Focus on what’s important.
We help you develop and maintain perspectives and sightlines to your plan.
Perspectives help cultivate ways of thinking about and understanding things and sightlines help develop clarity about what lies ahead.
These helpful primers, books and blogs can help you think about situations and problems in more wise and reasonable ways. They can help you develop longer-term perspectives and sightlines to withstand the shifting winds of short-term thinking. They can help you bypass camouflaging distractions and help you stay focused on the key issues that matter most to the long-term success of your plan.
We help you develop and maintain perspectives and sightlines to your plan.
Perspectives help cultivate ways of thinking about and understanding things and sightlines help develop clarity about what lies ahead.
These helpful primers, books and blogs can help you think about situations and problems in more wise and reasonable ways. They can help you develop longer-term perspectives and sightlines to withstand the shifting winds of short-term thinking. They can help you bypass camouflaging distractions and help you stay focused on the key issues that matter most to the long-term success of your plan.
Financial markets have felt more fragile recently with investors concerned about the economy, the possibility that the Fed may be behind on …
Financial markets have felt more fragile recently with investors concerned about the economy, the possibility that the Fed may be behind on …
Financial markets have felt more fragile recently with investors concerned about the economy, the possibility that the Fed may be behind on …
Financial markets have felt more fragile recently with investors concerned about the economy, the possibility that the Fed may be behind on …
Investors who examine the mathematical benefits of a dividend-growth strategy may not look at investing in the same light again.
CONSIDER EVERYTHING
5 Insights on the Fed, Election, and Volatility in Q4, September 30, 2024
How Geopolitical Conflicts Impact Markets and the Economy, September 27, 2024
How Tax Proposals and the Election Impact Investors, September 17, 2024
How Middle East Conflicts Have Historically Impacted Markets, September 9, 2024
3 Investor Lessons from the Summer’s Market Volatility, September 3, 2024
How Presidential Elections and Economic Policies Affect Investors, August 19, 2024
How Corporate Earnings Support the Market Rebound, August 26, 2024
How Carry Trades and Market Fragility Impact Investors, August 12, 2024
Perspective on the Magnificent 7 and Valuations, June 27, 2024
How to Invest for Retirement Amid Market Uncertainty, June 22, 2024
Shortfall Risk is the Greatest Risk to Retirement Success The greatest risk to retirement success? For most of us, it’s shortfall risk ‒ the chance that our savings will expire before we do. Shortfall risk typically arises from one or both of these shortcomings: (1) not taking the time and doing the work to study
Retirement Distribution Planning May Help Minimize Your Overall Tax Expenses If you’ve diligently saved and invested throughout your working years, congratulations! You’re on your way to funding a more comfortable retirement. But when you finally do stop working, you’ll face a new challenge: Making sure that your assets last as long as possible. One way
Investing lessons from the pension world help us to focus on the critical importance of matching our long-term retirement liabilities with proper long-term investment assets. Investing Lessons from the Pension World Help Us Generate Better Retirement Expense Estimates Asset/liability matching originated in the pension world. Pension managers are responsible for meeting specific objectives, namely, paying
With the days of company pensions faded into memory, it’s up to most of us to build and manage our own pension plans ‒ and manage the multi-million dollar retirement planning question ourselves. How much do we need? And what are the possibilities that we suffer shortfall risk – the possibility that our savings will
The the key takeaway from the first chapter of Morgan Housel’s remarkable book, The Psychology of Money – “Every decision people make with money is justified by taking the information they have at the moment and plugging it into their unique mental model of how the world works.” This book is one of the best
Saving enough for retirement is something to be proud of. But even if you’ve bucked the trend and amassed a good-size nest egg, it’s critical to have a sound strategy for withdrawing your money. Living large early in retirement could cause you to run out of money in your later years, after all. On the
To most people, Social Security seems like a very simple concept: You pay in to the system during your working years, then you retire and start getting those monthly checks. But if you want to maximize your benefits (and who doesn’t), you need to study how and when to start taking your benefits. You need
Americans have a retirement savings problem ‒ for some Baby Boomers, “crisis” is not too strong a word ‒ and it’s causing a fair amount of anxiety. Recent surveys cite statistics like these: more than a third of all working-age adults haven’t saved any money toward retirement; 41% of folks in their 50s are not
Looking forward to retirement? If you’ve built a nice nest egg, you’ve taken care of one of the critical tasks in preparing for retirement. But simply having significant savings doesn’t mean you’re ready to retire well. For those planning to hang ‘em up in two to three years, it’s essential to work your way through
Have you been measuring what matters most to your future financial success, or have you been focusing on the market’s day-to-day gyrations over the past several months? If you’ve been focusing on the market, you’re not alone. Like the crowd at a tennis match, investors have been looking back and forth, one moment at a market selloff, the next at a market rally. And that makes this a perfect moment to discuss an investing truth. What you measure matters. Measuring what matters most is your plan. Are you focusing on the true purpose of your saving and investing endeavors – achieving your financial goals? Or are you caught in the moment, looking back and forth, succumbing to the temptation of trying to figure out when to get out of the market, and then, when to get back in? Those who have a plan know what their goals are, and it’s not to venture guesses at timing the market. Those who have a plan measure their success in terms of achieving their goals with the least risk. What gets measured gets discussed. Measuring what matters most is your plan. Reflect on your discussions. Do they focus on how well your investment
Much has been written about investment behavioral mistakes and whether financial advisors can help clients generate market-beating investment outperformance. Amid all of the activity that investors and their advisors pursue in hopeful expectations of outperforming the market, it’s easy to overlook the risk that those activities might create below-market returns. Underperformance can easily come from the unnecessary losses that investors suffer through counterproductive financial and economic behaviors. Investment Behavioral Mistakes Lead to Investment Underperformance Underperformance related to investment behaviors can have a far greater negative influence on your investment outcome than the potential and typically smaller positive outperformance that may materialize from your investment manager(s). While we can’t control the performance of the market or an investment manager, we do have control over our behaviors that may lead to returns worse than the market. Investors can contribute to the creation or destruction of their wealth in the markets, and a preponderance of evidence suggests that the average investor destroys it through suboptimal investing behaviors. Independent studies continue to show that the average mutual fund investor earns returns lower than the returns of the funds in which they are invested and the returns of the market. The difference in the results
When building wealth for the long term, your goal should be long term investing ‒ time in the market versus timing the market. This view represents the difference between being a long-term owner and a short-term renter (of stocks). If you can only take one investing axiom to heart, this might be the one. Moving Off Your Long Term Plan Can Help Destroy the Value of Long Term Investing Moving in and out of the market ‒ as many may have experienced ‒ can be a reactive and emotionally nerve-racking approach. When opportunity seems to beckon, many market participants jump off the sidelines and move their cash into the market in hot pursuit. Similarly, when the market is volatile, falling or otherwise scary, many of the same market participants flee, selling their investments and moving their cash back to the sidelines. There are many risks of moving in and out of the market instead of staying put . . . selling low what you previously bought high, compounding that mistake multiple times, identifying the right company to invest in and getting the timing wrong, missing the opportunity to reinvest your dividends and accelerate the compounding of your returns, reducing your
Financial markets have felt more fragile recently with investors concerned about the economy, the possibility that the Fed may be behind on cutting rates, and some disappointing tech earnings. Ironically, despite the market volatility last week, major indices were mostly unchanged from Monday to Friday. While they are down from their recent all-time highs,
Financial markets have felt more fragile recently with investors concerned about the economy, the possibility that the Fed may be behind on cutting rates, and some disappointing tech earnings. Ironically, despite the market volatility last week, major indices were mostly unchanged from Monday to Friday. While they are down from their recent all-time highs,
Financial markets have felt more fragile recently with investors concerned about the economy, the possibility that the Fed may be behind on cutting rates, and some disappointing tech earnings. Ironically, despite the market volatility last week, major indices were mostly unchanged from Monday to Friday. While they are down from their recent all-time highs,
Located in the heart of North Scottsdale
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Wealth Management
Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa
Speak with a Chandler
Financial Advisor
(480) 542-2900
Wealth Management Phoenix, Peoria, Tempe
Speak with a Phoenix
Financial Advisor
(602) 245-2900
Wealth Management Scottsdale, Paradise Valley
Speak with a Scottsdale
Financial Advisor
(480) 951-2900
Wealth Management Tucson, Oro Valley
Speak with a Tucson
Financial Advisor
(520) 636-2900
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Northern Arizona
Financial Advisor
(928) 272-2900
Copyright © 2005-2025 ICW Investment Advisors LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2025 ICW Investment Advisors LLC.
A Delaware limited liability company.
All rights reserved.
Nationwide
Virtual
Chandler
Gilbert
Mesa
Phoenix
Peoria
Glendale
Scottsdale HQ
Paradise Valley
Carefree
(866) 617-2900
(480) 542-2900
(602) 245-2900
(480) 951-2900
Located in the heart of North Scottsdale
Scottsdale Rd & Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd
16427 N Scottsdale Rd, Suite 350
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Nationwide
Virtual
(866) 617-2900
Chandler
Gilbert
Mesa
(480) 542-2900
Phoenix
Peoria
Glendale
(602) 245-2900
Scottsdale HQ
Paradise Valley
Carefree
(480) 951-2900
Tucson
Oro Valley
Green Valley
(520) 636-2900
Prescott
Cottonwood
(928) 222-2900
Flagstaff
Sedona
(928) 272-2900
Located in the heart of North Scottsdale
Promenade Corporate Center
Scottsdale Road at Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.
Easy access from the Loop 101 or SR-51.
Nationwide
Virtual
(866) 617-2900
Chandler
Gilbert
Mesa
(480) 542-2900
Phoenix
Peoria
Glendale
(602) 245-2900
Scottsdale HQ
Paradise Valley
Carefree
(480) 951-2900
Located in the heart of North Scottsdale
Promenade Corporate Center
Scottsdale Road at Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd.
Easy access from the Loop 101 or SR-51.
Tucson
Oro Valley
Green Valley
(520) 636-2900
Prescott
Cottonwood
(928) 222-2900
Flagstaff
Sedona
(928) 272-2900
We combine intellectual capital with critical thinking and detailed analyses across the 10 allied disciplines of wealth management to create whole-system thinking and integrated strategies that address your needs.
This is complex work with a multitude of variables that can produce opposite results. It’s a workspace in multiple dimensions. We are educated, trained and experienced for this work.
We manage the support systems and processes across
100 tailored personal wealth management workflows.
In each role, we contribute differently as you look to us with different needs at different times. Most often, we contribute simultaneously across all capacities in differing degrees.
As leaders, we provide motivation and direction. As counselors, we help remove barriers. As advisors, we provide technical advice. And as managers, we carry out process.
Taken together, we are always working to position you in your place of greatest potential.
What makes plans work is saving and capital growth. The playing field is arrayed with no shortage of obstacles that conspire to impair both saving and capital growth.
Whatever or whoever the conspirators are, capital growth is paramount. Forces outside and within your control must be well-managed.
We tailor and manage your investment operations to help reduce unforced errors and mistakes and compound your long-term, after-tax returns.
Tax-planning and strategy may offer opportunities to minimize and optimize your tax expenses. The time for tax planning and strategy development occurs at the beginning, not at the completion of an investment or tax year.
We provide guidance focused to your unique situation and help you exercise care to engage in tax planning that is flexible enough to help you respond to changing market conditions, tax law changes and unexpected outcomes.
We prepare informative studies that help you see if your assets and investment strategies are on track to successfully support your dreams and desires and sustain you without an earned income for as many as 30 to 40 years in retirement.
As you approach retirement, we help you see beyond this hard-earned moment in time, spot hidden risks, map a path and contribute our experience and resources to help you reach your goals.
We help you understand your current level of risk exposures and help identify personalized solutions that seek to help protect the risk-exposed areas of your financial life.
We review how your assets are titled to maximize your protection in the event of a lawsuit or other claims.
We help coordinate your business and personal insurance with your employer-provided benefits to help avoid any gaps or overlaps in coverage and help integrate your insurance policies with your estate plan.
We help you budget and manage expenses to reduce debt, increase savings, improve your long-term investment compounding rate, and fund your important life goals.
We offer a responsive and operational framework to help you meet less predictable, hard-to-monitor short-term expenses while meeting ongoing financial commitments and tracking to your short-term, intermediate and long-term objectives.
Cash management is a key component of liquidity management. It includes the efficient management of your cash flow, investments and cash reserves in order to achieve your overall financial objectives.
As inflation remains high with high interest rates, we help you deploy your cash flow and cash positions to earn higher interest rates.
Liquidity and cash management also involve managing the risk of short-term financing and making sure cash is available when needed.
We help you recognize that planning for the retention and transfer of your wealth is far more than numbers on a balance sheet and minimizing estate transfer taxes.
Your wealth also comprises your family and its health, education, life’s experiences, knowledge, relationships, mental and physical fitness, values and spirituality.
We help you express the conscience and wishes for what you have and leave behind and the constitution of privileges and responsibilities to guide all concerned.
We help you explore the motivations and develop and articulate the benefits, framework, discipline and communication of contributions you wish to make to communities that extend beyond your family.
We help you discover, establish and affirm the values, beliefs, attitudes, preferences and priorities for your contributions to your chosen communities. Then we help you with the ongoing management and administration of your philanthropic assets and endeavors.
