Retirement Planning

Building a sustainable income stream from a lump sum of savings is one of the biggest challenges people face as they approach retirement. We help our clients organize complicated situations and bring simplicity to their financial lives. We work with you to develop an actionable plan that focuses on the things you can control. We help you consider all aspects of your life in retirement and develop a plan based on your needs, wants and wishes. This is a plan that is continually reviewed and updated to reflect the changes in your life.

Protection Planning 

A good financial plan covers contingencies for the unexpected. Nobody likes paying insurance premiums, so it's important to prioritize your vulnerabilities to make sure you are getting the most cost effective coverage. We help you identify the risks to your income and assets, and work with experienced professionals to determine your best options for coverage. At each stage of your life your insurance needs change. Without making adjustments, this can lead to some risks being over insured or under insured.

Estate Planning

Estate Planning provides reassurance by creating certainty over how your assets will be distributed after your death. Dying without a proper estate plan can expose your assets to unnecessary taxes and legal fees. Even worse, it can tear families apart. Receiving a large and sudden inheritance isn't always good for some people. Proper planning can help ensure that your legacy will have a positive effect on your heirs. In coordination with your attorney, we help you examine both the financial and legal elements of estate planning including power of attorney, advanced directives, trusts and beneficiary designations.

Tax Planning 

Nearly all of the decisions we make with money involve tax considerations. Those decisions can be made easier by working with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional who understands how the current tax code affects your unique situation. Tax planning involves many different aspects, including the timing of income, purchases and other expenditures; the selection of investments and types of retirement plans; and a person's filing status and common deductions. We work closely with your accountant or introduce one to you.

*Raymond James does not provide tax service or advice. 

Investment Approach

Our philosophy is that investment management is really about proper risk management.  This involves identifying the proper diversification and asset allocation to manage the uncertainty of investment returns.  We also try to identify and avoid deteriorating areas of the market.  We evaluate investments on the risks that are taken to achieve its rate of return. We develop portfolios for different levels of risk and client objectives using both active and index mutual funds.    

A good analogy for our investment process is a football team, and Brian is the head coach.  Through years of experience and training he has developed a “team” of mutual fund managers and index funds who have demonstrated their worth and ability.  He decides who plays well together and who is playing at their best.  Brian uses relative strength analysis to determine which players (funds) should be on the field.

We believe that investor behavior is one of the strongest contributors to investment performance. Our investment strategy pays close attention to the emotion of the market.  We often quote legendary investor Sir John Templeton, “Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria”.  We use both technical and subjective methods for determining the current emotion of the market.      

*Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of mutual funds.  The prospectus contains this and other information about mutual funds.  The prospectus is available from our office and should be read carefully.  Diversification and strategic asset allocation do not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.  No investment strategy can guarantee success.

Behavioral Coaching

The human brain has been conditioned to react to fear and commonly wants us to buy high and sell low.  Unfortunately, centuries of evolution has not provided everyone an instinct for effective investment behavior. But it did provide us with superior hindsight, which makes our investment mistakes seem so obvious when we look back.

The fear of losing money or the fear of missing out can cause us to make an emotional decision that feels right at the time, but may go against the rational plan we promised ourselves to follow.  

One of the most important roles we have is to prevent you from making a mistake. We help you manage your reactions by setting realistic expectations for volatility in your portfolio and serve as a guide when you need reassurance to stay the course. We like to educate clients on behavioral finance because good investment behavior can be learned.

LOCATION

28050 US 19 N. Suite 304
Clearwater, FL 33761

CONTACT

brian.peterson@raymondjames.com
Phone: 727-796-7446
Fax: 727-796-0116