Assessing and managing client risk is a critical component of our financial planning and investment management processes. We incorporate risk considerations into the management of client assets and into the building and ongoing maintenance of our client’s financial plans. This, in turn, helps our clients proactively address how they will handle any number of unexpected events they might face during their lifetime and helps them achieve an appropriate risk/reward balance.

We take a holistic approach to financial planning that touches on all aspects of a client’s financial life. Our goal is to build a dynamic and comprehensive financial plan that:

  • enables our clients to achieve their personal and financial life goals;
  • assists our clients in making smart, informed financial decisions;
  • serves as a financial roadmap and encourages our clients to stay on track toward success; and
  • helps our clients identify, mitigate, and, where appropriate, transfer risk.

Our investment management process helps clients understand and often alleviate some of the risks that are inherent in investing. While it is impossible to eliminate all risk, we help you understand and measure your own ability to tolerate risk and then we use asset allocation and diversification tools to build and manage your investment portfolio in accordance with that information. Ideally, your assets are allocated such that they expose you to the minimum amount of risk possible while still enabling you to achieve your identified financial and life goals.

Unfortunately, as we all know but prefer not to think about, there are any number of pitfalls that could derail even the most well thought out plans.  As a result, a key component of our financial planning service is to help you identify potential areas of concern and, when warranted, develop strategies to reduce or transfer this risk. Unlike investment risk, which primarily relates to a particular investment not performing as originally expected – e.g. the price falls due to company, industry, or economy related reasons – the risks addressed in financial planning generally relate to a variety of major life events. For example, perhaps you live an extremely long life and risk outliving your assets or, conversely, you die quite young and risk not leaving enough assets behind to support your family. Other possible risks include tax law changes – particularly an increase in estate tax rates –  the unexpected death of your business partner, becoming temporarily or permanently disabled, having a major health event, or dying before an updated estate plan has been drafted and implemented.

BLBB Risk Services led by Bob Flood, an Investment Adviser Representative of BLBB Advisors with over 30 years of investment and risk management experience, works in tandem with our financial planning department to help our clients evaluate their current risk and insurance postures and analyze how insurance might be a key tool to help limit risk and transfer or preserve accumulated wealth.

Our first objective in this process is to understand your overall financial circumstances and goals so we can help you identify and, where warranted, address any potential areas of risk exposure. Also, oftentimes, clients already have a variety of life, disability, annuity, and long-term care insurance contracts in place. We frequently review these contracts to evaluate whether they continue to meet your current and future needs, and determine whether they are performing as originally projected. This is particularly important because the low interest rate environment in place since the Great Recession has negatively impacted the performance of many insurance contracts. BLBB Risk Services also uses a dedicated system to track and support the administration of insurance and annuity programs for the long-term.

BLBB Risk Services offers thought leadership, knowledge expertise, technical resources, and carrier network access to serve your insurance needs.  They also work with your professional network (accountant, attorney, banker, etc.) to design solutions that are best suited to your unique circumstances. If you would like to learn more about our financial planning offerings, including our risk management services, please contact your BLBB Financial Advisor at 215-643-9100 to discuss how we can help.

 

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