Financial planning is the foundation of your financial success. It all begins here.

• We help you explore your lifestyle goals and dreams and provide you with a plan to meet them.
• We help you identify your financial strengths and challenges by creating income and expense documents so you have a clear understanding of your cash flow.
• Your cash flow is the key to your financial independence. We show you how to save by helping you align your present choices and future lifestyle with your desired financial success. It’s not always easy, but it is certainly possible.
• We help you prioritize and make the right decisions, keeping in mind your values and what is important to you.

Retirement is not an event. It’s a phase of life.

• We help you understand your retirement plans, options, pensions and other retirement savings.
• We help you prioritize and then we analyze multiple outcomes to create the most tax-efficient strategy to meet your goals.
• Through our advanced planning process we analyze your current and future finances — assets, income, expenses — and help you get on track to where you need to be.
• The process will help us determine the best use of your financial resources.
• We help you make your retirement plan decisions and maximize your savings.

We help you plan to meet your personal and family needs by reviewing your existing documents and agreements.

• We help you understand the roles of your trustees, executors and beneficiaries. We make sure your plan aligns with your personal wishes during your lifetime as well as your wishes for your legacy.
• We help you create an efficient transfer of wealth by identifying the impact of current asset ownership, and ensuring your assets are titled as set forth in legal documents.
• We advise you on charitable and gifting strategies, helping you meet your legacy wishes.

Your investment strategy is essential to meeting your financial goals. Remaining invested during market fluctuations can be difficult if your portfolio is not aligned with your psychological risk tolerance.

• We help you overcome this “behavior gap” by integrating your risk tolerance with your short-, medium- and longer-term goals.
• Our portfolios are well diversified using low-cost and no-load investments. Our preferred investment choices for our portfolios are low-cost mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and individual bonds, as appropriate.
• We are fee-only; we do not receive commissions from the investments we select for you.

Unexpected financial changes due to divorce or the death of a loved one can create a block in your life, preventing you from moving forward.

• Life changes require meaningful conversations and thoughtful actions to help you plan for the new normal in your life.
• Unexpected wealth requires a carefully planned strategy to ensure the assets are allocated to meet your current goals and invested for your long-term objectives.
• We act as your thinking partner and your guide to help prepare you to take action. As you progress through each step, we will guide you in all aspects that affect your financial life and your new life.
• We assist in creating a team of specialists to assess, guide and implement recommendations to create peace of mind.

Your tax return is your financial X-ray; it provides insight into your financial life.

• We review two years of tax returns to help us recommend tax-efficient strategies going forward.
• We work with you and your accountants and help you prepare your tax documents.
• We evaluate the tax impact of financial life decisions such as asset sales, gifts and transfers. We then recommend strategies that consider both current and future tax implications.

While an “unusually uncertain” economic outlook creates significant challenges in planning for financial security for our clients, it also provides opportunities to implement tax-advantaged investment strategies that may mitigate risk and/or enhance after-tax returns. Some of the proven products and services that First Down Financial supports include:

• LRP Plus
• Defined Benefit Plans
• Captive Insurance Compensation
• SEPs
• SOLAR Plans
• ROTH IRAs
• Annuities
• Guaranteed Retirement Plans
• Legacy Planning