Does your financial plan address all 13 wealth issues?

If you were to ask most people, "What issues should you consider when preparing a personal financial plan? many would reply: banking products, investments, 401ks or other retirement planning vehicles; perhaps college funding strategies or long-term insurance. Actually there are 13 basic wealth issues that individuals should keep in mind when developing or reviewing their financial plan. In this article, several of those issues are highlighted--including the impact they can have on an individual's ability to achieve his or her financial goals.

It would not come as a surprise to many people that life today is more complicated than ever before, especially family finances. At a time when emerging issues--like the long-term viability of Social Security--have made it necessary for many families to take a more active role in managing their finances, their financial options have also grown more complex.

Want to save for your children's college education? Great. But be prepared to wade through dozens of available options designed to help you pay for college expenses, everything from 529s to grants and loans.

Preparing for retirement? Fantastic. This is a critical leg of any financial plan. But what's the best way to do it? There are a wealth of tax-advantaged retirement savings options, each with its own eligibility rules, investment limits and payout rules.

Added to these important issues are questions about whether family assets are adequately protected against disability, liability, long-term care costs or premature death. And there are decisions to make about inheritance, charitable giving, trust funds and tax implications.

In fact, there are 13 wealth issues that people are likely to face over the course of their lives. These issues are:

* Investments

* Insurance

* Liability

* Qualified Retirement Plan/IRAs

* Stock Options

* Business Succession Plans

* Durable Power of Attorney 

* Gifting to Children/Descendents

* Charitable Gifting During Life

* Titling of Assets

* Executor/Trustee Issues

* Distribution of Wealth Plan to Spouse/Descendents

* Charitable Inclinations at Death

And all of these issues are interconnected--decisions about one can affect others in unexpected ways. Here are some examples of the issues and important points to consider about them:

Investing. A common mistake that people make is not to prepare a written, long-term investment strategy, one that sets specific goals for them. Benchmarking investments against generic indices is fine, but isn't a substitute for a detailed individual plan that can be used to gauge progress against your goals and objectives.

Insurance: Asset protection is also an important consideration for a prudent financial plan, yet too often is lacking. You wouldn't build a house on sand. You shouldn't build your wealth and leave it to the whims of fate either. At a minimum that means protection against premature death, disability, liability and the possibility of enormous long-term care costs.

Retirement: When considering retirement planning, one of the first questions families need to address is "What type of lifestyle do I want to enjoy in retirement?" Only then can they begin to measure the adequacy of their retirement savings. But retirement planning doesn't just involve accumulating wealth, it can also mean prudently managing assets while in retirement and having a plan to pass that wealth on to heirs.

Gifting to children: Transferring wealth is an important piece of a family financial plan, but one fraught with potential land mines that must be navigated, including tax implications, the financial responsibility of the children, sources of funding, control and flexibility. For example: A 69-year-old widower wanted to designate his son as beneficiary of his IRA. But he worried about his son's responsibility with money. Working with an estate attorney, he split the IRA--one to be left to charitable causes, and the other in trust for the son. The result: The father is able to pass on money--and a clear sense of philanthropic responsibility--to his son. Equally important is that parents communicate decisions about gifts and inheritances with their children.

These are just a few of the issues families face as they develop and refine their financial plans.

Given the pressures on everyone's time these days, successfully managing these interconnected wealth issues is beyond the capacity of many families or individuals, and even beyond the capacity of some money managers.

So, many families are seeking financial professionals with experience in a wide range of these wealth issues--trusted advisers who can look at the complete picture of a family's financial situation and offer appropriate solutions.

It's a complicated world. What's needed is a good financial navigator.

McDonald Financial Group is a program offering securities from McDonald Investments, Inc., member NASD/NYSE/SIPC, banking from KeyBank National Association, Member FDIC, insurance from KeyCorp Insurance Agency USA Inc. and other affiliated agencies, and other services from KeyCorp banking and nonbanking subsidiaries.

Yank Heisler, CEO, McDonald Financial Group and Chairman of KeyBank, N.A.