Financial Planning

Every event in life brings unique opportunities. We can help you be financially prepared to take advantage of them.

When you work with our team to develop a financial planning roadmap, we’ll apply time-tested strategies, providing expert advice and making recommendations based on where you are today and where you want to be in the future.

And along the way, you’ll have the knowledge and insight to make financial decisions that are right for you and your loved ones, so you can meet each of life’s milestones with confidence.

• Create a Budget
  To reach any financial goal, you need to understand how much is coming in and how much is going out each month by establishing and spending within a budget.

• Getting Your First Job
  Now that you have your first job, you no doubt have big dreams and lofty goals. You need to ensure you can achieve them. By taking the first step now, you’ll be setting yourself up for a lifetime of financial security.

• Getting Married
  If you’re about to be married or are newly married, you probably have big hopes and dreams for your future together. Make sure you’re financially prepared – as a couple – to make your dreams a reality.

• Buying a New Home
  Buying a new home can be one of life’s most gratifying accomplishments. As you prepare to take that big step, make sure you’re ready for the financial commitment. When you approach your decision with confidence, you’ll be free to enjoy this exciting time in your life.

• Welcoming a Child or Grandchild
  Now more than ever, your goal is to protect the financial well-being of your family. As you welcome a new child or grandchild, evaluate your financial plan to ensure it’s designed to meet changing priorities as your family grows.

• Funding a Child’s Education
  If one of your financial goals is to pay for a child’s education, the earlier you create a college savings plan, the better. Not only will you save more, you’ll have more time to ride the ups and downs of the financial markets if you choose to invest your savings.

• Changing Jobs
  If you’re thinking about changing jobs – or are plunging into self-employment – make sure you are financially prepared to transition smoothly. A new position can be an exciting opportunity, but it may also add to the financial demands on you and your family.

• Losing a Job
  Losing a job can take a toll on your ego. But it doesn’t have to take a toll on your financial security. There are steps you can take to lessen the impact of temporary unemployment and protect the financial well-being of yourself and your loved ones.

• Living Comfortably in Retirement
  Now more than ever, planning for your retirement is critical. At Northwestern Mutual, our approach to retirement planning is designed to help you get to – and through – retirement with a greater level of financial confidence, so you can relax knowing you have a road map to achieve your goals.

• Building Wealth
  At Northwestern Mutual, our financial planning process and investment advisory services are designed to help you zero in on what’s most important to you, prioritize your goals and develop strategies to bring your vision for the future to life.

• Accident or Illness
  An accident or illness can change your life in an instant. Of course, most people don’t like to think about the potential ramifications of a disabling disease or traumatic event, but these incidents happen more often than you might think. That’s why protecting your ability to earn an income is important.

• Divorce
  Divorce can be disruptive to you and your family. Eliminate some of the stress of reinventing your life by taking control of your financial planning.

• Loss of a Loved One
  Of all the challenges in life, the loss of a loved one can be one of the most painful experiences you will encounter. By having a financial plan in place to manage the financial consequences of losing a loved one, you can focus on addressing the emotional challenges death may bring.

• Estate Planning
  When you have an estate plan in place, your children or other loved ones won’t be burdened with making tough decisions on your behalf when they’re already dealing with your illness or death.

At the outset, your financial plan may not need to address all of these life events. But over time, as your circumstances and priorities change, we’ll work with you to adjust your plan accordingly.

Risk Management Solutions

When your financial plan includes wealth protection and risk management, you'll be helping to ensure your family — and your vision for the future — is secure.

We'll work with you to develop strategies to:

• Provide for your family in the event of death.

  Life insurance policies can be designed with different needs in mind. They can provide temporary protection, cash accumulation or may be utilized as part of an estate plan. Through our association with Northwestern Mutual, we have access to Northwestern Mutual's high-quality, competitively priced life insurance products, including permanent, term, combination and variable policies.

• Provide for you and your family in the event of a disability.

  Disability income insurance helps to protect your most valuable asset, your ability to earn an income. But what if the unexpected happened and you suddenly weren’t able to earn a living because of illness or injury? Not only would you have the stress of meeting everyday living expenses, but you might also have to put other goals, like saving for a child's college or for retirement, on hold.

• Provide for long-term care.

  Long-term Care events can have a significant impact on your financial security. Planning for long-term care events can help provide options on how to fund and receive care, should you need it.

Wealth Management

Our wealth management services go above and beyond what you might expect from a financial services provider. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company offers:

Investment advisory services, designed to:

• Provide high-quality investment services and products.
• Build and monitor diversified portfolios.
• Develop objective, personalized plans.
• Focus on long-term results.

Trust services and partnerships, designed to:

• Provide continuity of stewardship that can last multiple generations.
• Preserve family harmony when carrying out your intentions.
• Carry out detailed record-keeping and accounting.
• Calculate taxes and file returns.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company serves as trustee on Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts. In addition, through our Trust Alliance Program, we partner with nationally-recognized trust administration firms that offer a broad range of services to revocable trusts, charitable trusts, endowments and foundations.

Online access to your account, so you can review:

• Comprehensive monthly statements.
• Performance reporting.
• Account access on a secure website.
• Current account balances on your investment holdings.
• Detailed transaction records on all accounts.

Retirement Planning

Now more than ever, retirement planning is critical. Gone are the days when pensions and Social Security provided all of the income you needed for retirement. The new reality is that you are responsible for managing your own retirement, and that starts with making sure you're strategic in your planning.

We can help. At Northwestern Mutual, our approach to retirement planning is designed to help you get to—and through—retirement with a greater level of financial confidence, so you can relax knowing you have a road map to achieve your goals.

You'll want to start by considering how much to save for retirement and where to save it. By accumulating as much as you can as soon as you can, you can put time on your side—time to plan, time to weather the ups and downs of the market and time to let your money grow.

And then, as you zero in on retirement, you'll need a different set of strategies to manage risk and make your money last through retirement.

Estate Planning

Most people associate the phrase "estate planning" with having a will – a legal document that names your beneficiaries and spells out who gets what when you die. And while the transfer of your assets is an important part of estate planning, a will or a trust is just one aspect of a broader estate planning strategy to ensure your wishes are known, honored and carried out as efficiently as possible when you're no longer able to articulate them.

We work with a team of estate planning experts at Northwestern Mutual. Together, we can help you develop an estate planning strategy that may include the following:

• A strategy to help reduce or eliminate gift/estate taxes for your heirs
• A plan to protect your estate from mismanagement or from claims of creditors or ex-spouses

In addition to the expertise our team can offer, you'll want to work with an estate-planning attorney to establish:

• Health care directives and a living will that specify the extent to which you want health care professionals to treat you if you become ill or incapacitated.
• Powers of attorney that grant people you trust the legal authority to act on your behalf in case of sudden accident or illness.
• A will or trust to ensure your assets are transferred according to your wishes. And Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company can serve as trustee, co-trustee or successor trustee in a wide range of situations.
• The naming of a legal guardian for children under the age of 18.

Investment Solutions

Your goal to achieve financial security will undoubtedly include investing for your future.

We can offer you the expertise you need to ensure your investment strategies are aligned with your goals, time horizon and tolerance for risk.

Northwestern Mutual offers investment advisory services, private client services and trust services. Within these levels of service, we may recommend that your portfolio include one or more of the following investment tools.

• Signature Choice is an investment advisory program that allows your wealth management advisor to provide advice concerning asset allocation, security selection and rebalancing. Your advisor can utilize a wide range of securities including mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and individual equity and fixed income investments to help implement your investment strategy.

• Signature Managed Accounts is an investment advisory program that utilizes third party asset management and portfolio manager selection to assist in providing you with a comprehensive investment solution.

• Signature Portfolios is an investment advisory program that utilizes select mutual funds and/or exchange traded funds to construct well-diversified portfolios for your needs.

• Signature Annuities is an investment advisory solution that utilizes investment options available within the NM Select^TM Variable Annuity to construct, comprehensive, well-diversified investment portfolios for your needs.

We also have access to offer you the following products and services through Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS):

• Bonds
• Cash management services
• CDs
• Money market funds
• Mutual funds
• Stocks
• Treasury bills
• UITs

Alternative Investments

Alternative investments can be tangible assets like precious metals, art, or wine, but are usually financial assets like private equity, private credit, hedge funds, or private real estate.

They can be a powerful tool to help achieve greater portfolio diversification, add protection in falling markets, cut down on volatility, and have the potential to generate higher yields over the long term.

Northwestern Mutual offers a variety of alternative investment products, including interval funds, hedge funds, private credit funds, private equity funds, private real estate funds, and opportunity zone funds.

However, because alternative investments tend to carry a high level of risk and low liquidity, they aren’t right for everyone. Let’s talk about if they make sense for your investment strategy.

Products and services referenced are offered and sold only by appropriately appointed and licensed entities and financial advisors and professionals. Not all products and services are available in all states and not all Northwestern Mutual financial advisors offer alternative investments.

Charitable Giving

Planning for charitable giving

Now more than ever, people are putting their money where their values are. As part of your financial plan, charitable giving can help support the causes and organizations that are important to you, while maximizing tax efficiencies and defining your legacy.

There are many ways to give back. Our experienced team will work with you and your family to help identify philanthropic goals and develop your charitable giving strategy, which could include some of these options:

Cash: Transfer directly to the charity(ies) of your choice

Stock: Donate shares of stock you own

Other kinds of property: Donate items such as clothing, computers, cars, even life insurance

Donor-Advised Fund: A charitable investment account that offers flexible and efficient ways to manage donating to charities

Private Foundation: A charitable organization funded primarily by a single donor or small group of donors

Charities in your estate planning: Create a legacy of giving by including your favorite charity in your will or trust

Charitable Trusts: Transfer assets out of the estate with the goal of using them for charity

No matter if you’re just starting to craft your philanthropic vision or need help with more complex giving strategies, we have the expertise to help you make an impact.

Business Succession Planning

Make sure the business that you’ve worked hard building will continue to move forward once you’ve decided to step back.

Whether it's a few years from now or decades away, there will come a day when you’ll want to step back from your business. Succession planning will chart a course to move your business forward after you leave. And having a plan in place can also give your business a competitive edge while you’re still calling the shots—employees, clients, and suppliers will have greater confidence in the stability of your business.

Our team of experts can help you develop a strong succession plan by helping you:

Set your goals: We start with what you want for your business and yourself after you step away. If you’re not sure what that might be, it’s ok. We’re experts in helping people discover their goals—big and small.

Build your plan: A recent survey¹ found that the top concern of business owners is who will take the reins when they leave. We’ll help you identify the right successor and create a personalized plan based on what you want.

Evaluate your risk: Life is unpredictable, and everything can change overnight. We can design risk management strategies that will help account for the unexpected such as if you become disabled, pass away, or get divorced.

Value your business: Many business owners don’t understand how much their business is truly worth. We have access to proprietary technology with patented algorithms that take the guesswork out of business valuation.

Review your plan: Our advisors will be your trusted partner at every step of the process and provide you with expert advice should your personal or business goals shift today, or down the road.

¹ Northwestern Mutual/Forbes Insight Survey 2021