Do You Have More Spatulas Than Financial Accounts? A Case for Consolidation 

We added another wooden spatula to our kitchen recently. And when I say another, I mean to an already impressive collection.

At this point, we could host a dinner party for 15 people and assign each dish its own spatula. Is that necessary? Probably not. But I am not the chef or the party planner—and I would rather live with too many spatulas than have to borrow one from a neighbor or, worse, buy yet another and hear, “I told you so.”

As it turns out, this is also a pretty accurate way to think about how many people manage their financial accounts.

What Happens When No One Is Watching Closely

I saw this play out recently with an elderly client who had one IRA and one trust account. As staying on top of day-to-day finances became more difficult, his son stepped in as durable power of attorney and trustee.

What we found was a cautionary tale.

In the five years following the death of the client’s wife, the trust had been amended several times with conflicting or missing information. Some bank accounts were never titled in the name of the trust. Other accounts did not list beneficiaries and ended up going through probate. Old 401(k) accounts from previous employers were never rolled into the IRA, and each retirement account followed its own investment strategy.

Nothing was coordinated.

Because the full picture had never been shared, the family ultimately had to hire a new estate attorney and rebuild the trust from scratch—work that might have been avoided with better organization and communication earlier on.

One Account Rarely Stays One Account

Opening one extra account is not going to topple a well-built financial plan. The issue is that it rarely stops there.

Over time, accounts accumulate. And more often than not, the person who opened them is not the one who ends up untangling them later. That responsibility usually falls to a combination of the advisor and the next generation.

I often joke that if clients were robots, everything would be more efficient—but also far less interesting.

A Few Guardrails That Actually Help

You do not need an extreme overhaul to make progress. A few practical habits can dramatically reduce complexity.

Consolidate When You Can

Grouping accounts into a small number of clear buckets saves time, stress, and future cleanup.

Unless you are exceeding FDIC limits or dealing with obvious red flags, spreading accounts across institutions for safety is often unnecessary. Major custodians such as Schwab and Fidelity offer meaningful protections against fraud, and most diversified portfolios already hold tens of thousands of stocks and bonds.

Check Beneficiaries, Not Just Balances

We regularly review beneficiaries for the accounts we manage, but that only applies to accounts we can see. Accounts held elsewhere need the same attention.

Missing or outdated beneficiaries are one of the most common—and avoidable—estate planning problems.

Make Sure Accounts Are Titled Correctly

Individual, joint, or trust? Beneficiary or none?

Account titling decisions should align with your broader estate plan and be reviewed with both your advisor and estate attorney. Small inconsistencies here can create big complications later.

Watch for Competing Strategies

When multiple advisors manage different accounts independently, strategies can easily conflict.

I often compare this to having one doctor for the upper half of your body and another for the lower half—without communicating. Changes made in isolation may be inefficient or actively harmful to the bigger picture.

Tell Your Advisor What Changed

This one matters more than people expect.

We proactively reach out throughout the year, but we do not run through every possible life change unless it is brought to us. Changes to estate documents, marital status, employment, insurance, outside accounts, or beneficiaries only help you if they are shared.

We can only plan around what we know.

Why Spatulas Are Harmless—but Accounts Aren’t

I like to tell my wife that our grocery store is probably out of wooden spatulas—because we own them all.

Fortunately, nothing bad will happen if we continue hoarding them until the next holiday meal. Too many financial accounts are different. Left unorganized, they can lead to unnecessary fees, missed opportunities, probate issues, and a cleanup that lands squarely on the people you care about most.

Sometimes the best financial move is not something new. It is simplifying what you already have.

Connect with us to talk through whether consolidating your financial accounts could make your plan clearer, calmer, and easier to manage.