Our Services

Even with recent changes to the tax law, estate taxes can still wipe out a significant portion of any inheritance. Minimizing your estate taxes and helping to ensure your family and other beneficiaries get more of your estate than the government is an important step in the financial planning process.

Estate planning covers everything from being sure you have a will to taking advantage of techniques that significantly reduce your estate tax. Careful planning is required or Uncle Sam will extract a large portion of what it took you a lifetime to accumulate. We work closely with your lawyer (or can recommend one) to help formulate the best plan for your specific needs and goals.

Planning for the potential costs of a nursing home, assisted living facility or home health care is also essential for preserving your estate. Documents such as your will, living will, durable power of attorney, health care proxy and living trust are discussed to see that they are current. We also make sure they contain provisions necessary to take advantage of estate tax reduction techniques.

If you own a business, the need to seamlessly transfer ownership of that business to the next generation, or to develop an alternative exit strategy, is a critical part of your overall financial plan. Without a succession plan, your company may become a statistic:  one of the two-thirds of all family businesses which fail to make it from one generation to the next.

Gray Equity Management, in collaboration with Gray, Gray & Gray and your legal advisors, will help craft a dynamic succession plan that takes into account not only the essential financial aspects of the process, but also have great sensitivity for the very real personal and family issues that play such an important role.

Should family succession be impractical, we’ll develop an exit strategy that is most appropriate both financially and emotionally. This may be a sale to key employees, a buyout by a partner, or a sale to a competitor.

Our overall goal will always be to maximize your potential income, both immediate and over the long-term, with an emphasis on structuring any succession or exit to take advantage of the most favorable tax position.

Having the confidence that you are able to afford the projected cost of the education of your children or grandchildren is vital to your overall financial plan. We run various models that compare such variables as private vs. public education, and lump sum vs. monthly savings plans. We can even prepare a specific cost projection for the college or university of your choice.

State prepaid and investing plans are analyzed, as are income-shifting techniques and available income tax advantages (such as educational credits, educational IRAs, UGMAs, UTMAs and Section 529 plans).

We’ll help you make the best use of your money to provide an education for your children or grandchildren in the most cost effective manner. This will free up valuable dollars for your retirement planning.

Part of a sound financial strategy is planning for the unexpected. Gray Equity Management will help you identify and evaluate potential risks and take steps to avoid or mitigate them.

The first step is to establish and maintain a liquid emergency fund covering approximately three to six months of living expenses. This fund is invested in vehicles that have low risk, such as a savings account, money market or certificate of deposit.

Next, we will help you objectively determine the different types and amounts of life insurance you need, both today and over the course of your lifetime. We will help you find the appropriate insurance carrier offering the most effective coverage for your needs, at competitive rates.

These procedures will help you protect your family’s assets and ensure their financial well-being.

Today, we have many ways to prepare financially for our golden years. Yet, without a specific plan of action, many people find themselves falling short when it is time for them to relax and enjoy their life’s work.

Among the most important financial tasks Gray Equity Management can help you accomplish is the development of a workable retirement plan.

Our goal is to help you develop a well-balanced plan that draws on many different resources to build a retirement savings “nest egg” that will support your chosen lifestyle.

We start by helping you envision the type of lifestyle you would like in retirement and then estimate the savings you’ll need to support that lifestyle. Most people need 70 to 90 percent of pre-retirement salary (adjusted for inflation). We examine likely sources of income, including Social Security benefits, investment income, savings, pensions, part-time earnings, rental income, etc. We then project expenses, both discretionary and non-discretionary, throughout your life expectancy.

Next we develop a realistic financial plan to achieve that lifestyle. Remember, the combination of time and compound interest means that even small contributions can make a big difference.

When choosing among different investment instruments, whether a company-sponsored retirement plan or your own IRA or investment portfolio, it is important to keep a time horizon – the amount of time before and during retirement – in mind.

Our balanced approach to retirement planning helps to ensure that your assets continue to grow safely and securely. Integral to our plan is careful monitoring of the status of your retirement savings portfolio, with regular “checkups” to help maximize the return on your investments.

Above all, we want to be sure that your retirement plan is appropriate to your current situation, while anticipating future needs.

Developing an investment strategy that coordinates with your overall financial goals is what we do best. We’ll help you devise an approach to investments that is sensible, practical, advantageous and in accordance with your level of risk tolerance, then we will help you manage your investments to maximize their return and protect your gains.

We will assist you in defining your investment policy. Your investment policy is where your investment returns are balanced against your level of risk tolerance and time horizon. Knowing the rate of return you need to accomplish your financial goals and objectives is important information.

Why take more risk than you are accustomed to? Your time horizon, asset mix, allocation, liquidity, asset class tax structure, risk tolerance and desired rate of return are all addressed in this part of your integrated financial plan.

Gray Equity Management will help you identify and evaluate the best course of action. This may include securing disability insurance to replace lost income should you be unable to work; and long-term care insurance to cover anticipated expenses from a serious illness or injury.

Such proactive planning is a vital part of an overall wealth management plan, and an important way to help ensure a secure future for your family and others who depend on you.

Financial planning must become a dynamic process. Events and circumstances do not always occur as planned. For that reason a periodic review of your financial plan is necessary to give the planning process continuity and to ensure that your plan succeeds in dealing with your changing situation.

Changes in your personal circumstances, tax laws, inflation rates, the investment environment, Social Security benefits and other unforeseeable events could modify the outcome of your financial plan. By monitoring your finances on a regular basis, we can help coordinate your current circumstances with changes in investment opportunities and the economic climate.

It is crucial to have an in-depth financial independence projection that shows you, on a regular basis, how your current investments, retirement accounts and future savings will grow and be disbursed. This report can help you determine whether or not you are putting away enough funds now to live as you choose in the future.

Studying several projections based on different scenarios allows you to choose the best course for your future.

The projections we develop show details such as minimum distributions from your retirement accounts, income taxes due, payoffs of mortgages and college expenses, and net worth at the end of each year. We can then use this information as a “road map” to compare against your actual financial progress.

Gray Equity Management recommends financial reviews on the following schedule:

• Personal Financial Plan – Annually
• Money Management – Quarterly
• Immediate Review upon change in personal economic circumstances or major changes in economy

The best way to integrate the many services we offer is through a coordinated financial plan. Gray Equity Management can develop a personalized “financial road map” for your overall financial future, incorporating all aspects of wealth management and planning. Or we can design a more narrowly defined plan that is focused on a specific area.

We start with an honest analysis of your personal goals. How do you envision your future? How will you finance the education of your children or grandchildren? When would you like to retire? What kind of lifestyle would you like to lead right now? In ten years? In thirty years? What will be your legacy to your family or your community? What promises do you need to keep?

All of these very personal and private issues are addressed and considered as we develop a financial plan that will help deliver the security necessary to attain your goals.

Next we determine the amount of discretionary funds that you have available to direct toward achieving your financial goals and objectives. We begin by helping you prepare a statement of net worth that reflects not only the classification of your assets (liquid, investment, personal) but also their ownership (husband, wife, joint, trust, etc.). Seeing how your assets are titled helps identify estate planning opportunities.

Your debt structure is analyzed, including mortgages, loans and credit card balances. A cash flow projection is prepared that reflects the sources and uses of your financial resources into the foreseeable future.

All of these elements are combined into a written plan that will serve to guide your monetary and investment decisions. The plan includes investment strategies, insurance plans, expense management, an estate plan and built-in reporting functions to track progress.

This plan becomes a “touchstone” by which decisions are judged… and promises are kept.

Gray Equity Management is ready to assist you with planning and implementation of any special financial or wealth management issue that may arise.

For example, many people include among their financial goals the ability to share their wealth through charitable contributions. Whether through financial support of existing organizations, establishment of specific giving opportunities or the bequest of financial benefits through an estate, we can help you meet this personal preference.

Philanthropical activities must be as well planned and carefully structured as any other part of your financial plan. This serves two purposes. First, careful planning ensures that the financial support you wish to provide is available and properly disbursed. Second, planning helps to ensure that you gain the full benefit of any tax advantage brought about by giving.

Gray Equity Management is prepared to work with your legal counsel to help you plan your giving carefully and thoughtfully.

If you are a business owner you know the value of understanding financial issues, and the necessity for planning ahead for your business. At the same time, the financial security of your employees also matters to you. Why? Employees whose minds are at ease about retirement, college savings and other important financial issues are more positive and better able to focus on their jobs. That means a more productive and profitable workforce for your business.

Gray Equity Management, LLC can help your company provide employees with beneficial information and guidance they need to make better decisions about their finances. It’s a great employee benefit, and we can do it at minimal cost to your business.

Financial education offers benefits to both your employees and your business. Employees gain access to information they can use to make sound financial decisions, and the tools to better understand how to maximize the value of the employee benefits offered through the company.

Your company gains a better educated and more confident workforce, which helps to increase productivity and employee retention. Equally important, providing financial education to employees reduces future exposure to litigation and helps fulfill the company’s fiduciary responsibilities.

Gray Equity Management, LLC will design and present an engaging, informative workshop (or series of workshops) for your employees, either in small groups or in a larger presentation. Each workshop is specifically formulated to fit the demographic of the employee group. We have presented workshops to the employees of companies of all types and sizes, privately held as well as publicly traded.

Among the topics Gray Equity Management, LLC has addressed with employee groups are:

• The ABCs of College Funding
• Life Insurance 101
• Retirement Planning Essentials
• Estate Planning: The Family Love Letter
• Employment Transitions (after layoffs)
• Elder Care Planning

Our firm may also be engaged to meet with participants on a one-on-one basis, on-site, as a follow-up to the workshop.

In addition to presenting to employees, Gray Equity Management, LLC offers comprehensive wealth management services that may be provided as a benefit to your company’s management team.  Eligible employees for this service are typically allocated a specified number of hours of planning annually. We can even provide income tax planning and preparation through Gray, Gray & Gray, LLP.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss these services with you in more detail.