CASE STUDIES
There are times when you research a company and you just want to know if they have helped people like you. As a financial services company, we can’t provide testimonials, however we can highlight some situations we’ve worked on – maybe they’ll be similar to yours?
PRE-RETIREMENT
Joanne has been running her business for the last 15 years, and the last 10 years it had consistently grown. However, her marriage had failed during that time. She was now living by herself, trying to juggle the responsibilities of her business and employees and managing her growing wealth following the divorce. She knew she had to focus on the business and have someone else manage the finer details of her financial plan and investments. She needed someone to look at her business finances as well as her personal finances, and ensure they were both complimenting each other.
As part of their plan, we:
- Organized her financial picture into an easy-to-understand summary.
- Designed a process to streamline how business and profits impacted her personal situation.
- Had multiple discussions regarding what retirement might look like – both in the best circumstances and if times became tough.
- Designed a prudent investment portfolio that aligned with the optimum amount of risk Joanne wanted to take, while also planning for a long-term investment outlook.
- Put a retirement plan in place to aid long-term savings and save on taxes.
- Coordinated a business succession plan so the full value of her business would be financially recognized when she wanted to retire.
RETIREMENT
Andrew and Jennifer both come from a prudent, middle-class background and worked at the executive level for most of their careers – Andrew in the banking industry and Jennifer in bio-tech. They had been taught how to save by their parents, but even that training didn’t quench the nervousness and anxiety they felt being on the doorstep of retirement. While they didn’t have too much time to make any adjustments, they were able to implement a plan that eased their concerns and paved the wave for an enjoyable retirement.
As part of their plan, we:
- Changed their retirement savings strategy so they had a more tax-balanced portfolio in retirement.
- Reviewed their current insurance coverage so they understood how to transition into retirement without leaving gaps in coverage, or incurring significantly higher premiums.
- Examined their current spending to understand what lifestyle their assets would support.
- Explored how they would want to work in “encore careers” and how to balance this with having more free time to explore their passions.
- Discussed the approaches they could take with their investments given the fact they may not need all of the money, and how they may want to manage these funds.
- Made a “bucket-list” of things they wanted to achieve in retirement and understood if they could afford all those things.
- Discussed potential changes to their estate plan and account titling, as they wanted to gift some of their money to charity and grandchildren.
RETIRED
Beth has been retired for three years. She’s done some fun things in that time, but is now realizing that retirement is going to be a long time, and a recent inheritance from her Mother will substantially change her situation.
As part of her plan, we:
- Understood what fun things she had accomplished and what they meant to her. We also explored ways of finding the same joy without spending the same amount of money.
- Planned how her inheritance may change her financial picture and how that should be incorporated into her current financial plan.
- Reviewed her investments and aligned them to her new realization that she will have more than enough money to live comfortably.
- Explored how she could be helping others with her newly-found wealth and how much joy that would bring her and others..