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.

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.

Qualified Planning

• Qualified Benchmarking

  Understanding how your retirement plan compares to industry benchmarks for expenses, performance and design is not only a good business practice, it is becoming a regulatory expectation. Based on our experience and industry resources, we will provide you with comparative data to document a sound due diligence process.

• Qualified Design Assistance

  Sponsoring a qualified plan is a critically important step toward achieving retirement security for you and your employees. Choosing the right plan design elements will allow you to balance your goals for tax deferred wealth accumulation with the cost and complexity involved. Together with our plan specialists, we will help you to evaluate multiple plan design options and understand the impact they will have on you, your employees and the bottom line.

• Qualified Employee Education

  Qualified plan benefits are most effective when they are thoroughly understood and properly utilized by plan participants. Quality benefits education is not a one-time event but rather a long term program to build awareness, understanding and appreciation. we will work with you to develop and deliver a comprehensive education plan across multiple media to help produce positive results.

• Qualified Fiduciary Education

  As a retirement plan sponsor you face a sometimes bewildering array of regulations and responsibilities. It is important to find a source of trustworthy information to help you to manage your responsibilities and mitigate the associated risks. Let us help you to understand your options to develop an approach that works for you and your plan.

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.

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.

Investment Strategies

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