All Forum Posts by: Ruzanna Queenan

@Steve Vaughan

I'm assuming you're planning to get a lot of default insurance if you're holding debt as your strategy. And hopefully life won't happen to you as you're managing a nursing home at 85.

I started my business because my kids are off to college - financed completely by their 529s, and I've always wanted to run my own 7-figure business as I earned my CFA, MBA, RLP and now going for my EA.I don 't think everyone is as lucky or brilliant to do it all on their own and what I do gives people peace of mind. Not everything in life is driven by a paycheck.

Most people are driven by self-interest and people selling investments are no different. Traditionally, advisors sold products and charged on assets and most truly don't know much about real estate.

I see plenty of posts from multi-family syndicators saying  that investing in the capital markets is a waste of time and giving "financial advice" that's nothing more than a sales pitch.

The bottom line is, you should invest in more than one asset class - as long as you plan for the ups and downs competently. And that's a long stretch for many people.

@David M. You can make or lose money on ANY investment, it's knowing how the loss will affect you and how to reduce risk. That's planning and maybe it's not as exhilarating or quick but it'll sure help you sleep better at night.

@Henry Clark

Good point, I sure should know the answer;) 

If you have real estate and your advisor doesn't discuss it, they may be leaving you exposed to risk and not maximizing the planning tools that may be available to you. 

Some planning issues I commonly see:

- income stability. How will your rental income support your expenses in retirement? What's the cash flow, how do you keep up with inflation?

- reserves. If your portfolio ages and the expesnses increase, how much do you allocate to expenses? What's the long-term trend for all your holdings?

- tax issues. Once you deplete the depreciation deduction and mortgage is paid off, what are your taxes?

- who will manage the property portfolio if one spouse is disabled/passes away? Are your kids onboard to help manage? If you have to sell, what are the implications?

- insurance. do you have an umbrella policy? a hybrid long-term policy to cover nursing home if need be? 

- business structures. How do you plan to collect income, pay taxes and then transfer real estate assets?

- estate planning. different assets have different inheritance rules and if someone gets IRA vs property, the basis and your heirs' tax exposure is different. How do you make sure every descendant gets what they need?

I get paid a flat annual retainer, I rarely charge an advisory fee because I want to spend the time advising on my clients total wealth.

Checking out your post now.

@Mike Dymski you can view financial planning to the extent of your own worldview which may not be as complete. Let's look at insurance for example. You mention that you only need term insurance until kids leave college, but insurance is a great, underused tax-free tool for retirement planning. For older, retired couples, health care is a huge expense and if you deplete most assets on taking care of one spouse, having a big lump sum come in and help the other person is HUGE. Same with the ETFs - your expenses will be 2.5x in 30 years, do you know what the annual amount is even ballpark to know if you have enough at the right growth target? From your Mom's example, the only way to know if her portfolio is set up properly is to know her goals and her tax exposure - with a financial plan.

Hey successful investors - 

If you have a robust property portfolio do you still need a financial plan? Or as long as you have cash coming in you're all set?

What are your reasons for having or not having a plan? Apart from not finding a good advisor who knows real estate or not believing in advisors in general, how do you think your finances would or would not benefit from professional  guidance on retirement budget, insurance, estate plannings, tax strategy?

Has you thinking or your reservations shifted in the current environment?

I am biased since I'm a planner specializing in property investors and personally think investors needs MORE planning because of all the moving pieces in their finances and the planning industry needs to do much more to serve real estate investors. 

But I am curious about the opinion of the BP community!

Thank you,

Ruzanna