Investment Portfolio Management
We partner with you to build lasting investment portfolios by drawing from our deep team of experts and institutional caliber portfolio and risk analysis. Each family has unique needs, challenges, wants, and desires. We co-create portfolios with you by taking into account all facets of your family’s life. Our investment portfolios are built for the long-term, with consideration for needs of the short-term. Our investing tenets guide our decision making at every turn:
- Long-Term Investing: We co-create an investment policy statement with each client and set a long-term strategic asset allocation that serves as the basis for all investment decisions
- Risk Management: Unlike other consulting and advisory firms, we don’t believe that volatility necessarily equals risk. We define risk as the permanent loss of capital. As such, we focus on downside risk and the perils that come with large losses.
- Endowment Approach: We believe in a total return approach to investing. Income investing can be a great marketing tool but in reality families are better off creating a reasonable spending policy and receiving gains from a combination of capital appreciation and income.
- Objective Advice: Our Consultants and in-house research team pride themselves on providing objective, conflict free investment advice. With no proprietary products and no affiliation with asset management firms, we are free to pursue the best interest of our clients.
Retirement Planning
Whether retirement is a distant dream or your current reality; a well thought out retirement plan is essential.
While you’re still working, your consultant will help you define and prioritize retirement goals as well as address an array of savings vehicles and investment strategies to help you reach them.
When it comes time to retire, we’ll be ready to walk with you through the entire transition. Having experienced countless journeys into retirement with our clients, we’re able to prepare you for the decisions and challenges that come with it. Armed with a broad array of techniques ranging from social security optimization to cash flow and income strategies, our consultants and planners will create a unique plan for your specific needs.
Education Savings & Gifts
With tuition prices at an all-time high, saving for education continues to be a top priority for many families. If you are interested in setting aside money for your children, grandchildren, or other beneficiaries, your CIC team can talk you through an assortment of savings vehicles such as 529 plans, Pre-Paid Tuition Plans, UTMAs, and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts. With your overall financial picture in mind, your CIC Team can help you determine which savings method is most appropriate for your specific need.
Once a vehicle is selected, your CIC team can run projections to determine the savings rate needed to reach your specific education goals. Going forward, your team will continue to monitor your account to ensure funding remains on track and confirm your contributions and distributions continue to be made in the most tax efficient way possible.
Trusts & Estates
No one likes to think about their own death or incapacity. Even fewer people like to talk about it. For that reason, having estate documents such as wills, trusts, and powers of attorney is so imperative. These documents allow the deceased to have a say while giving their loved ones relief from having to make tough decisions in an already emotional time.
With a strong understanding of your goals and overall financial picture, we can review your current estate plans to ensure they are consistent with your wishes. If there are changes to be made or documents to be drafted, we can work with your estate attorney, or recommend an attorney, to develop a plan that alleviates your concerns and cements your legacy.
Being well versed in the technical terms and tax minimizing strategies that are often used by estate attorneys, our planners can offer ideas and insight even in the most complex estate planning situations.
Carolinas Investment Consulting does not offer tax or legal advice.
Insurance
Risk management is a pillar of comprehensive financial planning. An uninsured loss can expose your family to a drastic change in circumstances. In many situations we encourage the purchase of insurance to ensure that your lifestyle and financial goals will not be at risk following catastrophic events such as death, disability, or incapacitation.
Our experts, in conjunction with your insurance advisor, can help you understand what types of protection may be appropriate for you and your family. Your CIC team is ready to take the complexity and bias out of purchasing life, long term care, disability, and property and casualty insurance. If you already have insurance our team can review your existing policies for risk exposure as well as answer any questions you may have.
Collaboration with Other Professionals
While your CIC team works with you to organize, simplify, and plan your family’s financial affairs, it may be practical for us to collaborate with your other trusted advisors. We’ll happily join forces with your CPA to ensure tax efficiency, work with your attorney to confirm your estate planning documents are in line with your overall financial picture, and team up with your insurance advisor to make certain your lifestyle and financial goals will not be at risk following a loss.
Our collaboration with other professionals extends beyond your personal network of advisors. We’ll also put you in touch with our own trusted contacts when we believe their expertise could add value to your overall financial situation. Our contacts include but are not limited to local CPAs, Attorneys, Insurance Advisors, Real estate professionals as well as Loan & Mortgage Officers.
Having worked with many professionals in the aforementioned industries, we are able to talk you through the typical process and reasonable cost associated with each service. This coordination of efforts ensures the most efficient approach is taken to achieve your goals.
Carolinas Investment Consulting does not offer tax or legal advice.
Charitable Giving
If you are charitably inclined, there are numerous ways to make gifts. Your CIC team can help facilitate the best ways for your family to give back to the causes, organizations, and communities you cherish.
- Donor Advised Funds
- Supporting Organizations
- Private Foundations
- Charitable Trusts
- Gifts of Cash or Appreciated Securities
- Gifts of Business Interests or Real Estate
Organization
As we grow older, the complexity of our financial situation grows as well. With so many moving pieces, it’s easy to feel a bit lost in the shuffle. That’s where we come in. We dedicate a Family Organizer to each of our clients.
The Family Organizer is intended to be a collection of your most important financial documents. These documents include copies of Estate Plans, Tax Returns, Insurance Policies, Outside Investments, Cash Flow analysis, Net Worth statements, and other important documents.
Because the financial planning process requires an understanding of each client’s complete financial situation when making decisions, The Family Organizer provides the basis for making appropriate investment recommendations and developing an overall financial plan.
The Family Organizer will be kept safely at our office in a protected room to ensure your personal information remains secure and private. It will be taken to each meeting for your review.
Family Office
For those who are juggling a career, family and community obligations, CIC offers a comprehensive family office service: your outsourced “CFO”. Your CIC team will handle your family’s financial needs with the utmost care and professional diligence. Services include:
- Cash flow forecasting and monitoring
- Income tax review and strategies (in coordination with your tax advisor)
- Estate Planning and Wealth Transfer (in coordination with your attorney)
- Education Planning and Family Gifting
- Multi-generational planning & education
- Risk Management and Asset Protection
- Investment Management
