Risk management is intended to minimize financial and other losses potentially associated with risks to your assets, business or health.
Risk is a fact of life that can have a dramatic impact on your wealth. Risk management is intended to minimize financial and other potential losses associated with risks to your assets, health, or business. Part of our job as financial advisors is to protect your financial well‑being, and that may require us to help you insulate yourselves from certain risks.
Your first line of defense is to identify your sources of risk and tolerance for them, and then either avoid or minimize exposures to income and your survivors.
Some examples of risk include:
Asset protection planning. Situations like lawsuits, accidents, property damage, and other financial risks are facts of everyday life. Asset protection strategies manage risks to your wealth. Asset protection planning looks to transfer the risk of these events through:
Managing healthcare costs. Both genetics and lifestyle affect your risk profile, and although you have no control over your genetics, you do have control over how you live your life. Lifestyle choices can have a direct impact on your healthcare costs and should also be considered as part of a comprehensive risk plan.
From protecting your business to your health, we try to ensure that you understand the level of risk you are taking and are comfortable with it.
If your first line of defense is to identify and mitigate risk, your last line of defense is insurance. Prudent risk management may involve a handful of risk prevention vehicles as well as purchasing life, long‑term care, and disability insurance.
Risk management is a critical component of wealth management, and a good insurance strategy will be well‑coordinated with your overall plans for business, investments, taxation, estate, and retirement. While financial professionals can perform many functions of the risk management process, some activities require the expertise of insurance specialists. We may work closely with an insurance specialist to focus on your risk management.
Life insurance. As your life changes, insurance needs often change as well. The life events timeline offers a quick look at how well-protected you are as you enter each new stage of your life. When building a comprehensive financial plan, life insurance can serve several purposes for families and individuals. It can:
Insurance policies used for this purpose are not typical “ordinary life” policies. These policies are designed so that you pay a large premium for a nominal death benefit, with the key focus of the policy offering tax-deferred asset accumulation and a tax-free death benefit.
This type of asset accumulation does not fit everyone’s scenario but, on occasion, its use makes good sense. Be sure to read Common Tax Traps Involving Your Life Insurance.
Long-term disability. The best time to talk about a crisis is before it happens. Long-term disability and care are vital considerations in the survival of your estate and the financial well-being of your family. You may be in good health, active, and young enough not to think you need planning for a potential long-term care event, but have you thought about what such an event could do to your family and your finances? Consider a few facts about long-term care:
Although medical advances have helped increase the quality of life and expectancy, we must still face the realities of aging. Each investor should evaluate the possibility of personal, business, and professional liability, property loss, catastrophic illness or disability, and assisted living. If you have existing insurance coverage that you have questions about or are considering the purchase of a new policy, we’ll be glad to help you determine if this coverage is the right fit for you and your financial portfolio.
Fixed insurance products and services are separate from and not offered through Commonwealth Financial Network®.
Check out our carefully curated articles on risk management and insurance.
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