Your friend just got engaged and spent three hours on the phone with you last night, not talking about wedding venues, but wrestling with whether to keep separate investment accounts or combine everything. This is just one example where financial planning for life events becomes essential. Your sister inherited the family business and feels completely overwhelmed by the tax implications—nobody seems to understand her situation.

Most financial guidance treats major life events with universal solutions, but your situations are anything but universal. That's why we created this guide, which covers three important areas:

• What does sophisticated planning actually look like during major life transitions?

• How do you approach financial decisions when your situation goes beyond the standard playbook?

• When does professional expertise become essential for protecting and growing your wealth?

Getting Married

The standard playbook: Open joint checking and savings accounts, combine your budgets, get life insurance, update beneficiaries, and start planning for shared goals like buying a house.

Next level perspectives: Here's what makes marriage financial planning particularly tender: according to research on couples and money, finances become the primary source of relationship conflict in 40% of disagreements among long-term couples. That's not because people are materialistic—it's because money represents deeper values like security, freedom, and care for family. When you're both bringing substantial assets to the marriage, these conversations carry even more emotional weight. Maybe one of you built wealth through aggressive risk-taking while the other values steady, conservative growth. Perhaps you're navigating a second marriage where both partners have children from previous relationships and established estate plans. The challenge isn't just merging bank accounts; it's creating a financial partnership that honors both of your paths to success while building something stronger together.

Beyond the basics:

• Optimizing tax strategies as a married couple while maintaining individual investment goals

• Structuring asset protection that works for both partners

• Coordinating retirement planning when both people have established portfolios

• Managing inherited wealth or family business interests within the marriage

• Estate planning that protects both the relationship and individual family legacies

How an advisor can help: The right advisor helps you structure your financial merger strategically. They can design asset protection strategies that work for both partners, optimize your tax situation as a married couple, coordinate estate planning that honors both your individual and shared priorities, and create investment strategies that blend your approaches effectively. Most importantly, they facilitate difficult conversations about money in a neutral, productive environment.

Buying a Home

The standard playbook: Save 20% for a down payment, get pre-approved for a mortgage, shop within your budget, and don't forget closing costs and moving expenses.

Next level perspectives: According to the Federal Reserve's 2020 Survey of Consumer Finances, homeowners have 40 times the net worth of renters (median $255,000 vs $6,300 in 2019), making buying a home a crucial wealth-building decision rather than just a lifestyle choice. When you're already managing investment portfolios, the home buying decision becomes part of your broader wealth strategy. You might be considering investment properties alongside your primary residence, evaluating whether to pay cash or leverage a mortgage to maintain liquidity for other investments, or timing your purchase with market conditions and tax planning.

Beyond the basics:

• Analyzing real estate as part of your broader investment portfolio

• Timing property purchases with market conditions and personal liquidity

• Structuring mortgages to optimize tax benefits and investment opportunities

• Considering investment properties alongside primary residence decisions

• Planning for property as generational wealth transfer

How an advisor can help: An advisor helps you integrate real estate decisions with your overall investment strategy. They can model different financing scenarios to optimize your tax situation, coordinate purchase timing with other financial events, evaluate investment property opportunities alongside your primary residence, and ensure your real estate allocation aligns with your risk tolerance and long-term goals.

Starting a Family

The standard playbook: Increase your life insurance, start saving in a 529 college fund, create or update your will, and budget for immediate costs like healthcare and childcare.

Next level perspectives: The moment family planning enters your conversations, every financial decision carries new weight. Questions about affordability, timing, and long-term planning take on deeper significance when you've worked strategically to build wealth.

These considerations become more complex when you're already maximizing retirement contributions and managing taxable investments. You're not simply concerned about affording immediate costs—you're evaluating how family planning affects your investment timeline, considering optimal risk tolerance adjustments, and exploring education funding strategies that complement your existing financial framework.

Beyond the basics:

• Structuring education funding that maximizes tax advantages and financial aid eligibility

• Coordinating childcare costs with career advancement and investment timeline

• Planning for healthcare costs including potential unique needs considerations

• Integrating family goals with retirement and estate planning strategies

• Building wealth that can support multiple generations

How an advisor can help: An advisor helps you model different family scenarios and their financial implications. They can structure education funding strategies that maximize tax benefits while maintaining financial aid eligibility, coordinate family timing with career and investment decisions, plan for healthcare costs including potential complications, and adjust your investment strategy to accommodate changing risk tolerance and liquidity needs.

Career Transitions

The standard playbook: Research salary ranges, negotiate your offer, understand your benefits package, and roll over your 401(k) appropriately.

Next level perspectives: Career advancement at your level often involves navigating complex compensation structures that extend well beyond salary considerations. Whether you're evaluating executive positions, exploring entrepreneurial ventures, or transitioning between industries, these decisions carry significant wealth implications that require sophisticated analysis.

Beyond the basics:

• Evaluating total compensation packages including equity, benefits, and long-term wealth potential

• Optimizing stock option and equity compensation strategies

• Managing retirement account rollovers and benefit continuity

• Coordinating career timing with investment goals and family financial needs

• Planning for income volatility during transitions

How an advisor can help: An advisor can analyze the total economic value of complex compensation packages, model different scenarios for equity compensation strategies, coordinate departure timing with tax planning and vesting schedules, evaluate insurance and benefit continuity options, and integrate career moves with your broader wealth-building timeline.

Navigating Divorce

The standard playbook: Understand your state's divorce laws, gather financial documents, consider mediation versus litigation, and update your beneficiaries and estate planning documents.

Next level perspectives: Divorce involving substantial assets requires sophisticated financial strategy beyond basic asset division. You might be dealing with business valuations, stock option divisions, or real estate holdings in multiple states. Some situations involve complex retirement account divisions, international assets, or family trusts that affect multiple generations. 

Beyond the basics:

• Structuring asset division to optimize tax implications and future growth potential

• Managing complex assets including business interests, investment portfolios, and real estate

• Planning for income changes and new financial independence goals

• Coordinating divorce strategy with long-term estate and retirement planning

• Protecting and rebuilding credit and investment capacity

How an advisor can help: An advisor specializing in divorce financial planning can help you understand the long-term implications of different settlement options, coordinate asset division strategies to minimize tax consequences, plan for your post-divorce financial independence, evaluate the true value of complex assets, and rebuild your investment strategy for your new circumstances.

Receiving an Inheritance

The standard playbook: Understand any tax implications, pay off high-interest debt, build your emergency fund, and invest the remainder in diversified portfolios.

Next level perspectives: Substantial inheritances often come with complexities that generic advice doesn't address. You might be inheriting business interests that require active management decisions, real estate in different markets, or assets tied up in trust structures. Some inheritances come with family obligations—maintaining property that multiple siblings share, continuing charitable commitments the deceased valued, or managing assets that support other family members.

Beyond the basics:

• Integrating inherited assets with your existing investment strategy

• Optimizing tax implications including potential estate and gift tax considerations

• Managing inherited business interests or real estate within your portfolio

• Coordinating inheritance with your own estate and legacy planning

• Balancing family expectations with your individual financial goals

How an advisor can help: An advisor can help you evaluate inherited assets within your existing portfolio strategy, understand tax implications of different asset types, coordinate inheritance timing with your other financial planning, develop strategies for inherited business interests or real estate, and balance family obligations with your personal financial goals.

Starting a Business

The standard playbook: Write a business plan, secure startup funding, separate business and personal finances, and get appropriate business insurance.

Next level perspectives: Launching a business while managing existing wealth requires careful coordination between your entrepreneurial goals and your family's financial security. You might be evaluating how much personal capital to invest versus seeking outside funding, timing business launches with other financial commitments, or structuring ownership to optimize both business growth and personal tax planning.

Beyond the basics:

• Structuring business ownership to optimize personal tax and estate planning benefits

• Coordinating business investment with personal portfolio diversification

• Planning for business growth while maintaining family financial security

• Managing business and personal risk through appropriate insurance and asset protection

• Developing exit strategies that align with your retirement and legacy goals

How an advisor can help: An advisor can help you model different funding scenarios and their impact on your personal finances, structure business ownership for optimal tax and estate planning benefits, coordinate business investment with your broader portfolio diversification, plan for income volatility during business growth phases, and develop exit strategies that align with your retirement and legacy goals.

Frequently Asked Questions About Financial Life Events

When should I involve a financial advisor in major life decisions? The earlier, the better. Most people wait until they're overwhelmed, but the best outcomes happen when advisors are involved in the planning stages. If your situation involves multiple financial components—like a job change that affects your investment timeline, or a marriage that combines complex assets—professional guidance helps you see connections and opportunities you might miss on your own.

How does Datalign help me find the right advisor? Datalign's AI-enhanced platform creates meaningful one-to-one connections between consumers and vetted financial advisory firms. In just a few minutes, you complete a questionnaire about your financial goals, preferences, and journey. Our platform then analyzes this information along with data from our network of over 13,000 advisors—86% of whom are on the Barron's Top 100 RIA list—to recommend one advisory firm perfectly aligned to your needs. There are no fees to you, regardless of whether you choose the recommended advisor. As a Registered Investment Advisor ourselves, we're held to fiduciary standards in how we handle your information.

How do financial advisors charge for life event planning? Fee structures vary widely. Some charge hourly rates for specific projects, others work on retainer models, and many charge based on assets under management. According to Vanguard research, comprehensive financial advice typically adds 1.5-3% in annual value through improved decision-making and tax optimization. To learn more, read our guide about financial advisors.

If you are already working with a financial advisor or considering a change, our guide on how to evaluate a financial advisor is right for you.

The Aligned Perspective: Financial Life Events

Your financial journey and life journey? They're the same adventure. The moments that matter most—saying yes to the person you love, finding the home where you'll build memories, welcoming children who will carry your legacy—these aren't separate from your wealth strategy. They are your wealth strategy.

At Datalign, we connect you with advisors who get this. Whether you're combining two successful financial lives in marriage, timing a home purchase with your investment strategy, or coordinating business growth with family security, the right advisor becomes your strategic partner in making these transitions not just financially sound, but personally fulfilling.

Your life has evolved beyond basic planning—your guidance should evolve too.