Wealth & Legacy Planning for Austin High Net Worth Investors 

With tax laws continually changing, we believe keeping your estate plan up-to-date is more important than ever. Updating estate plans annually helps ensure your wealth is positioned to transfer efficiently to your heirs when the time comes, your beneficiaries are current, and your plan addresses potential tax issues.  

Following are several actions you should consider taking as a high-net-worth investor: 

• Beneficiary Updates: Regularly reviewing beneficiaries for accounts like retirement plans and insurance policies ensures your wishes are clearly defined, preventing complications after you and your spouse are gone. Outdated beneficiaries can lead to unwanted allocations and bypass important estate provisions. 

• Annual Will Review: Life circumstances change, and so should your will. You can account for new family members, relationship changes, or personal and financial milestones by conducting an annual review. 

• Leveraging Trusts: Ensure you leverage trusts appropriately, avoid costly probate procedures, manage taxes more efficiently, and maintain control over your legacy. Different types of trusts allow you to shape your estate plan around specific needs, whether protecting assets for future generations or reducing current tax exposure. 

Adjusting estate plans on a timely basis enables you to react proactively to new or modified regulations, securing your legacy and the financial futures of your loved ones. Consider working with a team of Austin financial advisors who help high-net-worth individuals like you create robust wealth and legacy plans. 

Watch Our Podcast: Investment Strategies Exposed: Passive or Active- Which Wins? 

Alternative investments can be powerful tools for high-net-worth portfolios, offering returns unrelated to the stock and bond markets. Beck Capital Management utilizes alternative investments, to complement traditional asset classes, that make sense for our clients. 

Here’s a quick look at how alternative investments can help diversify your portfolio: 

• Alternative investments are common. They are just different from traditional stock and bond investments. For example, real estate that seeks to produce income is an alternative investment. 

• Alternatives like real estate, private credit, private equity, and structured notes provide access to asset classes that individual investors may not see. For example, 86% of companies generating over $250M of annual revenues are privately held, creating many investment opportunities in addition to public companies. 

• Alternatives can be attractive due to their lower correlations with public securities. This means that when stocks are struggling due to high inflation, income-producing real estate may flourish. Managed well, alternatives may offer attractive returns with modest risk, helping to manage overall portfolio volatility and potential resilience during market downturns. 

• Alternative investments can be complex, but with a financial advisor in Austin, you can access private markets and strategic asset classes usually unavailable to individual investors. Partnering with an Austin investment advisory firm can provide insight, access, and due diligence that can make alternative investments an important part of a diversified portfolio. 

The world’s economic stage significantly impacts investment opportunities and decisions. In fact, domestic and foreign are becoming increasingly blurry. For example, a company headquartered outside the U.S. could derive the majority of its earnings from inside the U.S. And, a company headquartered inside the U.S. could derive the majority of its earnings from outside the U.S. Which is the domestic or foreign company?  

At Beck Capital Management, we strategically analyze global economic factors to position portfolios to pursue current and future growth. As we like to say, “Money always flows to where it is treated best,” meaning identifying the most promising regions and sectors is a key to effective portfolio management. 

• International monetary policy, regional fiscal strategies, and demographic trends all shape where investments should flow. For example, advancements in artificial intelligence are spurring growth in the tech sector, while infrastructure spending boosts industries like materials and equipment manufacturing. 

• By identifying broad sector trends, Beck Capital Management analyzes which companies are best poised for future growth. From electric grid expansion in utilities to healthcare’s rising demand due to an aging population, each sector of the economy presents unique investment opportunities. 

• Global trends help guide sector decisions, but analyzing individual companies within those sectors is still a top priority. At Beck, we focus on companies with strong financials and management that can navigate global shifts and are positioned to produce long-term growth. 

Understanding and capitalizing on global trends means your portfolio isn’t just riding the wave but staying ahead.  

      What Happens When the Fed Cuts Interest Rates? You Won’t Believe It! 

The Federal Reserve’s frequent policy shifts impact the broader economy and your investments. By monitoring interest rate trends, employment statistics, the money supply, and broader macroeconomic policies, Beck Capital Management can strategically respond to rapidly changing financial conditions. 

• The Fed’s rate adjustments often have a marked impact on different asset classes. For example, as interest rates go up on new bonds, the prices of existing bonds go down. On the other hand, lower borrowing costs may have a bigger impact on rapidly growing companies. 

• Employment is a crucial factor in the economy. High employment levels can drive economic growth, supporting investments across multiple sectors. In times of increasing unemployment, shifting to more conservative, safe-haven investments (utilities, staples, healthcare) may be wise. 

• With informed insights into Fed policies, Beck Capital Management incorporates Fed shifts into our clients' investment strategies to respond dynamically to the rapidly changing market conditions spawned by these policies.  

• For example, when companies benefit from lower rates, we emphasize growth companies more. However, when interest rates rise, we may emphasize blue-chip stocks and convertibles more. Based on Fed actions, we call these actions “pivots.” 

Watch our short video to learn more about our investment management process. 

At Beck Capital Management, in-house money management is a cornerstone of our advice and services. Unlike investment firms that outsource your money management to expensive third-party money managers, our experienced Austin-based investment team provides hands-on management, consistently evaluating various economic factors to protect and nurture your portfolio. 

• You can speak directly to the in-house individuals who are managing your portfolio. This transparency offers peace of mind and the opportunity to receive direct insights into how global events may impact your portfolio. 

• Beck Capital’s experienced investment team leverages proprietary databases and research resources that are often too costly for retail investors to access independently. Our clients benefit from data-backed portfolio management decisions that may impact their performance. 

• Entrusting portfolio management to an experienced team of Austin-based investment advisors allows you to focus on personal priorities while we handle the day-to-day management of your assets. 

• When you partner with Beck Capital Management, you’re never left in the dark about your investments. You’re supported by a local team that’s both knowledgeable and approachable, helping to ensure your wealth strategy aligns with your current circumstances, tolerance for risk, and goals. You will always know what is happening in the markets, why, and how it impacts your portfolio. 

  Watch our podcast on: “Strategic Investment Planning for Political Change” 

No two investors are alike, so why would you want to be invested in a cookie-cutter portfolio that may or may not meet your specific financial goals? At Beck, we craft custom investment solutions tailored to each client’s unique situation. Whether your focus is legacy building, retirement planning, or strategic asset growth, our team ensures your wealth plan is on point and responsive to your needs. 

• We develop strategies based on your financial goals. For younger clients in their 30s and 40s, we might lean toward a more aggressive approach in an attempt to maximize results. If you don’t take risks when you are young, when would you take risks?  

• For those nearing retirement, we aim for a more conservative strategy that is increasingly focused on wealth preservation. We have more time to recover from down markets when we are young. There is less recovery time as we age, hence the potential need for increased capital preservation.  

• Asset allocation and location significantly affect tax efficiency and growth potential. Our approach considers where assets are held—retirement accounts, taxable brokerage accounts, or trusts—to help maximize after-tax returns. 

• Whether you plan to gift assets, pass wealth to future generations, or spend it down, having an experienced advisor helps align your investment approach with your legacy goals. We focus on building a sustainable wealth plan that respects your wishes and efficiently transfers assets to heirs and nonprofit institutions. 

Our tailored solutions mean you’re not just planning for today but setting the stage for generational wealth transfers when the surviving spouse dies. By understanding and respecting your unique financial circumstances, we create strategies based on your goals—that is, making our wealth management knowledge, advice, and services work for you.