Your Goals and Dreams, Our Guidance

We follow a time-tested process to help ensure your wealth is managed to the best of our abilities:

1.       In-Depth Discovery Session. You do the talking, we listen—unless we ask questions to fully understand what you want to achieve.

2.       Research. And Research. We  review various portfolio constructions before presenting a plan that aims to accomplish your goals.

3.       Implement. Once you give us permission, we’ll initiate our agreed upon plan.

4.       Refine. Your goals or priorities can change over time or sometimes in an instant. We’ll work together to reallocate your assets to respond to your life’s developments.

Your investments should work together to help you reach your financial goals. You have access to many investment products and services. Here are some we offer to help you build your plan for the future and for now. 

Retirement Plan Distribution Options

If you’re changing jobs or retiring, you’ll need to decide what to do with assets in your qualified employer-sponsored retirement plan. These savings can represent a significant portion of your retirement income, so it’s important you carefully evaluate all of the options.

Advisory Services

Our Advisory Services can help you save time managing investments. Find out how we can offer financial guidance and help you keep up with the markets. Our programs allow flexibility in how much your professional portfolio manager does for you or with you.

Business Services

Your company is one of your most important assets. It’s the product of your hard work. We can offer your business a variety of customized products and services, from employee benefit plans to insurance and help with succession planning.

College Savings Plans

Saving up to pay for your child’s college education doesn’t have to interfere with your retirement goals. 529 plans and trust funds are designed to help parents and grandparents save for a child’s education. Planning for retirement, managing your investment portfolio, and funding a college education is a balancing act. The trick is to plan ahead.

Estate Planning Strategies

Everyone could use an estate plan. It’s not about what you own – but putting you in control. Estate planning can often be fairly simple with professional help. Sometimes it’s more complex.  Make an appointment with us to talk about your estate planning goals. 

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA)

Find out ideas on how we can help you reach your retirement goals with an IRA. Even if you already contribute to a qualified employer-sponsored retirement plan (QRP), you should consider investing in an IRA. It can help supplement those savings and give you access to a wider range of investments.

Insurance

Insurance can play a key role in helping preserve your assets and achieve your financial goals. Plan to help protect all aspects of your financial life: family, business, retirement, and legacy. Consider how insurance can help protect the people and causes you care about the most.

Investment Products

Developing your investment plan includes choosing which products and services might help you meet your financial goals. We can discuss what might work for your situation and help you feel confident as you work toward achieving your goals.

Retirement Planning

Creating a plan can help you stay focused, plan for challenges, and make choices that work for you. Find out how to create and manage your retirement plan. We’ll look at your whole picture. Together, we’ll prioritize your goals for the future and map out a financial course to help you achieve them.

All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.

Advisory programs are not appropriate for all investors. Please carefully review the Wells Fargo Advisors advisory disclosure document for a full description of our services. There are minimum account size requirements for these programs.

Please consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing in a 529 savings plan. The official statement, which contains this and other information, can be obtained by calling your financial advisor. Read it carefully before you invest.

Wells Fargo and Company and its Affiliates do not provide tax or legal advice. This communication cannot be relied upon to avoid tax penalties. Please consult your tax and legal advisors to determine how this information may apply to your own situation. Whether any planned tax result is realized by you depends on the specific facts of your own situation at the time your tax return is filed.

Insurance products are offered through nonbank insurance agency affiliates of Wells Fargo & Company and are underwritten by unaffiliated insurance companies.

• Everyone could use an estate plan – not just the wealthy.
• 5 documents are essential for many estate plans.
• An estate planning attorney and your accountant will work with your Financial Advisor.

Estate planning: a matter of control 

You might associate estate planning with famous people you see in the news. In fact, estate planning could be appropriate for everyone. 

Consider your assets: bank accounts, investment accounts, 401(k) or 403(b) plan accounts, house, cars, jewelry, and heirlooms. This is your estate and your estate plan can define what you would like to happen to these assets when you die. 

An estate plan can also take care of you as you get older or if you become ill or incapacitated. Being wealthy has little to do with it. 

If you don’t make your own plan, your family may be left scrambling at an already difficult time. Bottom line: If you don’t decide, someone will decide for you.  

Five essential documents 

These five documents are often essential to an estate plan: 

• Will - Instructions for distributing your assets when you die. You will name a personal representative (executor) to pay final expenses and taxes and distribute remaining assets. Name a guardian to raise your minor children if both parents die. 
• Durable power of attorney – You give a trusted individual management power over your assets if you can’t manage them yourself. This document is effective only while you’re alive. 
• Health care power of attorney - You choose someone to make medical decisions on your behalf if something were to happen and you can’t make them yourself. 
• Living will – Shares your intentions about life-sustaining medical measures if you are terminally ill. No one is given authority to speak for you. 
• Revocable living trust - You can provide for continued management of your financial matters while you are alive, after your death, and even for generations after. 

Why beneficiary designations are important

Beneficiary designations can be an easy way to transfer an account or insurance policy when you die. But if you didn’t complete beneficiary designations, or haven’t updated them, they can cause issues with your estate plan. 

Designations on forms are often filled out without much thought – but they’re important and deserve your attention. Beneficiary designations on forms like your insurance policy and 401(k) take priority over other estate planning documents, like your will or trust. 

Let’s say you specify in your will you want everything to go to your spouse after your death. But you never changed the beneficiary designation on your life insurance policy and it names your ex-spouse. Your ex may end up getting the proceeds. 

Turn to a team of professionals 

Making the decisions involved with estate planning may seem overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be. You can start by organizing your important documents. 

Turn to a team of trusted professionals, including your financial advisor, an estate planning attorney, and your accountant. They know the questions to ask and can help you avoid potential pitfalls. 

If you currently don’t have relationships with an attorney and an accountant, we can make some recommendations. We can also discuss our role in the planning process and how you can get started. 

Next steps 

• Make an appointment with us to talk about your estate planning goals.
• Start gathering your financial documents.
• Check the beneficiary designations on your financial and investment accounts.

Trust services available through banking and trust affiliates in addition to non-affiliated companies of Wells Fargo Advisors. 

Wells Fargo Advisors and its affiliate do not provide tax or legal advice. Please consult with your tax and/or legal advisors before taking any action that may have tax and/or legal consequences.  Any estate plan should be reviewed by an attorney who specializes in estate planning and is licensed to practice law in your state.

• You have many options for investing.
• Investments should work together to help you accomplish your financial goals.

Types of investments

Part of the investment planning process is making investment choices that fit your investment strategy. Those investments should work together to help you accomplish your financial goals. We’re dedicated to providing you a wide range of investment products and services to help you meet them. 

As an investor, you have many options. Common types of investments include: 

• Stocks  - An investment giving you partial ownership in a company based on the number of shares you purchase. Stocks tend to fluctuate more in the short term, but may perform well over time. 
• Bonds  - An investment that functions as a loan to a government or institution in return for regular interest payments. Bonds can provide more stability than stocks, even though bonds have historically provided lower returns than stocks. 
• Mutual funds - A fund allowing you to pool your money with others in a professionally managed portfolio. Mutual funds offer diversification through a mix of investments, such as stocks or bonds.¹
• Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) - A basket of securities traded throughout the day — just like individual stocks — on a national stock exchange. Like mutual funds, you purchase shares of an overall fund rather than individual investments.¹
• Annuities - A contract between you and an insurance company requiring the insurer to make payments to you, either immediately or in the future. You make contributions to the annuity for a guaranteed income stream.²
• Brokered certificates of deposit (CDs) - Brokered CDs are issued by banks, purchased in bulk by securities firms and sold to clients. Investors do not receive physical certificates for their brokered CDs, but instead receive a periodic account statement detailing their CD holdings. Brokered CDs’ market value may fluctuate over time.   

Contact a Financial Advisor to learn more about the types of investments to consider for your portfolio.

Next steps

• Understand the variety of investments available.
• Talk with your Financial Advisor about investment choices.

¹Investment returns may fluctuate and are subject to market volatility, so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, or sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost. 

²Variable annuities are long-term investments appropriate for retirement funding and are subject to market fluctuations and investment risk. Guarantees are based on the claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Guarantees apply to minimum income from an annuity; they do not guarantee an investment return or the safety of the underlying funds.

Formally documenting your wishes for your estate may seem daunting, as it involves grappling with your mortality. But it is crucial part of a comprehensive wealth plan, one that goes beyond finances and cash flow.

Formal estate plans can help:

• Lead to timely, efficient estate settlement and distributions to beneficiaries
• Reduce potential family dynamics issues
• Prevent unwanted tax liability
• Provide comfort and continuity that your wishes will be followed as you age and after you’re gone
• Align your wealth transfer with your charitable vision.

It’s important to remember that your estate plan isn’t set in stone. You should revisit it at least annually to account for changes to your goals or life. We can refer you to Wells Fargo affiliates or work with your existing estate plan provider to provide crucial guidance for this pillar of effective wealth management.

Essential Estate Planning Documents

The number of documents in your estate plan will depend entirely on your circumstances, but these five can be considered must-haves for most people.

Will – This legal document expresses your wishes for distributing your property after you die. Establishing a will is important, especially if you have minor children or significant assets.

Durable Power of Attorney - This gives someone else authority to make financial decisions on your behalf if you become unable. This is highly recommended as it helps ensure your finances will be handled properly if you cannot do so yourself.

Healthcare Power of Attorney - If you can’t communicate your wishes regarding your care, this document helps ensure they will be honored in the event of your incapacitation.

Living Will - This outlines your wishes for end-of-life care, including life support or other medical treatments.

Revocable Living Trust - With this document, you can avoid probate court and distribute your property according to your wishes after you die. This can save time and money while adding an additional layer of privacy.

<sub>Trust services available through banking and trust affiliates in addition to nonaffiliated companies of Wells Fargo and its affiliates.

Wells Fargo and Company and its Affiliates do not provide tax or legal advice. Be sure to consult with your tax and legal advisors before taking any action that could have tax consequences. Any estate plan should be reviewed by an attorney who specializes in estate planning and is licensed to practice law in your state.

Wealth & Investment Management (WIM) offers financial products and services through bank and brokerage affiliates of Wells Fargo & Company. Bank products and services are available through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Wells Fargo Trust is a part of WIM and offers services through Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Wells Fargo Delaware Trust Company, N.A.</sub>