As we celebrate 20 years of managing personal finances for an incredibly diverse group of clients, we’ve found that human nature ultimately governs how we handle money. It is simply in our nature to be focused on what we perceive to be our immediate needs in the now. And, that urgency affects how we think about money and how we manage it. Moreover, our attitudes about money are often a reflection of our upbringing and our learned skills.
While finance management requires knowledge and discipline, it also requires a self-assessment of our spending priorities, our ability to generate income, and how we view and handle risk.
Balancing short-term needs and long-term security.
Most people struggle to balance short-term spending and long-term security. We’ve often seen that no matter how much money people have, most experience some degree of frustration and insecurity. Maintaining a lifestyle, supporting children’s education, and preparing for longer-term security can be a difficult balancing act. In this context, we’ve been most helpful in providing our clients with a framework for living within their means.
Long-term care requires short-term attention.
People are living a lot longer than they expected, so starting young building a nest egg to cover long-term care (LTC) is not only a priority, it’s an imperative.
Long Term Care insurance, which is a valuable asset for many of our clients, is becoming less and less available for purchase in traditional form; and the hybrid insurance products that are available do not provide the same level of coverage. But it is still worth speaking with an LTC specialist.
Specific to New York, Medicaid was once a useful fallback for people who did not have LTC insurance and or the means to pay for institutional or home health care. Today, Medicaid has become more and more restricted in terms of who receives coverage and to what extent.
Personal finances are exactly that — personal.
Revealing our financial intimacies – how much money we have, how we have prioritized our spending, and our investment decisions – often reflect emotional real-life events. Sometimes it’s a loss, an illness, or some other difficult circumstance that can be traumatic, messy, even overwhelming. This level of intimacy is often uncomfortable because finances can reveal choices that we may or may not feel good about.
We have always focused on helping our clients do things better.
The challenge we’ve seen is that many people don’t have the natural ability, time, or desire to effectively organize their finances. Twenty years ago, we decided to be the people who can provide that expertise. Since then, we’ve been helping clients balance personal finances with lifestyle priorities. We start by understanding the nature of their needs and concerns and identifying the boundaries of their comfort zones. We then thoughtfully apply our process to help them learn new ways of thinking about money. Ultimately, we help them organize their financial matters, which reveals the decisions they need to make and provides them with an analytical framework to evaluate their options.
As we celebrate our 20th Anniversary, all of us at Eddy & Schein Group know that long-term clients have been the cornerstone of our success. With the year-end holidays upon us, we are particularly grateful for those legacy relationships and for their referrals that have brought new relationships into our business. We strive every day to preserve their trust.