Five Star award winner Krzysztof Garlewicz, CFP®

A simple framework for your financial plan

By Krzysztof 'Kris' Garlewicz, CFP® President of ProsperiFi | September 2024

Regardless of where you are in your financial journey, having a financial plan is a key to experiencing a positive outcome. A dream without a plan is just that, a dream. You may currently have an idea of what you want your financial future to be. Having a successful financial plan requires time to organize, prepare and align your resources. Looking forward to the future will help you determine which items to bring along with you for the future. Follow this simple framework to build, preserve, and spend your wealth.

Guiding Principals

You’re planning and investing for the future, not today. Establish a non-negotiable list of principals that will be with you each step of the way.

Build a solid strategy which outlines your personal, professional, and financial objectives.
Be realistic with your expectations and the outcomes you hope to achieve.
Identify trusted advisors with a clear standard of care and regularly keep them accountable. Be prepared to ask questions when things are not up to your expectations.
Remember that behavior drives decisions; update your plan to stay on course.
Cash flow, cash flow, cash flow. Consider this when building a personal spending strategy or evaluating an investment.
Actively manage risk in all areas of planning, including career, longevity, and generational concerns.

Build

Save and invest according to your needs and your lifestyle. Create a saving plan and use a simple investment policy statement to outline what you’re comfortable owning in your portfolio.

Think globally and identify themes that you or your fund managers can intelligently allocate to.
Create a personal investment allocation statement which outlines your appetite for risk, asset allocation and even procedures to minimize losses.
Avoid the noise - the media does not understand your personal objectives and cannot have your best interests in mind.
Cash is king and sometimes the best investment is the one you don’t make.
Avoid the rear-view mirror when it comes to money, there’s a reason for the disclaimer “past performance is not indicative of future results.” History should provide a lesson and not a trigger to expect more of the same.

Preserve

Risk is all around us. Focus on identifying and managing it. Work with your service professionals to help you in this process.

Encourage and expect collaboration with your various service professionals to identify risk and build this into your planning process.
Diversification goes beyond just your portfolio. Consider diversifying your income resources now and in retirement. Consider the various tax aspects of these income sources, which can be diversified as well.
Remove emotions by automating and delegating decisions to the advisors on your team.
An optimal portfolio is one that aligns with your personal game plan; be realistic about how much risk you can stomach. Sleeping well may serve you better than the anxiety that comes with a challenging market cycle.
Safety and certainty are not the same things. CD’s and cash can lose purchasing power just as any investment can suffer a bear market.

Spend

What gets measured, gets managed. What better way to keep score than knowing where your money goes and who gets it.

Create a simple income statement that will help you identify needs vs. wants and unlock free cash flow to fund future goals.
Maintain a simple balance sheet that lays out what you own and what you owe.
Keep track of your key contacts and a short memo on what each person or company is doing for you.
Stakeholders are the people most important to you and your personal plan. Don’t be afraid to involve and educate them because applied knowledge is the power to honor your wishes.

It’s your money. Plan Wisely.

Shocks and surprises come up when you least expect them, but lady luck looks out for those with a plan. It’s best to invest time now to set the right course, stick to it and experience better outcomes along the way. Use this framework to help build a financial plan that may help you achieve your goals. If you’re ready to work with a team that specializes in creating financial strategies tailored to your own wealth goals, call ProsperiFi at 847-310-7133. We’ll help you plan wisely.

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This award was issued on 10/1/24 by Five Star Professional (FSP) for the time period 1/9/24 through 8/9/24. Fee paid for use of marketing materials. Self-completed questionnaire was used for rating. This rating is not related to the quality of the investment advice and based solely on the disclosed criteria. 6273 Chicago-area wealth managers were considered for the award; 400 (6% of candidates) were named 2024 Five Star Wealth Managers. The following prior year statistics use this format: YEAR: # Considered, # Winners, % of candidates, Issued Date, Research Period. 2023: 5,549, 405, 7%, 10/1/23, 1/9/23 - 7/31/23; 2022: 4912, 384, 8%, 10/1/22, 1/24/22 - 7/29/22; 2021: 5635, 386, 7%, 10/1/21, 12/28/20 - 8/6/21; 2020: 4636, 356, 8%, 10/1/20, 1/6/20 - 8/7/20; 2019: 5430, 429, 8%, 10/1/19, 1/7/19 - 8/9/19; 2018: 5449, 435, 8%, 10/1/18, 1/12/18 - 8/17/18; 2017: 3781, 438, 12%, 10/1/17, 12/16/16 - 8/3/17; 2016: 3411, 726, 22%, 9/1/16, 2/26/16 - 8/19/16; 2015: 5833, 716, 12%, 10/1/15, 2/4/15 - 8/3/15; 2014: 8161, 744, 9%, 10/1/14, 2/4/13 - 8/3/13; 2013: 3998, 772, 19%, 10/1/13, 2/4/12 - 8/3/12; 2012: 2970, 780, 26%, 10/1/12, 2/4/11 - 8/3/11.

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The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk.

Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. The award is based on 10 objective criteria. Eligibility criteria - required: 1. Credentialed as a registered investment adviser (RIA) or a registered investment adviser representative; 2. Actively licensed as a RIA or as a principal of a registered investment adviser firm for a minimum of 5 years; 3. Favorable regulatory and complaint history review (As defined by FSP, the wealth manager has not; A. Been subject to a regulatory action that resulted in a license being suspended or revoked, or payment of a fine; B. Had more than a total of three settled or pending complaints filed against them and/or a total of five settled, pending, dismissed or denied complaints with any regulatory authority or FSP's consumer complaint process. Unfavorable feedback may have been discovered through a check of complaints registered with a regulatory authority or complaints registered through FSP's consumer complaint process; feedback may not be representative of any one client's experience; C. Individually contributed to a financial settlement of a customer complaint; D. Filed for personal bankruptcy within the past 11 years; E. Been terminated from a financial services firm within the past 11 years; F. Been convicted of a felony); 4. Fulfilled their firm review based on internal standards; 5. Accepting new clients. Evaluation criteria - considered: 6. One-year client retention rate; 7. Five-year client retention rate; 8. Non-institutional discretionary and/or non-discretionary client assets administered; 9. Number of client households served; 10. Education and professional designations. FSP does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The award is not indicative of the wealth manager's future performance. Wealth managers may or may not use discretion in their practice and therefore may not manage their clients' assets. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by FSP or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by FSP in the future. Visit www.fivestarprofessional.com.