INSIGHT

What is a financial plan? 

Michael Watson, Sergio Fernandez • August 19, 2025

Services: Wealth Management

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A financial plan serves as the roadmap to achieving your short and long-term financial goals. For high-net-worth individuals, comprehensive financial planning goes beyond basic budgeting — it’s about optimizing wealth, minimizing tax exposure, and ensuring your legacy continues according to your wishes.  

“A financial plan isn’t just about numbers — it’s about creating a clear path toward your goals, making confident decisions along the way, and ensuring your wealth supports what matters most to you.” 

At BPM, we understand that your financial situation requires nuanced strategies and personalized attention. 

The foundation of financial planning for high-net-worth individuals 

A well-crafted financial plan identifies, organizes, and prioritizes your financial goals while outlining the specific steps needed to achieve them. For affluent individuals and families, financial planning encompasses sophisticated strategies across multiple areas of wealth management. 

Your financial plan should be flexible enough to adapt to life changes and unexpected events, whether that’s an opportunity to acquire a business, a major market shift, or changes in your family structure. The goal is to create a living document that evolves with your circumstances while keeping your core objectives in focus. 

Key components of a comprehensive financial plan 

High-net-worth individuals tend to require more sophisticated planning elements than the average investor. Your financial plan may want to address these areas: 

• Wealth preservation and growth strategies — Customized investment portfolios aligned with your risk tolerance, time horizon, and wealth objectives 
• Tax optimization — Structured approaches to minimize tax liabilities across multiple income streams and investment vehicles 
• Estate planning and wealth transfer — Strategies for efficiently transferring assets to the next generation or philanthropic causes 
• Risk management — Protecting your assets against market volatility, liability concerns, and other potential threats 
• Business succession planning — For business owners, creating a roadmap for transitioning leadership and ownership 
• Retirement planning — Ensuring your lifestyle can be maintained regardless of market conditions 

What distinguishes high-net-worth financial planning is the integration of these components into a cohesive strategy. Rather than treating each area separately, your financial plan should leverage relationships between different aspects of your financial life to help maximize benefits and efficiencies. 

Creating your personalized financial plan 

Step 1: Define clear financial objectives 

Begin by articulating what success looks like for you. This might include maintaining a specific lifestyle during retirement, funding educational opportunities for children or grandchildren, supporting philanthropic interests, or ensuring family wealth extends for generations. 

The more specific your goals, the more tailored your financial plan can be. Consider both timeframes and dollar amounts where applicable. 

Step 2: Assess your current financial position 

Before charting a course forward, it can be essential to understand where you stand today. This includes: 

• A comprehensive inventory of assets and liabilities 
• Analysis of income sources and cash flow patterns
• Evaluation of current investment allocations and performance 
• Review of existing estate planning documents 
• Assessment of tax efficiency across your financial universe 

This evaluation is designed to create the baseline from which your financial plan will develop. For high-net-worth individuals, this can often reveal opportunities for optimization that might otherwise remain hidden. 

Step 3: Develop targeted strategies 

With clear objectives and a thorough understanding of your financial landscape, you’re ready to develop specific strategies to bridge the gap between your current position and desired outcomes. These might include: 

• Advanced asset allocation approaches that balance growth, income, and capital preservation 
• Tax-advantaged investment vehicles and timing strategies 
• Trust structures designed to achieve specific wealth transfer objectives 
• Risk mitigation techniques beyond traditional insurance 
• Strategic philanthropic approaches that align with both charitable goals and tax planning 

Step 4: Implement with precision 

The most sophisticated financial plan provides no value until it’s implemented. This phase requires coordination among various professionals including investment advisors, tax strategists, estate attorneys, and insurance specialists. Having all these services working together supports consistent execution and communication. 

Step 5: Monitor and adapt continuously 

Financial planning for high-net-worth individuals isn’t a one-time event but an ongoing process. Regular reviews can allow for adjustments based on: 

• Changes in personal or family circumstances 
• Shifts in tax laws or financial regulations 
• Market conditions and investment performance
• Evolving financial goals and priorities 

When to revisit your financial plan 

While continuous monitoring can be essential, certain life events should trigger a more comprehensive review of your financial plan: 

• Significant business transactions (sales, acquisitions, or succession events) 
• Major family changes (marriages, divorces, births, or deaths) 
• Substantial changes in net worth or income 
• Relocation, especially to a different tax jurisdiction 
• Major tax law changes or regulatory shifts 

Each of these inflection points presents both challenges and opportunities that a well-designed financial plan can address. 

The value of integrated financial planning 

One of the most common pitfalls for high-net-worth individuals is fragmented financial planning. When investment, tax, estate, and business advisors operate in silos, the result can be inefficiency, missed opportunities, and occasionally contradictory strategies. 

At BPM, our integrated approach is designed to support all aspects of your financial life. By having tax, wealth advisors, and business consultants under the same company collaborating on your financial plan, we may identify synergies that specialized advisors working independently might miss. 

Take the next step toward financial clarity 

Your wealth represents more than numbers on a balance sheet — it embodies your life’s work, your family’s security, and your legacy for future generations. A thoughtfully crafted financial plan helps to ensure your wealth serves your values and goals, both now and for decades to come. 

At BPM, our professionals specialize in creating customized financial plans for high-net-worth individuals and families that address the complexities and opportunities unique to substantial wealth. Our team of advisors works collaboratively which can help optimize all aspects of your financial life. 

“We’re here to help simplify the complex and bring all the pieces of your financial life together. Our goal is to support you with thoughtful guidance so you can focus on what matters most.” 

Contact us today to schedule a confidential consultation and discover how our integrated approach to financial planning can help you achieve your most important objectives. Let us help you transform financial complexity into clarity and confidence. 

Securities offered through Valmark Securities, Inc. Member FINRA, SIPC | Investment Advisory services offered through BPM Wealth Advisors, LLC and/or Valmark Advisers, Inc. a SEC Registered Investment Advisor. BPM LLP and BPM Wealth Advisors, LLC are entities separate from Valmark Securities, Inc. and Valmark Advisers, Inc.