Helping other financial advisors understand monetary policy, the Federal Reserve, and inflation is commonplace for Vance Barse, founder of Your Dedicated Fiduciary, who describes the Fed’s current rate-hike cycle as in its “eighth or ninth inning, but innings can take a lot longer than you think.”

“The age-old adage is that the Fed hikes until something breaks, and the one thing that hasn’t broken yet is core inflation ex-housing, which the Fed claims is its core metric,” Barse said.

Vance Barse, founder of Your Dedicated Fiduciary®, noted, “When we look at common planning gaps, we really need to start with the basics. Core financial literacy is not even taught in this country. Clients often don’t know what time value of money is, or the value of compound interest, or even the fundamental differences between stocks and bonds — let alone what their broader financial picture is.”

Vance Barse is the founder of Your Dedicated Fiduciary, an investment advisor firm based in San Diego, Calif., where two-thirds of its clients are female-headed households.

Barse describes the scenario he and other advisors see far too often with new widows: “After that initial shock, there is acceptance of the reality, which is that she is the one in charge of estate administration, she is the one who receives the estate, and now she is front and center in her own financial life. There’s a transition where these women may become a little resentful or realize that they don’t have a trusting relationship with the person who was the husband’s—not the family’s—advisor.”

High-net-worth women don’t need a retail advisor selling them whatever mutual fund the home office is hawking, Barse points out—they need what he calls an “in-house, right-hand person” to manage all aspects of the household’s financial life, even if that’s not what the husband’s expectations were while he was alive. 

Barse said that prudent financial planning starts and ends with the tax bill in mind. “Many of the CPAs out there are reactive tax filers, not strategic tax planners, and it really takes some expertise to understand which of the two you have in the tax world,” he said.

According to Barse, “Ultimately, the problem with thinking about tax season around tax filing deadline is that the real tax season for the current year is an all-year process.” October 1 through December 31 are the times when most advisors need to be making the proper tactical moves to ensure the best outcomes for their clients. “By the time we’re in tax filing season, for the previous year, many of the tax alleviation and tax reduction strategies for which a financial planning client is eligible are often off the table,” Barse said.