6 Advisors Warn Emotional Decisions Can Wreck $1-Million Portfolios
Updated
Updated · The Globe and Mail · Aug 17
6 Advisors Warn Emotional Decisions Can Wreck $1-Million Portfolios
1 articles · Updated · The Globe and Mail · Aug 17
Summary
$1-million portfolios, $40-million business sales and inheritances all featured in advisers’ examples of common client mistakes, with emotion, poor planning and silence around money driving the biggest losses.
One client sold a down $1-million portfolio to buy a house for a new relationship, while another kept three-quarters of a retirement account in Nortel—an adviser estimated it later shrank to roughly $200,000.
Tax and estate missteps also proved costly: one charitable tax shelter left clients repaying about $30,000 plus interest, and an entrepreneur who sold a business for $40-million sought tax help only after the deal closed.
Family wealth transfers were another flashpoint, as an unwritten cottage succession plan burned hundreds of thousands in legal fees and taxes, and one heir repeatedly withdrew about $60,000 until a structured payout plan was imposed.