Tax-Efficient Wealth Management for Affluent Investors

Introduction

If you're like our clients, you've likely asked yourself this question. It's an important question and not always easy to answer because you face many headwinds—limited time, high taxes, complex estate laws and a lack of transparency into your options.

We wrote this guide because we understand the position you're in and want to help.

For decades, Fisher Investments has helped tens of thousands of investors navigate this question and help build plans to achieve their wealth and legacy goals. We're a fiduciary money manager, obligated to put your interests first. We've also structured our firm to help maximize the probability of reaching your financial goals. We offer high net worth investors, like you, the same depth of service and research available to our largest institutional clients because that's what we believe your level of wealth requires.

As a high-net-worth client, you'll receive proactive and personalized service from your dedicated Investment Counselor, who takes time to understand your situation. Your Investment Counselor is a liaison to our Investment Policy Committee—the primary decision-makers for your investment portfolio—and our teams of estate, tax and financial planning specialists. Your entire Fisher Investments team is passionate about creating a flexible plan to help meet your goals. Once agreed upon, your plan is our roadmap—a set of instructions helping us anticipate how best to serve you now and in the future.

Our clients tell us time and again how much they value the relationships they've built with Fisher Investments. We strive to be more than a sounding board. We proactively bring up options to help investors like you make the most of their assets. While we manage their wealth, our clients can focus on whatever is most important to them: enjoying the lives they built, spending time with family, participating in charity, traveling, retiring or even reaching their next professional milestone.

Thank you for your interest. We hope we can learn about your goals and show you how we can help you meet them.
 

K.C. Ellis

Senior Executive Vice President

US Private Client Group

What Should You Expect From Your Wealth Manager?

With time, savings and discipline, anyone can build enough wealth to retire. You carved your own path. Whether you built a business, climbed the corporate ladder or grew your wealth another way, through your talents and experience you were able to accumulate significant assets.

That level of wealth, though, comes with complexity—serious tax bills, a sea of investment options and a meaningful legacy to pass along someday. You need a wealth manager who excels at their craft to help you successfully navigate it. The right wealth manager can take on some, most or all the responsibility of growing and maintaining your wealth, giving you more freedom to live the life you built. You made your fortune—enjoying it is your reward.

Chances are you have a financial team in place already. You may have an extensive financial plan, but even the best plan can have a blind spot—a gap that can let money flow out of your portfolio. Your wealth manager needs to have a deep level of knowledge across portfolio management, tax, estate and other financial planning services, plus, know your personal situation and goals intimately to help identify and rectify these gaps. Not just any wealth manager can help. To keep your wealth from draining away, they must be able to support the following areas.

Tax Planning

As your wealth increases, so does the intricacy of managing your tax liabilities. Working with your wealth manager on tax-efficient investing, tax-reduction strategies, capital gains evaluations and business tax planning can help you keep more of your wealth. They should be capable of a comprehensive tax analysis and tax return review—understanding what you've paid before may help find opportunities to improve your tax situation.

Estate and Legacy Planning

Thorough estate planning covers the full scope of your assets, investments, financial strategies, business interests and charitable giving. But having the plan isn't enough. Your wealth manager should evaluate your plan to help ensure it reflects your wishes and use it to inform how they manage your money—helping you achieve the legacy you want to leave.

Strategic Philanthropic Planning

Philanthropy can help you support causes you care about and minimize your tax burden. With the right tools—charitable trusts, foundations, donor-advised funds, gifting securities, etc.—you can have a tremendous impact today and on future generations.

Tailored Investment Strategies

Some wealth managers who specialize in serving high net worth investors recommend portfolios of exclusive investment products that require significant investment just to gain access. Don't mistake exclusivity for what is appropriate for you. A wealth manager with your interests at heart should tailor your portfolio and investments to your unique financial situation, goals and needs.

Social Security and Healthcare Evaluation

Maximizing your Social Security benefits in retirement starts with understanding your options. Your wealth manager can review your situation to help you decide when it makes sense to start drawing your benefits. They should also be aware of your health insurance needs and help you understand how your Medicare options can provide coverage when you need it most.

At Fisher Investments, we understand your tax, estate, philanthropic and investment strategies must reflect your unique situation and work in harmony—or you risk leaving significant wealth on the table. This guide describes strategies highly affluent investors like you can use to help achieve your goals and prepare your wealth to last for generations to come.