In the inaugural episode of Optimizing Your Financial World, we introduce you to the President of Echelon Family Office, Mark Wade. Mark brings over four decades worth of experience in wealth management to the show and addresses his past dealings with affluent families and their...
In the second installment of "Optimizing Your Financial World," Mark and Ryan explore the key ingredient missing from most wealth managers and why affluent individuals should be demanding this ingredient when working with their financial professionals. It's no secret that affluent individuals, families, and business...
In the third installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, Mark and Ryan examine successful family businesses and the critical wealth planning mistakes they are making on a regular basis. Running a successful family business takes a tremendous amount of working hard and working smart, while...
Are your heirs ready to deal with the wealth you may be planning to pass on to them someday? It's an unfortunate fact that inheritors often struggle with their windfalls in ways that can be hazardous to their wealth. On the fourth installment of Optimizing...
One of the biggest concerns facing affluent families is how to manage their wealth so that it achieves many goals. Their focus could be continuing to grow their wealth as it is transferred to younger generations, or aligning the use of that wealth with the...
Life insurance isn't the most exciting financial topic, when compared to investment planning overall. However, it's actually one of the most flexible and versatile tools that you have within your wealth planning toolkit! In the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, Mark and Ryan...
Affluent individuals, families, and business owners want to make the best decisions regarding their wealth and the first decision usually deals with selecting a particular wealth manager. They want to make sure they are working with the best of the best, but how can you...
In the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, Mark and Ryan steer the conversation inward and leave you questioning the overall quality of the current financial advice you're receiving. Too many successful and wealth people are not getting the financial guidance that's most appropriate...
In the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, Mark steps outside of the typical wealth management conversation to address how wealth is ultimately generated in the first place. Listen as Mark and Ryan discuss the benefits, as well as challenges, associated with entrepreneurship. Despite...
Planned giving can help you do well financially, while also doing good for others. When you provide meaningful financial support to causes that you care about, you have the potential for tax breaks. In the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, Mark provides us...
An easy mistake to make can be focusing on a single aspect of our financial life. In doing so, we can miss opportunities, as well as take on unnecessary levels of risk. In the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, we’re going to explore...
Affluent families and individuals often have so many things on their plate, that it's easy to overlook issues with one of their largest assets: their homes. And since our homes are important to our financial security, as well as our personal sense of stability with...
Any wealth manager you consider working with, or are already working with, should possess three key characteristics. No if, ands, or buts about it. On the season two premiere of Optimizing Your Financial World, Mark and Ryan return with another great wealth management conversation that...
Being wealthy and successful is great in many ways, but it can put a target on your back for frivolous lawsuits. Asset protection planning can be a great tool to help safeguard your wealth overall. On the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, we're...
If you are like many business owners, you’re looking out for more than just the financial health of your company. You also want to take care of your family and loved ones by providing for them and setting them up for rewarding lives of their...
When advisors truly know their clients, as people and not just as numbers on paper, they can better help them achieve financial and other goals. On the latest episode of Optimizing Your Financial World, we're exploring what client-centric advisors do to bring real value to...
We’re living longer than ever these days, which means our wealth may need to see us through what could be an extremely lengthy retirement. Did you initially plan for that? On the latest episode of Optimizing Your Financial World, we explore how an increasingly important...
On the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, we're examining the challenges that many parents face: raising a child with special needs. There are a number of financial planning strategies and solutions that can help parents navigate a path through the financial uncertainty that...
Family conflicts can wreak havoc on a family-run business, especially when it comes time to transfer ownership of the company from one generation to the next! On the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, Mark and Ryan examine a well-designed succession plan can reduce...
While divorce rates in the U.S. have generally been falling for some time, the sad fact is that many marriages don’t work out. On the latest episode of Optimizing Your Financial World, we’re examining ideas and options for protecting financial assets in the event that...
As we age, many of us will experience cognitive decline. It could be minor, but perhaps major. On the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, we’re looking at some ways to potentially safeguard your assets from wealth-destroying mental money mistakes before that time comes....
The bad financial decisions you avoid can be just as important as the good financial moves you make. And while no one is perfect, highly successful people and families tend to avoid major slip ups. Today, we’re going to explore some wealth-destroying mistakes that highly...
There is an important question that business owners should be asking themselves: How confident are you that your business planning efforts are on track to get you the results you want and need? Unfortunately, many business and wealth plans aren’t fully aligned with their owners’...
There’s no shortage of goals that we want to achieve for ourselves, our loved ones, and even our communities. But defining meaningful goals and pursuing them intelligently is a big challenge for many of us. On the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, we’re...
We all know people purchase life insurance for a lot of reasons and the most common being to take care of their loved ones. Still others might use life insurance to maximize income or to address business concerns. But on the latest episode of Optimizing...
We all have various personality traits. Some of us are introverts while others are extroverts, for example. But did you know you also have a wealth personality and that it can have a big impact as you pursue your financial goals? On the latest episode...
Believe it or not, it’s not always easy to inherit significant wealth. Many inheritors feel tremendous pressure to prove that they deserve the money and that pressure can lead to great things or big problems, depending on how well they navigate the situation. On the...
One of the smartest financial moves that individuals and families can make is to learn what strategies are being used by people who are wealthier than they are. Primarily, this is done to see if they could benefit by adopting those same habits and best...
On the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, we're discussing how you can become a savvy negotiator, which is a skill that comes in handy both professionally and personally. Highly successful self-made multimillionaires, high-caliber professionals and other high achievers are typically extremely successful negotiators....
Family banks are a tool that some very wealthy families use for a number of reasons, and they’re increasingly being adopted by more and more families across the net worth spectrum. On the latest installment of Optimizing Your Financial World, we’re looking at whether family...
We all have financial concerns of some sort or another. On the latest episode of Optimizing Your Financial World, we're taking a closer look at some of the key concerns shared by many affluent individuals and families today. How many of these concerns are on...
Even if you’ve done excellent planning for your golden years, it’s possible to make mistakes once you’re in retirement that can prove to be costly. On the latest episode of Optimizing Your Financial World, we’re examining some of the big mistakes that retirees tend to...
If you’re an entrepreneur, the idea of selling your business may have crossed your mind more than once. If you ultimately decide to sell your business, you’ll likely encounter two main types of buyers: financial and strategic. It’s a good idea to consider which type...
Selling a business that you’ve worked to build for years or decades comes with an enormous number of considerations—not the least of which is easing the tax burden that accompanies a big sale. On the latest episode of Optimizing Your Financial World, we’re looking at...