Colonial River Wealth Management

10/26/2026

How many years before you are ready to be "retired"?

It's one of the most important numbers yet.

TIAA's 2026 longevity literacy research found that workers who expect a shorter retirement save less consistently than those who expect a longer one.

That makes sense, but it also means the people who assume their retirement will be short are the same ones who may be building portfolios with shorter time horizons.

Once someone has already reached 65, the numbers shift.

According to Social Security Administration data:

📌 A 65-year-old man has roughly a 24 percent chance of living past 90

📌 A 65-year-old woman's chances are higher, closer to 35 percent

📌 For a 65-year-old married couple, there is about a 50 percent chance that at least one spouse lives past 90

The practical implication is not "assume you will live to 100."

It's that a retirement income strategy built around the "average lifespan" often assumes a person will die on schedule. Most people do not.

If retirement is on your horizon, the question to ask is, "What happens to my income strategy if I live to 95?"

10/22/2026

I’m grateful and honored to share that I have been appointed Chair of the Finance Committee for Blessed Sacrament Huguenot Catholic School.

For me, leadership has always extended beyond the work we do professionally. It also means finding meaningful ways to contribute our time and experience to the organizations and communities we care about.

I appreciate the opportunity to serve Blessed Sacrament Huguenot in this capacity and look forward to working with its leadership and fellow committee members as we support the organization’s financial stewardship and future.

Thank you to everyone who has placed their trust in me. It is a responsibility I’m proud to accept.

Devin J. Garofalo, AIF®
Colonial River Wealth Management

Expanded leadership role allows Garofalo to contribute his financial experience to organizational oversight, strategic planning, and community stewardship.

10/22/2026

Trust & Will's 2026 Estate Planning Report found that 56 percent of adults don't have core documents in place, including:

📝 A will: who gets what, and who is in charge of making it happen

🏥 A healthcare directive (or living will): what you want if you cannot speak for yourself

✍️ Two powers of attorney, one for medical decisions and one for financial decisions, each naming a specific person

📄 A letter of instruction: the practical map to where accounts live, who your professionals are, and what your kids or pets need

The friction is that estate work forces a family to sit with mortality, name specific people for specific roles, and make decisions that feel too permanent to rush.

Without something in writing, though, families are left improvising during one of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Most say they fully intend to get to it, but too many put it off until it's too late.

Don't put it off. Talk to a financial professional who can help.

10/21/2026

Protecting our clients goes far beyond their portfolios.

I’m proud to share my recent article where I discuss an increasingly important responsibility for financial advisors: protecting not only our clients’ financial futures, but also the sensitive information they entrust to us.

At Colonial River Wealth Management, we believe technology should help us serve clients more effectively without losing sight of security, privacy, thoughtful oversight, and trust. In the article, I explore cybersecurity, AI, the independent advisory model, and the role LPL Financial’s technology ecosystem plays in our broader approach.

As technology continues to evolve, so must the way we think about protecting the people we serve. Take a moment to read more by clicking the link below, and as always, contact us with any questions.

Devin J. Garofalo, AIF®
Colonial River Wealth Management

Introduction For most of my career, when financial advisors talked about protecting clients, we were talking about investments, insurance, estate planning, taxes, and helping families make sound financial decisions. Today, protecting a client means something more. It also means protecting their info...

10/20/2026

As the seasons shift, our commitment to guiding your financial legacy remains unchanged. We hope your autumn is filled with great memories, time with family, and reflection on the things that matter most.

Happy Fall from us to you! 🍂🎃

10/19/2026

What happens to your cash flow when you stop earning a paycheck?

The 2026 EBRI Retirement Confidence Survey caught something interesting about that shift.

📊 Among workers, 33 percent say they turn to a financial professional for guidance.

📊 Among retirees, that number climbs to nearly 40 percent.

National Retirement Security Week (October 19–25 this year) is a reminder to check whether your strategy is evolving with your lifestyle priorities.

If retirement is within a few years, the practical step is not rebuilding the strategy today.

It's identifying the two or three moving pieces that are no longer theoretical, the day you stop working, and consider working with a financial professional who can help guide you.

10/16/2026

Fidelity's 2025 wealth transfer study found that roughly 67 percent of parents age 55 and older have never told their adult children what they will inherit, or whether they will inherit anything at all.

About 33 percent would prefer the kids are kept in the dark about the amount.

Their reasons should feel familiar:
✔️ Worry that a specific number will dampen a child's drive
✔️ Discomfort talking about money at all

The same study found:
Most adult children say they are ready to handle whatever they inherit and would rather shape things while their parents are still around to explain the "why" behind decisions.

Families who have inheritance strategies share some similar habits:
💬 Kids know who the financial professionals are and how to reach them
💬 Everyone knows where the estate documents are
💬 They try to manage any surprises well ahead of time

So, do you tell your children or not?

There's no single right answer here.

Sharing exact numbers isn't necessary, but most families find that a broad discussion can help with priorities and expectations.

10/14/2026

A mother in California picked up the phone and heard her daughter's voice, panicked, saying she'd been kidnapped and needed money immediately.

What she'd heard wasn't her daughter. It was an AI-generated clone of her voice.

In a 2025 study, scientists found that when people heard a cloned voice, they correctly identified the voice as AI-generated only about 60 percent of the time.

The FBI attributed more than $890 million in 2025 losses to AI-enabled fraud, and voice cloning is one of the main drivers behind that number.

It is not only older adults being targeted. Younger family members get these calls too, often framed as a sibling or friend in trouble. Older adults just tend to lose the most per incident.

Two ways to protect your family.

🔐 Agree on a private code word or question with the people a scammer is most likely to impersonate (kids, parents, spouse)

📞 If a call like this comes in and you have not set up a code word yet, hang up, then call the real person back

When in doubt, slow down and verify.

10/10/2026

⚠️ Money is one of the most consistently cited sources of stress in America.

For caregivers, that weight often increases! 😮

Having a clearer picture of where things stand can help ease some of the uncertainty that makes financial stress feel heaviest in the first place.

There's no clean solution to money stress.

Most of it is caused by the unknown. The uncertainty.

World Mental Health Day recognizes just how deeply finances can impact our well-being (and vice versa).

If financial stress has been sitting in the background of your life this year, a conversation with a professional can go a long way, be it a mental health professional or a financial professional. Pursuing comfort, understanding, and compassion is a team sport.