Effective Investment Strategies for High Achievers

As a high achiever, you have likely set big goals for your working years that will carry over into your retirement years. It’s also highly likely that as your assets grow in value, so does the complexity of your financial situation. And lastly, you are probably very busy building wealth, so you have limited time for financial planning, investing, and risk management.

We completely understand that, as successful business owners ourselves, we have experienced many of the same challenges in our careers and entrepreneurial pursuits.

The skill set needed to create wealth differs sharply from what it takes to preserve it and make it grow. We’ve observed many successful people amass significant wealth only to see it decline due to poor investment choices and lackluster planning. Our role is to provide the knowledge, advice, and services they need to build a secure financial future. 

That’s why Michael founded Cogent Strategic Wealth.

At Cogent, we’re not just Utah financial advisors but also clients of our firm. We practice what we preach, employing the very strategies we recommend through our “Design, Build, and Protect” process. We bring decades of financial experience to the table, including understanding entrepreneurial instincts and helping our clients every step of the way in their financial journeys.

Our blog will look at key investment strategies for high achievers that you can deploy now to help protect and nurture your financial well-being.

Understanding the Design | Build | Protect Methodology

Simply put, our Design | Build | Protect strategy is a comprehensive approach to wealth management that focuses on creating a personalized financial plan, implementing the provisions of the plan, sophisticated investment strategies, and safeguarding your future and assets against potential risks.

1. Design: This initial phase involves understanding your current financial situation, concerns, goals, and values. Our team of experienced St. George financial advisors works closely with you to create a clear and actionable financial strategy that aligns with your life objectives.

2. Build: Once the design phase is complete, the next step is to execute the planning and investment strategies. For example, this involves carefully selecting investments that fit your risk profile and time horizons. We strongly recommend periodic reviews to keep your plan on track.

3. Protect: The final pillar of our three-step process focuses on protecting the wealth that you’ve already accumulated. This can mean implementing wealth management strategies that include risk management – estate planning, various types of insurance, and tax-efficient investment strategies. This stage ensures that your wealth is safeguarded from expected and unexpected circumstances, helping secure your financial future and that of your loved ones.

Is More the Right Mindset for You? Watch our founder, Michael Evans, discuss this important topic in this short video. 

The Power of Using Evidence-Based Investing

At Cogent Strategic Wealth, we use evidence-based investing as the foundation of our investment strategies for high pursuers. This approach becomes increasingly important as your invested assets grow over time. 

Why? Empirical research and historical data should guide investment decisions rather than subjectivity and emotions. The core advantage here is reducing the risk of emotion-backed financial decisions and replacing them with disciplined, objective decision-making. 

Your biggest financial risk is not what the markets do tomorrow. It is a failure to pursue your long-term financial goals.

For example, let’s compare two different scenarios:

• Investor A applies evidence-based investing by diversifying the investments in their portfolio with an emphasis on low-cost, systematic funds which pursue a higher expected returns while maintaining low costs and diversification. Employing a strategy with an innovative process and has translated into better returns for investors. . 

• On the other hand, Investor B might invest heavily in a single class of stock based on something they have seen or heard. However, investing based on yesterday’s news rarely produces the types of returns. You can get lucky, but that is not a sustainable investment strategy. 

Bottom line: Using an evidence-based approach ensures that your investment decisions are grounded in principles that work over longer periods. 

Having Cogent Conversations

We know you have a lot of options when it comes to who helps you manage your financial wealth. We are passionate about communicating our highly personalized wealth management services to our clients.

We created “Cogent Conversations,” which are focused, personal discussions between you and our planning and investment professionals team. These conversations focus on a broad range of topics that impact the pursuit of your financial goals. These conversations result in tailored advice and strategies that align your investments with your beliefs and values. These discussions help you understand your investment choices and make informed decisions about your financial future.

Safeguarding Your Investments

Protection is the final pillar of our Design | Build | Protect strategic approach. For a high achiever, safeguarding wealth is often just as important as growing it. 

Our protective strategies encompass a range of measures, from managing various financial risks to minimizing the taxes you pay. Each personalized strategy is designed to preserve your capital and promote peace of mind.

Insurance solutions and estate planning can be integral to this phase, ensuring your wealth is protected against the unexpected or helping you create a legacy passed onto future generations of your family and the institutions you believe in. With our help, you can build a solid financial foundation that can stand the test of time. 

Watch our short video: “Your Solution to Uncertainty”

Tax Planning 101

Have you ever heard someone say they want to pay more taxes than they legally have to? Often overlooked, tax planning and tax-efficient investing strategies should be high on your priority list to ensure you protect and nurture your wealth to its fullest extent. 

After all, every dollar of unnecessary tax expense is one less dollar for your future use.

By effectively using tax-advantaged accounts, tax-loss harvesting, charitable giving, and other tactics, you can reduce your tax bills, boost your after-tax income, and accelerate the growth of your assets. At Cogent Strategic Wealth, our highly skilled financial professionals can develop strategies tailored to your unique financial goals and timelines.

Tactics like optimizing asset locations, investing in tax-exempt bonds, and coordinating with donor-advised funds can help accelerate the growth of your assets, minimize taxes, and enhance investment growth.

If you find yourself in a position of sudden financial wealth, selling a piece of real estate, selling a business, or inheriting substantial assets, it’s crucial to remember the fundamentals of disciplined investment strategies for high achievers.
Connect with us to learn more about our investing strategies for high pursuers.

For informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as specific investment, accounting, legal or tax advice. Cogent Strategic Wealth provides investment advice only through individualized interactions. Certain information is based upon third-party data, which may become outdated or otherwise superseded without notice. Third-party information is deemed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. Indices are not available for direct investment. Their performance does not reflect the expenses associated with the management of an actual portfolio nor do indices represent results of actual trading. Information from sources deemed reliable, but its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Performance is historical and does not guarantee future results. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nor any other federal or state agency have approved, determined the accuracy, or confirmed the adequacy of this article. © 2024, Cogent Strategic Wealth®