Strides in technology have taken the pain out of financial organization, which we split into three buckets: What you have. Whom you tell. How you manage financial advisers.

What You Have

In the past compiling financial information was a tedious process. It took hours to find everything, still more hours to spreadsheet assets and liabilities. And in the ultimate frustration, market trading generally rendered these efforts obsolete about 30 seconds after you hit the print button.

Everything has changed. Technological innovations allow you to aggregate information about real assets and marketable securities held with different custodians in one spot. Providers update the prices of public securities automatically. You can also upload important documents like wills, revocable trusts, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives to online storage vaults. You have: What you need. When you need it.

While technology is taking the pain out of personal organization, it is also changing the requirements for what needs to be organized. That is, digital property, which is a concept that goes beyond Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Digital property includes stores of value ranging from frequent flyer awards to vendor accounts on websites like Amazon or eBay. It includes your social media footprints and email accounts.

In fact, digital property is creating an entirely new branch of trust-and-estate law that deals with digital intestacy. If you do not make decisions about what happens to your online footprint after your death, the terms of service contracts enable these websites to make decisions on behalf of your family. It’s not nefarious. It just requires organization.

Whom You Tell

Another element of financial organization, which sometimes does not get enough attention, is whom you tell about your financial circumstances and when you share the information. These discussions have always been sensitive inside families, and there is no one-size-fits-all uni-strategy that works in every situation.

But changes in financial services make communication, even if it is imperfect, mission critical to your financial organization. One reason is simply that wealth management firms are relying on digital communications more and more to report their results to clients. Which means:

• There are fewer visual clues about investment accounts or liabilities associated with credit cards and other forms of borrowing.
• It’s possible to “lose” assets, which might sound hyperbolic, but it happens.

We believe, however, that communication is far more than a box to check for financial organization. Communication is a core part of managing family wealth and addressing inter-generational needs. Like financial literacy. Like keeping peace among heirs. Like instilling values that survive all market shocks. We maintain a broad network of relationships with industry professionals, who focus exclusively on these matters.

How You Manage Financial Providers

Aggregation tools, online vaults, and client portals for investment accounts are all important. Many firms offer these services. Including us. But financial organization is simply a means to an end, which is building and growing wealth or realizing your financial objectives however you define them. And in this context, the provider tools among differ substantially.

• Do you see your investment results before or after fees?
• Are you able to compare your investment performance to the appropriate indices?
• Have you developed a financial reporting strategy with your provider that delivers the specific information you need to make decisions when you need it?

We focus on these topics, in part, because we believe all investors benefit from multiple advisory relationships and second opinions. Let us know if we can help.