Three Phases of Money

Presented by Doug Greene

Each client, whether they realize it or not, go through three phases of money in their lifetime. It’s important to educate them as to how their money actually works.

Beginning right out of college with their first job starts The Accumulation Phase. In this phase, they will run through a lot of life experiences (marriage, first home purchase, children, etc.). It is important for them to grow their money to the most they possibly can in the most efficient way possible. There are number of different ways to do this. Just ask Google. It’s our goal to educate them to all of these options without opinion, attitude, or sales hype. Every product has its positives & negatives. It’s not the product that matters, it’s the product plus the strategy that matters.

The first day of retirement is when The Distribution Phase starts. This is where the rubber meets the road. Everything changes once those paychecks stop coming in every week. The goal of this phase is to turn on as much income as possible from all the assets they have accumulated. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter how big the account balance is for these folks. All that matters is how much income can those accounts generate. Again, it’s not the product (401k, IRA, SEP, NQ Account, etc.) but the product plus the strategy that matters!

After retirement (I think we all know what that means!), The Preservation Phase comes into play. How do we pass all of our remaining assets, property, life insurance, etc. in the most efficient manner as possible? How do we get them to our heirs, charities, endowments? This phase needs to be addressed throughout the other phases of money as well. It is important to make sure the least amount as possible goes to other parties that have interest in their wealth (IRS, probate, creditors). One more time, it’s not the product (CRUT, ILIT, SLAT, etc.) that matters. It’s how everything works in lockstep together.