How Smart Money Is Playing Defense Right Now

When markets get weird, your wealth strategy matters more than ever. We caught up with a top wealth planner about what his high-net-worth clients are actually doing to protect their money—turns out it’s not complicated, just disciplined.

Here’s the playbook:

1. Goals First, Headlines Second You can’t predict politics or markets. But you CAN anchor yourself to what actually matters—retirement date, kids’ college fund, whatever. A solid financial plan keeps you from panic-selling when some headline tanks the market.

2. Tax Breaks Are Expiring Soon Trump’s tax provisions (including the OBBBA) have loopholes for business owners and high earners, but many expire in coming years. If you haven’t done a tax review with a CPA recently, now’s the time. Free money just sitting there.

3. Inflation + Tariffs = Watch Your Costs Fed cut rates, cool. But tariff policies could push prices higher anyway. Interest rates falling doesn’t help if your grocery bill spikes. Stay alert to cost-of-living changes and adjust spending accordingly.

4. Rebalance Your Portfolio Diversification isn’t sexy, but it works. When uncertainty hits, a 60/40 or whatever matches YOUR risk tolerance keeps you steady. Most people don’t rebalance enough—that’s the real mistake.

Bottom line: The families actually keeping wealth right now aren’t trying to time markets. They’ve got a plan, they’re working the tax code, and they’re not checking their portfolio every time Elon tweets.