will those benefits be taxable if taken before age 65? CAWM will also review the client`s Social Security Earnings Statement to make sure that all of the previous years earnings have been included.

Medicare is a federal health insurance program for persons 65 or older, persons of any age with permanent kidney failure and certain disabled persons, who are eligible to receive Social Security benefits. All eligible participants receive Part A (Hospital Insurance) without charge. CAWM assists clients in determining if the client needs Part B (Medical Insurance) protection, which has a monthly premium. The discussions also cover additional protection with Medigap Insurance, which is outlined in the section entitled "Evaluation and Selection Assistance with Long-Term Care and Medigap Insurance". If a client is not eligible to receive premium-free Part A benefits and is age 65 or older, the coverage can be purchased.

This service is to assist clients in determining if there is a need for Long-Term Care Insurance. CAWM will evaluate the client`s ability to be self-insured. If there is a need for coverage, the client will be aided in choosing a carrier and selecting the benefits that coordinate with their needs. This service is part of the comprehensive financial planning service. Also, if the client so desires, they may want to consider living arrangements other than their present residence, for example: Continuing Care Retirement Communities. For more information refer to the Evaluation and Selection Assistance with Nursing Homes, Assisted - Living Facilities, and At-Home Health Care Living Arrangements.

CAWM provides assistance by evaluating Long-Term Care Insurance options and coordinating them with the needs of the client. These areas include: 

• Types of coverage 
• Amount of coverage 
• Term of coverage 
• Activities of Daily Living (ADL) 
• Coverage for mental illness 
• Cost

Medigap Insurance fills in the insurance gaps, that Medicare does not cover. There are various levels of coverage to choose as well as a wide variation in premiums. Evaluating pricing differences (Insurance premiums are based on factors such as community ratings, thoroughness of underwriting and health considerations) between each insurance company as well as the coverage differences among each of the ten mandated Medigap Insurance Plans (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I and J) developed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), can be difficult, if not downright intimidating. Furthermore, insurability is another consideration. CAWM evaluates the client`s needs and assists them in choosing the Medigap Insurance coverage that is right for them. CAWM will also coordinate the benefits a client may receive from their previous employer with the need for any additional coverage, including medical, long-term care or life insurance.

When the decision has been made that a client or their loved one has to be moved to either a nursing home, assisted living facility or receive at-home health care, CAWM will assist in the evaluation and selection of a facility or service. Also included in the evaluation are Continuing Care Retirement Communities or Lifecare Communities. These facilities not only provide housing for individuals age 62 or older, who are in good health, but also provide on-site assisted living accommodations and skilled nursing care, should the client need it at virtually no additional cost.

A driving force behind CAWM’s emphasis in assisting clients with this issue, is a study published by the American Journal of Public Health in September, 2001, which revealed that for-profit nursing homes tend to be poorly staffed and are cited for deficiencies by government inspectors almost 50% of the time. This is slightly more frequent than nursing facilities administered by non-profit groups or public institutions. In light of the poor record of all these facilities, a careful evaluation is necessary. CAWM will meet with the director of the program as well as review the facility`s contract, their accreditation and licenses, plus the services that they provide to their patients or residents, as may be applicable.