Wealth Insights

5 considerations for long-term wealth planning

Get insight into wealth planning strategies to help ensure your financial goals align with your resources.

Key takeaways

• Review your plan regularly. Don't wait for major market events or a new year to reassess your financial goals, assets, and overall strategy.
• Focus on long-term objectives. While economic uncertainty, inflation, and market volatility can create concerns, short-term events should not drive major changes to a long-term financial plan.
• Understand tax laws. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) introduced new planning opportunities, including increased estate and gift tax exemptions and extensions of several tax provisions.
• Consider interest rates and inflation impact. Rising costs and changing rate environments can impact spending, borrowing, investment returns, and long-term goals.
• Markets include opportunities and volatility. While growth prospects remain favorable, geopolitical events, trade policy developments, and political changes may continue to create market fluctuations.
• A plan is more than a portfolio. Effective planning includes evaluating all assets, liabilities, cash flow, taxes, retirement goals, estate planning needs, and risk management strategies.
• Stress-test your plan. Reviewing how your financial strategy performs under different economic and market scenarios may help improve preparedness and confidence.
• Life changes should trigger plan reviews. Major milestones such as retirement, inheritance, business transitions, marriage, or family changes should be reflected in your wealth plan.
• Work with experienced advisors. Financial professionals can help filter market noise, identify planning opportunities, and coordinate with other specialized professionals when needed.

There are a few pivotal times for wealth planning as the financial and economic landscapes evolve. Now may be an ideal time to evaluate whether you’re on track to realize your near-term and future financial goals and aspirations. “Don’t just wait for a new year or for major economic changes to occur to look inward,” says Bryan Koepp, Wealth Planning Executive for Regions Private Wealth Management.

“If you have not done so this year, now is the time to review your balance sheet and understand it. What are your assets and why do you hold them? What’s their purpose? From there, ask: How can I make it better based upon my current goals and aspirations – taking into account market conditions?”

Dealing with economic uncertainty

This year has had its share of market and economic uncertainty. Inflation, though relatively stable for now, may reverse course depending on shifts in the political landscape. In a related state of uncertainty, interest rates have the potential to take a turn if the economic climate changes.

So how do you balance the impact and opportunities of short-term events while remaining true to your long-term financial plan? “A major purpose of financial planning is to prepare for various scenarios and take advantage of new opportunities that may strengthen your financial future,” says Koepp.

“But at the same time, short-term market and economic conditions shouldn’t cause you to change your overall investment philosophy and financial plan, which reflects your risk tolerance and the time horizon to achieve specific long-term goals. It’s important not to alter your long-term plan for the sake of making changes but rather to be tactical to address a specific shifting need.”

Staying current on tax laws

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) was signed into law in July 2025, extending and modifying numerous provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that were set to expire at the end of that year.

The legislation generally preserved favorable Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) treatment for many taxpayers, although certain exemption and phaseout provisions were modified. The legislation also permanently increased the child tax credit to $2,200 per qualifying child beginning in 2025 and provides for future inflation adjustments. The OBBBA also increased the federal gift and estate tax exemption to $15 million per individual and includes annual inflation adjustments. Read this guide for a comprehensive rundown of the OBBBA tax changes and how they may impact you.

Keep in mind that tax laws may be influenced by a variety of factors including legislative priorities, economic and geopolitical conditions, and federal and state budget considerations. It is important to stay informed as future changes in the law could affect your planning strategies.

What we know about interest rates

“As the political and economic environment around us changes constantly, it is important to stay close to your advisors to know how a rate change in the market can affect your financial picture,” says Jacqueline Parks, Wealth Strategist at Regions Bank.

Parks explains that you should consider the impact of both a rising or falling rate environment to have a better understanding of your financial plan, and how small changes can affect your picture for the long term.

Koepp agrees. “Focusing on your personal balance sheet is critical,” says Koepp.

“Even if inflation decreases, that doesn’t necessarily mean the price of goods decreases,” notes Parks. “As we seem to have a new higher baseline for the cost of goods, it may be helpful for you to review your financial plan based on current spend levels and stress test for further inflation growth.”

You might also leverage the uncertainty that higher prices can generate to help you prioritize the things that are most important to you. “This can give you a laser focus on your wants versus your needs,” Koepp says, and might help you identify goals and values that can be integrated into your wealth plan. Times like this tend to highlight the value a wealth advisor can bring. “Together you can look at scenarios that take into account the impact of inflation, your expenses and what you want to achieve,” Koepp says.

Global markets and potential volatility

Optimism around the U.S. economic expansion and domestic stock market has tempered with recent geopolitical concerns, but it appears the U.S. is still one of the greatest growth stories in the developed world. Regions market commentators expect broader equity participation as domestic large and small cap stocks could fare well against select foreign equity markets over the back half of the year, even as pockets of macroeconomic volatility crop up.

“U.S. companies remain some of the fastest growing and most profitable in the world, largely driven by our innovative technology sector,” Regions Director of Portfolio Strategy Conner Griffith said. “Earnings growth has been a primary driver of returns in recent quarters, a signal that recent gains are warranted so long as the fundamental backdrop for U.S. companies remains intact.”

The S&P 500 retreated modestly earlier in the year and approached oversold territory, but volatility should be expected as uncertainty tied to monetary policy and geopolitics could persist and weigh on sentiment to some degree. Make sure you are having ongoing conversations with your advisor to stay on top of the economic and market environment and milestones in your life.

“There is always a lot of noise in the markets; there will be even more to come,” says Regions Chief Investment Officer Alan McKnight. “You have midterms in November with the possibility of a new majority in Congress and a new mandate. It’s a situation where you’re conceivably transitioning, from an economic perspective. When new policies and new players appear, it creates a lot of noise in the system. That will have an impact both here and abroad.”

McKnight notes that one of the best things an investor can do is avoid being reactive, minimize the noise and focus on what you can influence.

Making a wealth plan for more than just this year

Often people will focus solely on the monthly or annual performance of a 401(k) or an investment portfolio to gauge how well they are doing financially. “But investments and retirement savings are only one component of an overall wealth plan, which provides the roadmap, the guardrails and the confidence to allow you to accomplish your goals over years or even decades,” says Koepp.

A wealth plan starts with a full inventory of an individual’s assets, which often reveals a more favorable balance sheet than many people anticipate. “The accumulation of 401(k) plans, pension plans and various savings accounts can add up,” says Koepp. Only by getting a big picture view of all your assets can you begin to make informed financial decisions. Are your investments underperforming? Is your asset allocation correct? A wealth plan may also identify gaps that you can seek to close with strategies that you may not have previously considered.

A wealth plan evolves with you. “Your ongoing life events and changing priorities are vitally important to capture to make sure that the plan achieves what it's intended to do,” says Koepp. Equally important is to stress-test your plan against various market and economic scenarios.

People may hesitate to create a wealth plan for the first time because they may worry about what it might reveal, says Koepp. “But the report just provides data. The real benefit of wealth planning is the interaction between an individual and his or her wealth advisor,” he says. “By examining various scenarios that will lead to different outcomes, together they can prioritize and target planning options designed around an individual’s goals.”

Another benefit of having a wealth advisor is being able to talk through questions and concerns that arise from our 24/7 news cycle. “Not all financial information seen through traditional news and alternative media may apply to your personal situation. The sheer amount of information can be overwhelming,” says Koepp. “A wealth advisor has the experience to slow down the pace of that information and address clients’ questions.”

Talk with your Regions Wealth Advisor about:

1. Adjusting your plan to reflect planning opportunities from changes in legislation.
2. How to navigate estate planning strategies during volatile markets.
3. The benefits of an annual estate plan review.
4. The benefits of investing outside of your 401(k) to build savings, diversify assets, or look for potential returns for extra cash.

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