Financial Planning

What exactly is wealth management? At its core, wealth management is simply the process of financial problem solving and cultivating your capital so it fulfills your own higher purposes. Accordingly, wealth management will mean different things to different people, and more often than not the solution to these problems is made up of much more than the process of selecting the right asset allocation or investment selection. To deliver qualified wealth management services to our clients, Cascade works closely with your existing wealth management professionals to incorporate the most recent tax, estate planning, and risk management concerns into the design of your portfolio. In the event your situation needs specialized attention in any area, Cascade utilizes a nationwide network of wealth management specialists to provide you access to the top professionals in all areas of financial services.

Listening

We believe that before we begin offering advice to our clients, it is critical that we have a complete understanding of the issues and objectives that are of the highest priority to you. In your initial meeting, your Cascade Advisor will ask you a series of questions designed to bring to light your specific:

• Goals
• Objectives
• Values
• Attitudes about Money, Investing, and Long-Term Planning

This conversation allows you and your Cascade Advisor the opportunity to develop a strong foundation for working together as you and your advisor will jointly be able to outline your specific desires prior to ever creating a financial strategy.

Exploring

In the world of financial services, it is uncommon for advisors to ask the probing questions necessary to build a customized wealth management solution for their clients. Cascade's commitment to serving our clients causes us to search out the most complete information on a client's current financial situation so that we may best advise them as to the strengths and prospective areas of improvement in their existing strategies. To accomplish this, your advisor will ask you questions in regards to:

• Your current assets, including real estate, and other non-security holdings
• Your employment situation
• Your current saving strategies
• Your other advisors
• Your current tax information
• Your current estate planning efforts
• The people you care about
• Your charitable inclinations
• Your passions
• Any tangible objective which requires money and planning to achieve

This process is designed to help clients think through the nature of their priorities, and allows your advisor the benefit of a complete understanding of what is important to you.

Strategizing

Often conducted in concert with your other wealth management professionals, our analysis consists of two primary components:

• A "diagnostic" of your current portfolio of assets.
• How each component fits within your objectives.
• The tax efficiency of each component
• The risk/return profile of each component.
• An analysis of the suitability of each component.
• The establishment of "Financial Guideposts," listing specific, tangible objectives with measurable time frames that require money and planning to achieve.

Designing

Using the information gleaned from the diagnostic process, Cascade works with your team of advisors to create an Investment Policy Statement which relies upon your "financial guideposts" to guide the structure your investment portfolio. By having incorporated input from each member of your advisory team, Cascade designs an investment policy that is:

1. Tax Aware
   1. Sensitive to current tax situation
   2. Incorporates Long-term tax planning considerations
2. Estate Aware
   1. Aware of legacy objectives
   2. Aware of income/legacy planning issues
   3. Estate tax sensitive
3. Risk Aware
   1. Conscious of various types of investment risk
      1. Market Risk
      2. Interest rate risk
      3. Credit risk
      4. Volatility risk
   2. Incorporates planning for mortality risk
      1. Life risk
      2. Disability risk
      3. Health risks
      4. Long term care issues
   3. Litigation risk
      1. Asset protection strategies to mitigate assets susceptible to litigation risk

Implementation

Once the strategy and design phases are complete, your Advisor will present to you a written implementation strategy outlining our suggestions as to how best to achieve your financial goals. This document is designed to serve as a mutual understanding between you and your Cascade advisor as to:

1. Our guidelines to the construction and management of your investment accounts for use by our portfolio managers to guide their decision making in the discretionary management of your accounts.
2. The statement of your "Financial Guideposts" and our suggestions as to how to achieve your financial objectives.
3. A timeline for the completion and the implementation steps in your wealth management plan, including:
   1. A written review of your last two years tax returns.*
   2. A written evaluation of your current estate plan.*
   3. A written assessment of your risk management strategies.
   4. Where appropriate, the delivery of consolidated reporting for your non-Cascade assets.
   5. The development of a "Financial Preparedness Kit" containing, in one centralized location, a listing of all pertinent financial documents to aid families in the event of an emergency.
      
      * Done in conjunction with your current advisors or with a strategic partner.

Once you have reviewed and made any necessary changes to the implementation strategy, your advisor will initiate the process of transitioning any assets outlined in the plan.

Communication

Without question, communication is the heart of any wealth management program. It begins in the initial meeting where your discussion will lead you into your most important thought process regarding your engagement. Throughout the strategic and implementation process, your thoughtful feedback is encouraged. However, we at Cascade believe that the wealth management process begins, not ends, with the implementation phase.

During your implementation meeting, your advisor will schedule a "Transition Meeting," approximately 45 days out, with several objectives in mind:

• Review the activity involved with transitioning your accounts to Cascade.
• Review and explain any paperwork received to date.
• Explain how to read your new Cascade account statements.
• Ask for your feedback on the transition process to date.
• Most importantly, look to you for any input on changes in your personal situation that may have an impact on the planning process.

After the completion of your first full calendar quarter with Cascade, your Advisor will schedule quarterly progress meetings to review the progress of your account, discuss any pertinent market contingencies which may be of concern, and again ask for your feedback as to our service, our process, and changes which may have occurred in your personal situation.

In an effort to create a more formal and complete feedback system for our clients, Cascade has committed to conducting an independent client satisfaction survey design to keep us informed as to our client's satisfaction with their experience to allow the opportunity for them to offer input as to services or offerings which would be of interest to them. It also allows our clients an anonymous channel for informing us where Cascade has fallen short of their expectations. We understand that you, our clients, are our most important resource. We believe our focus on communication helps us insure that we deliver the quality of wealth care you have come to expect from Cascade.

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