Insights and Index: Dreams of Wealth Series 2022

It’s a new year and there are a number of updates you’ll want to know about in the Dreams of Wealth series of books. Every year the IRS adjusts many of the financial planning thresholds that are referenced through the books. You can find these updates in 2022: What’s New and What’s Next on both www.dreamsofwealth.com and www.stevensvisionary.com.

For those of you who have purchased the series of books, or are thinking about purchasing other books in the series, I’m sharing my top three takeaways for each book as well as an Index for topics across all the content in the Dreams of Wealth series.

The overall goal of Dreams of Wealth is to help readers envision a better life through financial planning. These books challenge you to think about “the why.” What does wealth mean to you? Then we help you see how to use various diagnostics, templates and educational materials to create actionable goals that produce results.

Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is: Aligning Money and Meaning

If you want to start with a holistic approach to money management, then Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is can be a good place to begin. The theme of “aligning money and meaning” helps readers think about their values and how those relate to building a solid financial life to support those dreams.

The concept of a MindMap is introduced to help envision all aspects of your financial life on one sheet of paper. It starts with your intentions and continues that as you create your Investment Policy Statement to clarify your investment objectives. Aligning money and meaning applies to your own life, but also how you give to others. You’ll find a guided conversation to help you think about giving as well as a template to capture how you want to structure your giving.

Financial Planning Diagnostics: Diagnostics before Diagnosis

Appropriate for both financial advisors and individual investors, this book is loaded with checklists to help you think through specific topics in financial planning. It starts with three basic diagnostics: the MindMap, the Net Worth Statement and Tax Analysis. These diagnostics give you a much clearer picture of your current financial situation and what you need to do to envision your future.

You’ll find content to help you analyze your Net Worth Statement. I rarely see that in other planning books. You’ll also gain clarity in what you need to understand by analyzing your tax return. Strategic tax planning is critical especially as your wealth grows over time.

Over 25 checklists help you think about specific planning issues like a personal financial self-assessment, budgeting, divorce, terminal illness, job loss, natural disasters, aging parents, retirement preparation, philanthropy, estate and end-of-life planning. 

Financial Planning Literacy: Knowledge through Empowerment

The most comprehensive of the books in the series, this book covers most financial planning topics from savings concepts through detailed retirement concepts. If you are just starting the financial journey, you’ll find chapters devoted to savings ideas, and broad-based tips on setting up a secure financial future.

Investment concepts are explored in more detail in Financial Planning Literacy. You’ll learn more about basic cash topics as well as how to think about investing in both bonds and stocks. It’s all about balancing risk and reward. We’ll show you some tools you may want to investigate as you build your wealth.

The Financial Independence section is so comprehensive in its content around “retirement” that we also created a standalone version (we also did that for the topic of philanthropy). How do you want to balance time and money—now and in the future? What drives your purpose and how can you put a plan in place to support that? We revisit the diagnostics of the MindMap, Net Worth Statement and Tax Analysis as you evolve throughout life.

You’ll also find chapters on executive financial planning including stock compensation, how to adjust as life throws you the inevitable curveballs and more detailed tax concepts than you’ll find in the other series books.

As mentioned in the introduction, all financial thresholds that have changed in 2022 are listed in the article 2022: What’s New and What’s Next on both www.dreamsofwealth.com and www.stevensvisionary.com.

The Financial Bridge: How to Leave Your Legacy

The last book in the series focuses more on estate planning, philanthropy and end-of-life planning. Our goal was to give you what you need depending on where you are in life. You’ll find more detail on how to set up your estate and how to use that to reflect your intentions.

We’ll dig deeper into philanthropy by reviewing many different types of charitable vehicles. You’ll find a chart that compares different ways of giving depending on your objectives. Finally we’ll take time to think about what needs to happen as you (or a parent) approaches the end of life. What living accommodations will you need, what health concerns need attention, and how do your values and memories play into creating a meaningful transition.

Each book was designed to stand alone and that’s why you’ll find some content in more than one book in the series. But all the books can be taken together to address different aspects of planning in various phases in life. To help you find what you’re looking for, we’ve developed an Index of significant topics across the books.

Topic	Book	Chapter/Part	Page
Aging Parents	Bridge	Ch 5	p. 110
Aging Parents	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 100
Annual Financial Review	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 73
Annuities	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 204
Budgeting	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 63
Cash, Bonds and Stocks: Education and Resources	Literacy	Ch 5	p. 106
CCRCs (Continuing Care Retirement Communities)	Bridge	Ch 5	p. 90
Charitable Vehicle Chart	Bridge	Ch 4	p. 59
Charitable Vehicle Chart	Philanthropy Booklet
College Savings Plans	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 86
College Savings Plans	Literacy	Ch 2	p. 44
Divorce Checklist	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 88
End of Life Planning	Bridge	Ch 6	p. 118
End of Life Planning	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 133
Estate Inventory	Literacy		p. 276
Estate Inventory	Bridge		p. 148
Estate Inventory	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 132
Estate Planning Basics	Bridge	Ch 3	p. 20
Estate Planning Basics	Literacy	Ch 3	p. 52
Estate Planning Basics	PYM	Ch 7	p. 162
Estate Planning Checklist	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 128
Estate Planning for Pets	Bridge	Ch 3	p. 30
Estate Planning for Pets	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 147
Estate Planning Updates	Bridge	Ch 3	p. 36
Estate Planning: How Much is Enough	PYM	Ch 6	p. 146
Estate Planning: How Much is Enough	Bridge	Ch 5	p. 99
Estate Review, Organization and Planning Template	Bridge	Ch 2	p. 14
Executive Planning	Literacy	Ch 4	p. 82
Family Meetings	Bridge	Ch 5	p. 106
Family Meetings	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 131
Financial Independence (Retirement)	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 168
Financial Independence (Retirement)	Booklet
Five Years to Retirement Checklist	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 119
Gift and Estate Tax	Bridge	Ch 3	p. 40
Giving Tree	Bridge	Ch 4	p. 50
Giving Tree	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 108
Giving Tree	Philanthropy Booklet
Goals by Age	Diagnostics	Part 1	p. 17
Goals by Age	PYM	Ch 3	p. 52
Goals/Mind Maps	Diagnostics	Part 1	p. 8
Goals/Mind Maps	PYM	Ch 3	p. 36
Guided Conversation about Giving	Bridge	Ch 4	p. 48
Guided Conversation about Giving	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 106
Guided Conversation about Giving	Philanthropy Booklet
Healthcare Considerations in Retirement	Bridge	Ch 5	p. 72
Healthcare Considerations in Retirement	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 238
Holistic Planning	PYM	Ch 1	p. 8
Holistic Planning	PYM	Afterward	p. 196
Investment Policy	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 54
Investment Policy	Literacy	Ch 5	p. 139
Investment Policy	PYM	Ch 4	p. 88
IRAs	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 214
IRAs	PYM	Ch 5	p. 119
Job Loss	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 91
Long-Term Care Insurance	Bridge	Ch 5	p. 92
Lump Sum Vs Annuity: Retirement Plans	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 123
Major Life Change Checklist	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 184
Medicare	Bridge	Ch 5	p. 77
Mind Map Diagnostic Questions	Diagnostics	Part 1	p. 16
Natural Disaster Planning	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 97
Net Worth Statement Diagnostic Questions	Diagnostics	Part 1	p. 30
Net Worth Statement	Diagnostics	Part 1	p. 22
Organizing Records	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 40
Organizing Records	PYM	Ch 2	p. 24
Overall Personal Finance Self Assessment	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 49
Pensions	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 202
Personal Finance Self Assessment	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 49
Philanthropy	Bridge	Ch 4	p. 46
Philanthropy	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 106
Philanthropy	Philanthropy Booklet
Philanthropy Worksheet	Bridge	Ch 4	p. 56
Philanthropy Worksheet	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 112
Philanthropy Worksheet	Philanthropy Booklet
Portfolio Diagnostic	PYM	Ch 4	p. 91
Portfolio Goals	PYM	Ch 4	p. 74
Reinventing Your Life 2.0	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 126
Retirement Plan Contributions and Withdrawals	PYM	Ch 5	p. 119
Retirement Plan Contributions and Withdrawals	Literacy	Ch 2 & 7
Retirement Countdown by Age	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 256
Retirement Sequence of Withdrawals	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 234
Retirement Spending Strategies	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 224
Reverse Mortgages	Bridge	Ch 5	p. 86
Reviewing Your Estate	Bridge	Ch 2	p. 14
Setbacks and Strategies	Literacy	Ch 6	p. 152
Social Security	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 198
Stock Options	Literacy	Ch 4	p. 85
Survivor’s Checklist	Bridge	Ch 7	p. 128
Survivor’s Checklist	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 140
Survivor’s Checklist	Literacy		p. 283
Tax Analysis	Diagnostics	Part 1	p. 30
Tax Analysis Diagnostic Questions	Diagnostics	Part 1	p. 35
Tax Literacy	Literacy	Ch 3	p. 60
Tax Rates	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 84
Terminal Illness Checklist	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 115
Trusts in Estates	Bridge	Ch 3	p. 26
When to Retire	Literacy	Ch 7	p. 168
When to Retire	PYM	Ch 5	p. 107
Year-End Planning Review	Diagnostics	Part 2	p. 80