Advisor on the Move to Top RIA Shares How She Serves a Unique Group of Clients

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Joining us now to discuss how she's helping a unique part of the community is Jenny Jenny McCosley, senior wealth advisor at Beacon Pointe, Jenny. Great to have you with us.

Thanks for having me, Jenna.

 So before we dive into your unique area of focus, let's start broadly with the landscape of wealth management in general. What are you seeing today?

 It does seem there are a lot of um moving pieces today. I understand there are a lot of firms being acquired and looking for secession plans and um quite a few advisers on the move as well. Um As the landscape changes a bit post COVID, I think that has a lot to do with

  the the work life balance that advisers are looking for both from a an ownership perspective if you're an owner and looking for um a transition that allows more utility or greater flexibility.  That's I think pushing some of that acquisition movement and then

 advisers who are looking for maybe more flexibility for themselves um or you know, more robust investment options or just a deeper lineup are on the move as well. So there's there's been a lot of movement I think in the industry,

 a lot of movement indeed. And speaking of advisors on the move, you're one of them.  what went into your decision to um make the leap and join Beacon Pointe? And how was that process?

Yeah, the process has been really smooth so far, Beacon Pointe has made it very easy to come on board. Um You know, I, I really enjoyed the firm I was with previously and had a, a really great run there. I had amazing clients that I work with and a great team, awesome support.

 Um But like a lot of other advisers who I, I understand are, you know, thinking about making a change. Now, I found myself very intrigued by what Beacon Pointe had to offer. Um It's,  I went from a local locally owned firm to, you know, now a group that's national and has um offices all across the country.

  a very deep bench of support from the, the local headquarters in California and, you know, awesome networking and peer groups all across the country as well. So my office is in Greensboro, North Carolina and we um have a second office in Durham, North Carolina as well,

 but we've teamed up and, and kind of partnered with, um you know, all the offices across the country and those other offices for Beacon Pointe in North Carolina. So I feel like I have a, a deep bench of support.  a lot of camaraderie. Um And then, you know, going back to that flexibility point as well, Beacon Pointe, I think has fostered an environment where advisers have quite a bit of autonomy, you know, can manage their own schedules, can work remotely.  you know, there's flexibility in remote work. Um You know, some, some added benefits that come with being part of a larger company.

 And you mentioned your, your clients,  could you share a little bit more about your unique background and how you're helping um clients with families with disabilities and other unique challenges?

 Yeah, sure. So I've done everything from help clients shop for car insurance to very complicated estate planning. And it's been a pleasure to work with clients kind of all over the spectrum in age and in, you know, closeness to retirement or complex um business ownership and those clients that have um family members with special needs or disabilities, I think are uniquely interesting to me. I have um I have two special needs adult siblings that have been a wonderful part of my life. You know, they're amazing people and interesting all in their own, right? But they bring interesting challenges to my parents as they think about their own investing and their own planning. And so, you know, it's been interesting as a financial advisor, it's been interesting to kind of help them navigate that a little bit.

 Um And then in my work with clients, I've had opportunities as well to work with um whether they were clients who experienced the disability of their own or clients who had a child or another family member um with a disability. And that unique set of planning circumstances is, is interesting to me.

And what are some ways that you're advising and, and helping these parents and caregivers plan for special circumstances?

Yeah, I think it can be everything from the way you approach investments. What types of investments you're you're using in a portfolio to um our need for insurance. What kinds of insurance we're utilizing? Does an annuity product make sense for the client or the, you know, for the benefit of a child that has a a disability um navigating social security decisions when and how to turn on social security income and whether or not that social security income is also available to a child. Um you know, and, and then estate planning in general as well. When it comes to thinking through, if something were to happen to me today, what happens to my child or Children? You know, we, I think we, we do a good job of thinking that through with our young kids.

So I have two young kids and I think if something happened to me, then who would take care of those Children, how would money be managed for those Children? These are decisions that all parents have to face, but

 eventually my kids will be grown and independent and hopefully  doing well on their own. And I can think less about their care and their, their needs. Um And more about just wanting to leave something behind as a legacy where parents who have Children with a disability, sometimes those Children are never fully independent. So they have to be more thoughtful about, you know, planning ahead for their physical care and for um the the special logistics around managing money for the benefit of those Children who may later be adult Children with disability.

 And what are some creative planning ideas for those family caregivers? Um And individuals?

 Well, I've seen um recently, I've seen a couple of interesting things utilized. So first,  many parents utilize trust language in their wills when they're thinking about their own planning. So a will might contain language around a trust for the benefit of a child where some a loved one or even a corporation can be named as trustee to manage that money for the benefit of that child.

 Um When it comes to  a child with a disability, whether that's a young child or an adult child, you need special language in that trust. So a special needs trust is usually the go to um the special needs trust will definitely make sure that appropriate distributions are made for that child so that they continue to have the lifestyle that they're accustomed to living. But it'll also make sure that you don't accidentally make distributions that kick them out of government programs that they're participating in some of those government programs are very carefully designed to benefit them only if they meet certain criteria. And the last thing you want is for an inheritance from a parent or grandparent to, um, you know, kick that, that person out of a program that they've been benefiting from for years. So special language and a, a special needs trust is one way. Um, Another that I've seen recently is  a child who, well, I say child, an adult with a disability who is in their fifties. Um As we're thinking about what long term care might look for, look like for that person. Um That person is not going to qualify for a long term care insurance that, you know, maybe you or I could qualify for because of their disability.

 So knowing that they can't obtain or procure long-term care insurance means that we have to get more creative and thinking about their care needs. Um the parents might be willing to fund an annuity that provides an income stream to that child for the rest of their life or I, I keep saying child, but their child, their adult child um  for the rest of their lives. So an annuity can be a, a creative way to create leverage where a lot of times that's what we're looking for with a long term care policy is leverage. I want to use some of my dollars to create more dollars available for health care needs and instead maybe we use some of our dollars to create a future income stream that can help with those health care needs.

And I'm sure those income needs um have been under pressure to say the least with the volatile markets that we've seen um in recent years, especially, you know, 2022 we're seeing bonds and stocks go down so dramatically  you helping clients who you know would typically get income from safe haven assets like bonds. How are you helping them plan? I know you mentioned annuities. Mhm.

 Yeah, I don't, I don't do a lot of annuity work. I think it can be a great supplement for income needs in the future, but in terms of  current day, present day liquidity needs or present day investments um thinking about, you know, how to recreate that that income stream. I think the best thing to do is, you know, remain diversified and stay in those asset classes that you know, provide opportunities for greater yield over time. So um we see clients who are, you know, willing to stay invested in value stocks, for example, knowing that growth is kind of the high flyer that goes up and down year every year.

Um This year it seems growth is having a good year, but value has been a good place to be given that the the valuations on value stocks are lower and um there's more opportunity for upside. So we're looking for longer term growth there and it seems to steady out some of the volatility, provide some dividend income, that sort of thing. Um, you know, the environment today, although bonds were down last year and, and had a really tough year keeping up with rates, moving the upside to that is that now we're seeing better rates, better yields on bonds. So when it comes to, um, making sure our cash is working for us, everything from a money market account to treasuries to corporate bonds. We're seeing better and better opportunities to create income there.

Well, Jenny, thank you so much for joining us.

Absolutely. Thanks for having me

and thank you for watching. Once again, that was Jenny Jenny McCosley, Senior Wealth Advisor with Beacon Pointe.

 

Transcript

Jenny McCosley, CFP®, CAP® recently joined Beacon Pointe as a Senior Wealth Advisor with a specialized set of skills. She gives an overview of the changing wealth management landscape, explores creative ways families can help children with disabilities, and looks at the impact that markets have had on planning.

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