The media is doing a great job of pointing out what is wrong with the financial industry. However, the present may represent a great financial planning opportunity.

Removing assets from the estate is one strategy of financial planning. The goal is to download the estate and allow family members to enjoy your property, leaving less of your possessions subject to the estate tax. Recent market conditions can provide the opportunity to download a larger portion of the estate without triggering a taxable event.

Cash flow is another consideration when looking at your financial plan. As mortgage rates fall, loans can be refinanced, freeing up cash or shortening the tenor of a loan. The average rate of a 30-year mortgage is currently below 6%, meaning payments on a $200,000 loan would be less than $1,200 per month.

Long-term stock performance represents a retirement planning opportunity. Even with the recent performance of stocks, an investor contributing to an investment plan regularly is able to buy more shares of a given company with the same contribution. Look at the bright side of investing in stocks for the long term (Franklin Templeton wrote a great article earlier this year supporting this claim). Using historical S&P 500 data, they calculated the return for 1-year, 5-year, 10-year and 20-year periods. The 1-year periods had a positive return 70.9% of the time, while the 5-year periods were positive 88% of the time. Do you see a pattern developing? Ten-year returns were up 95.7% of the time. For the 20-year holding periods, every one between 1929 and 2007 was positive. Even with the abysmal returns in the early 1930s, investors holding on to stock investments for 20 years were rewarded with a positive return.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Sometimes we need to shut off the television and exercise some financial planning. A few years from now, we’ll look back and realize there is a lot to be thankful for this holiday season.