When “I” Becomes “Us”—Blending Your Lives and Your Finances

Preparing your financial life for whatever marriage may bring with financial planning for couples.

Most couples have no problem talking about their aspirations, work, family, friends, and current events. But they clam up when it comes to money. Discussing your personal finances openly and honestly is essential for your current and future financial life together.

Our financial planners who work with couples, help you have these conversations, offering objective advice and oversight to preserve, grow, and protect your wealth.

  • Facilitate the “money talk” to align your financial priorities, needs, and goals
  • Develop and execute a comprehensive financial plan that reflects your shared vision
  • Work with your attorney to draft a pre- or postnuptial agreement
  • Provide divorce financial consulting in the unfortunate event your marriage dissolves

Marriage is one of the most significant financial steps you will ever take. Be prepared for both the upside and downside through financial planning tailored specifically for high-net-worth couples.

Supporting Women’s Wealth Management During Times of Transition

We support women throughout their financial lives. If you’re divorcing, widowed, or coming into wealth through inheritance or a liquidity event, we can help you navigate your new reality with confidence and clarity.

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Supporting Women’s Wealth Management During Times of Transition

Objective Financial Advice Tailored to Your Marital Situation

Newly engaged. Happily married. Getting a divorce. Whatever phase you’re at as a couple, our financial advisors are here to help guide you through it.

Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements

A stigma surrounds prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, but they’re actually a contract between two loving people. The time to plan is when you love and respect each other—it helps minimize discord and legal fees if you later divorce. Our financial advisors work closely with you and your attorney to ensure the agreement reflects your unique situation: family heirlooms, intellectual property, future earnings, or income disparity. We also make sure that you fully understand the financial terms.

Comprehensive Wealth Management for Couples

“I have no idea what our monthly spending is.” “I don’t know anything about our taxes.” “My spouse handles all that.” Most couples divide financial tasks, making good communication even more vital. The decisions you make in one area of your financial life impact the others. Our financial advisors actively engage you and your spouse in all aspects of your financial planning – cash flow analysis, taxes, estate planning, insurance, investments, and retirement planning. You both need to know and understand how your wealth is being managed, and the actions needed to keep you on track.

Divorce Financial Consulting

Emotions run high during a divorce, and asset classification (marital or separate) and subsequent division are hotly contested topics. Our knowledge in divorce financial consulting helps your attorney secure an equitable settlement for you. We are often called upon to:

  • Trace assets to determine classification as marital or separate property
  • Prepare net worth statements to provide an accurate picture of household wealth
  • Perform a lifestyle analysis to determine the family’s standard of living and assist in the determination of spousal and child support
  • Write or review tax clauses in the divorce agreement for assets that can’t be divided
  • Review prior tax returns to uncover hidden sources of income and much more.

Building a Solid Foundation with Marital Financial Planning

Studies show that the inability of spouses to communicate about their finances is the second leading cause of divorce (after infidelity). Our financial advisors can help you and your spouse to:

  • Establish financial “ground rules” and discuss expectations for spending and saving
  • Decide how premarital assets and debt will be handled
  • Create a mutually-agreeable plan for resolving competing financial goals and concerns
  • "Course-correct” to adjust your financial plan for life events like the birth of a child
  • Identify investment preferences, including the type of securities and risk profile
Ekaterina Klimentova

Partner / Ekaterina Klimentova

With two marriage-aged children of my own, I hear plenty of discussions about choosing a wedding planner, selecting a venue, and other plans for the big day, but I haven’t heard one discussion about choosing a financial advisor. In my opinion, discussing and planning for a couple’s financial future is of paramount importance."

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Joseph Matus

Principal

Economic and Market Outlooks

What’s on Our Minds This Week?

Despite a rare simultaneous sell-off in U.S. Treasuries, U.S. stocks, and the U.S. dollar that is raising fears of capital flight from dollar-denominated assets toward safer global alternatives, the United States may still remain the most attractive option in the long run with notably higher growth estimates, higher-yielding sovereign bonds, and reliance on domestic consumption.

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Estate Planning

Trusts as IRA Beneficiaries

This article examines the critical considerations for selecting a trust as an IRA beneficiary post-Secure Act, including the types of trusts that qualify and the impact on estate planning.

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Client Experience

Financial Planning for LGBTQ+ Couples

LGBTQ+ partners face unique complexities in financial planning. A skilled financial advisor with an acute understanding of the legal protections and rights for LGBTQ+ partners can help couples achieve their plans and goals.

Ayisha Tahir

Principal

Individuals and Families

Harnessing the Power of Health Savings Accounts

HSAs offer more than a way to manage healthcare costs; they are a vital wealth-building tool that utilizes tax advantages and growth opportunities to bolster financial security.

Daniel Park and Cheryl Donaldson

Individuals and Families

Mitigating State “Millionaire’s Tax”: Filing Separately in Your State May Provide Relief

With the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that eliminated the “marriage penalty” tax brackets, filing a joint federal tax return has mainly become a foregone conclusion for married couples. Under certain circumstances, couples may still opt to file separately. Partner Dan Park and Principal Cheryl Donaldson outline several factors that warrant careful consideration and planning when filing your taxes.

Pierre duPont

Partner

Family Office

Raising Children into Wealth

Family wealth can diminish children’s hunger to live productive lives. But it doesn’t have to. Pierre duPont, a Client Advisor in Cerity Partners’ NY office, shares ways parents can instill a healthy perspective about money, work and society.

Paul Chmielewski

Partner

Corporations

When It Comes to LLCs, Pay Attention to Liability Direction

When properly structured, the use of SMLLCs in conjunction with an MMLLC provides important upward and downward liability protection benefits while reducing the number of tax returns that need to be prepared.

Mariella Foley

Partner

Individuals and Families

Splitting Retirement Accounts in Divorce

When going through a divorce, the process of dividing assets can be a frustrating and confusing one.  Retirement assets are an important issue in any divorce proceeding, since, after the marital home, they often represent the largest category of marital assets to be divided in a divorce settlement. Accounts that fall into this retirement category […]

Andrew Fisher

Partner

Cross-Border Planning

Warning Signs for American Expat Investors Working with Large U.S. Investment Firms

Investors who chose to live overseas or anywhere outside the U.S. border face inevitable complications to their financial life. There are seven warning signs that can help safeguard you against firms that should be avoided.

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Investing is a long-term commitment to your financial well-being. It’s about growing and safeguarding your wealth. Our disciplined, goal-oriented approach ensures your portfolio remains resilient in the face of market and economic fluctuations.

Our sophisticated estate and wealth transfer strategies help you preserve your legacy while minimizing tax burdens. Every recommendation is tailored to your specific needs, leveraging our extensive knowledge of estate, trust, gift, and tax regulations.

Successfully navigating the financial challenges that come with wealth necessitates planning, relevant advice, and a financial advisor who’s always in your corner. Cerity Partners provides all three.

Safeguard the financial security you and your loved ones have built. We assess your current risk exposure and develop customized strategies designed to protect the most vulnerable areas of your financial life.

We design and implement tax optimization strategies, including the creation of detailed tax projections and the preparation of personal, trust, and business tax returns.

Our family office services free you to focus on what matters most, providing a coordinated team of specialists dedicated to preserving, growing, and protecting your family's prosperity.

We work with owners of privately held businesses to help them create and execute transition plans that provide a seamless and successful exit for themselves, their families, and other stakeholders.

Divorce marks the end of marriage but also the start of your new life. We can help you navigate the financial challenges of divorce and embrace the opportunities for building a thriving, secure future.

Just because your professional life is international doesn’t mean your financial life has to be complicated. Cerity Partners has extensive knowledge of U.S. and global tax laws and regulations, and we will work with you to preserve and grow your wealth here and abroad.