Investments
Do you know what you own, and what each position is there to do?
Investment accounts are built position by position, and every holding should have a reason for being there, a known cost, and a clear tax treatment. What follows are the building blocks available through Strategic Direction.
- Stocks and Exchange-Traded Products. Individual equities and ETFs give direct exposure with control over cost, turnover, and when gains get realized. Which of those matters most depends on the account holding them.
- Bonds and Fixed Income Securities. Individual bonds, municipals, treasuries, and fixed income funds each behave differently when rates move. Maturity, credit quality, and tax treatment determine which fits a given need.
- Mutual Funds. Pooled vehicles provide diversification inside a single position. Expense ratios, turnover, and capital gains distributions vary widely between funds holding similar assets.
- Alternative Investments. Strategies outside traditional stocks and bonds carry different liquidity terms, fee structures, and suitability requirements. Whether one belongs depends on the rest of the portfolio and what access to the money needs to look like.
Annuities
Will the income you have built actually last as long as you do?
Contracts issued by insurance companies, differing enough from each other that the category name says little on its own. The distinctions below determine how the money grows, what happens in a down market, and when income can start.
- Deferred. Growth accumulates on a tax-deferred basis before income begins at a later date.
- Variable. Contract value moves with the investment subaccounts you select.
- Registered index-linked. Returns track an index with a defined level of downside protection and a cap on the upside. Equitable created this category in 2010 and has led it since.
- Guaranteed income features. Optional riders that provide income for life, added to a deferred contract rather than purchased on their own.
Life Insurance
If your income stopped permanently tomorrow, what would your family have to change?
Different structures solve different problems, and the right one depends on how long the coverage needs to last and what else it is meant to do.
- Term. Coverage for a set period, typically at the lowest cost per dollar of death benefit.
- Universal life. Permanent coverage with premiums and a death benefit you can adjust as circumstances change.
- Indexed universal life. Permanent coverage where cash value growth is linked to an index, with a floor that protects against index losses and a cap that limits gains in strong years.
- Variable universal life. Permanent coverage with cash value allocated across investment subaccounts you select.
- Survivorship. Covers two lives, usually a married couple, and pays at the second death. Often used in estate and legacy planning.
Retirement Plans
Is your retirement money in the right accounts, or just the ones you happened to open?
Two people can save identical amounts and end up with very different after-tax income, because where the money sits determines how it gets taxed on the way out. Choosing and coordinating these accounts is as consequential as choosing what goes inside them.
- IRAs. Traditional and Roth, with the choice turning on your bracket now against your expected bracket later.
- 401(k)s. Employer plans, including rollover decisions when you leave a job and conversion opportunities inside the plan.
- 403(b)s. Plans for nonprofit and public education employees, an area where Equitable has long been one of the most established providers.
- Employer plan design. Retirement plans structured for business owners and key employees, coordinated with the owner's personal planning.
College Savings Plans
How do you fund an education without derailing your own retirement?
529 plans and custodial accounts differ in who controls the money, how financial aid treats it, and what happens to funds that go unused. That last question has changed recently, with rollover provisions to Roth IRAs.
- 529 plans. Tax-advantaged growth for qualified education costs, with newer provisions allowing unused funds to move to a Roth IRA under certain conditions.
- Custodial accounts. UGMA and UTMA accounts, which transfer control to the child at the age of majority and are weighed differently in aid calculations.
- Special needs considerations. Funding approaches structured to help preserve eligibility for government benefits.
- Coordination with the broader plan. Education funding sequenced so it does not compete with retirement priorities.
Disability & L/T Care Insurance
What would an extended illness cost your household, and who would absorb it?
Two different risks with two different answers. Disability coverage protects income during your working years. Long-term care addresses the cost of extended care later in life, and at Equitable it is built into permanent life insurance rather than purchased as a separate policy. Both are underwritten on health and age, so the terms available change depending on when coverage is put in place.
- Long-term care rider on permanent coverage. Available on indexed and variable universal life policies, allowing the death benefit to be accelerated to pay for qualifying care.
- Indemnity-based claims. Benefits are paid without requiring receipts, so funds can go toward the kind of care the family actually chooses.
- Nothing lost if care is never needed. Any benefit not used for care remains available to beneficiaries as a death benefit.
- Group and voluntary disability. Short- and long-term disability coverage available through Equitable's employee benefits platform, including for business owners covering their own teams.
Start With a Conversation
The clearest way to know whether Michael is the right fit is to talk with him directly. Reach out to schedule a first conversation and see what a plan built around your goals looks like.