Life with Moxie

Jill Ciccarelli Rapps was featured on the radio program Life with Moxie at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Throughout her 30-minute interview, Jill emphasized her approach to serving our client families, offered practical tips to help you prepare for financial wellness, and shared her insight on recent market trends.

Enjoy these four highlights from Jill’s interview!

Look at the big picture

“Who cares about how much money you have if you can’t use it to build the kind of life you want for you and your family?” Jill said.

“The biggest question you have to answer is ‘What brings me the most joy in life?’”

She stressed the importance of identifying the key priorities in your life – whether it be family, travel, health or charity.

By encouraging our clients to articulate their purpose, passion and priorities, she assists families in bridging their deepest desires with their financial situation.

“Money and our day-to-day life are so inextricably linked. When we’re at the point where we’re overwhelmed, where we don’t feel comfortable with our money, often times those things are not aligned.”

Keep your finances organized and up-to-date

“Organization is a common challenge that I see. I’ve seen clients with a box full of financial papers, or clients who have all their financial information stored in their head.”

“It’s so important to help our clients take what’s in their head and document it in a way their family and loved ones can understand.”

Jill suggested the use of an online vault, where all of your key financial and estate planning documents can be housed electronically. The online vault is a secure, convenient method for sharing documents with your beneficiaries. This resource is especially valuable for clients who have children scattered across the U.S.

In addition to organizing your financial information, you should review and update all of your important documents at least once every two years – especially in the wake of a major transition.

“Whether it’s a divorce, whether a spouse has passed away, you really need to re-look at all the beneficiaries and ownerships and make sure they’re aligned well with your goals.”

Prepare your long-term health care strategy

“Health care expenses are the number one thing that can derail anyone’s financial plan.”

Based on her experience, Jill said one of the major concerns that middle-aged adults are facing today is taking care of our parents.

“Do you have a plan in place? Do your family members have a plan in place? If you don’t or you don’t know, your communication strategy has to begin.”

Due to the personal, often uncomfortable nature of discussing end-of-life issues, many people avoid having conversations about their health care plan with their spouse or children. This trend seems especially common among members of the “greatest generation”.

“People from that generation weren’t really communicative about those issues. I’ve seen people in their 80s, they need health care, and their kids don’t know what they have in place or what to do.”

Open communication between family members is a vital component of any effective health care strategy.

“Without communication, it’s like asking a neighbor to come into your house and understand your full financial picture within a couple of hours. It’s impossible!”

If you find it difficult to discuss your long-term health care strategy with your children and loved ones, a CAS advisor can facilitate a family meeting to address these priorities.

Don’t let fear prevent you from taking advantage of opportunities

“When we hear about the markets on TV and hear all the day-to-day news, we as the consumer tend to say the glass is half empty. People are scared, and are not taking advantage of opportunity.”

Jill acknowledged that the U.S. will likely experience modest economic growth over the next few years, and that higher volatility within the marketplace could become the norm.

However, she added that “the fundamentals in the U.S. have developed very nicely over eight years.”

Instead of worrying about market fluctuations or the impact of the upcoming election on your finances, Jill recommends focusing on what you can control.

“You should be sitting down with your advisor, reviewing your tax return, because there are ways that you can save on taxes…and develop a portfolio where you’re not affected by those short-term volatility levels.”

“Let’s be proactive with your portfolio, and see where we can save some dollars.”

To listen to Jill’s full interview on Life with Moxie, visit http://www.lifewithmoxie.com/october-8th-show-niff-jill-ciccarel. Jill’s portion of the interview starts at 29:42.