Frequently Asked Questions
Who is a good fit for Dogwood Wealth Management?
Dogwood Wealth Management works primarily with pre-retirees and retirees, business owners, professionals, executives, and families with increasingly complex financial lives. We help clients coordinate investments, retirement, taxes, estate planning, insurance, business interests, and other financial decisions into one comprehensive strategy.
Do I need to live in the Kansas City area to work with Dogwood Wealth Management?
No. While Dogwood Wealth Management has offices in the Kansas City area, we work with clients across the country and can provide comprehensive financial planning and investment management regardless of where you live. Our team works with pre-retirees and retirees, business owners, professionals, executives, and families both locally and nationwide.
What does a comprehensive financial planner actually do?
Comprehensive financial planning goes beyond managing investments; it considers retirement, taxes, estate planning, insurance, cash flow, charitable giving, and other important financial decisions together. At Dogwood Wealth Management, we build and continually update financial plans around each client's goals, values, and changing circumstances.
How can a financial advisor help a business owner
A financial advisor can help business owners coordinate their business and personal finances, including investments, retirement planning, tax strategies, risk management, business value, succession planning, and preparing for a future sale or transition. Dogwood Wealth Management works with business owners to help turn business success into long-term personal financial independence.
When should a business owner start exit or succession planning?
Business owners should ideally begin planning for an eventual exit several years before they intend to sell or transition their company. Starting early provides time to understand and potentially improve business value, address tax and estate considerations, develop succession options, and determine how a future exit fits into the owner's personal financial plan.
How can a financial advisor help an executive with stock options, RSUs, and concentrated company stock?
Executives often face complicated decisions involving stock options, restricted stock units (RSUs), concentrated stock positions, retirement benefits, deferred compensation, and taxes. A financial advisor can help evaluate these benefits as part of a broader investment, tax, retirement, and estate strategy.
How can a financial advisor help me prepare for retirement?
A financial advisor can help determine how much you need to retire, when you can reasonably retire, how to invest your assets, when to claim Social Security, and how to create sustainable retirement income. Retirement planning should also consider taxes, Medicare, Roth conversions, estate planning, and how different withdrawal strategies may affect your long-term financial plan.
Do I still need a financial advisor if I already have a CPA and estate attorney?
CPAs, estate attorneys, and financial advisors provide different expertise, and significant financial decisions often involve all three. A comprehensive financial advisor can help coordinate these professionals so decisions involving investments, retirement, taxes, estate planning, and business interests support the same overall strategy.
What is tax planning, and how is it different from tax preparation?
Tax preparation primarily focuses on accurately reporting what happened during the previous tax year, while tax planning looks ahead for opportunities to make more tax-efficient financial decisions. Tax planning can include retirement contributions, Roth conversions, charitable giving, investment gains and losses, business planning, estate strategies, and the timing of income and deductions.
What makes Dogwood Wealth Management different from other financial advisors?
Dogwood Wealth Management takes a comprehensive, values-driven approach that connects financial decisions to what clients actually want their money to accomplish. Our team helps clients understand their finances in straightforward language while coordinating investments, retirement, taxes, estate planning, insurance, and other areas so clients can spend without guilt, give without worry, and live with intention.