Clients

The Request

A prospective client approached us after a recent death of her husband. He had passed away only 5 short months after being diagnosed with cancer. He had managed all the household finances before falling ill. She cherished the last few months they were able to spend together, but was left with little time to mourn as she dealt with the financial uncertainty that followed. How much income would she need to sustain her lifestyle? How had her expenses changed as a widow? Who would manage her investments? Which accounts should she distribute from first and what were the tax ramifications?

The Solutions

We met with this client to first understand her story, what brought her in, and what challenges she needed guidance on. Then we created a financial plan with cash flow modeling, as she was concerned about losing his social security and the impact that would have on her. We used their taxable investments, along with life insurance proceeds to generate supplemental income to cover her expenses in a tax efficient manner.

Most importantly, we gave her peace of mind knowing she had an organized and sustainable financial strategy, and we could alleviate her stress so she could properly mourn.

The Request

A prospective client contacted our firm after she was notified of receiving a sizeable inheritance from the passing of her grandmother. In addition to mourning her loss, our client was faced with a myriad of financial questions and how they might impact her personal circumstances.

She inherited retirement accounts, life insurance, after tax investments, and a home. She wondered “what taxes will I incur? What type of documentation will I need to facilitate all of this? Do I need to retain an attorney to help with navigating her estate? Should I keep her investments the same or do they need to be changed for my situation?”

The Solutions

The prospective client then decided to contact us for a complimentary consultation. We began gathering documents to better understand the current scenario and help the client navigate accordingly. After our review, we found that each one of these assets had a different tax treatment and guided our client on the most efficient way to transfer them. The grandmother’s trust, along with the proper titling of assets, allowed for the seamless transfer to our client without the need to retain an attorney to settle the estate.

With all of the assets now titled in our client’s name, she engaged us for financial planning to reallocate funds to align with her personal and family objectives.

The Request

A husband and wife in their late 50s, who both worked in the pharma industry, were referred to us for a complimentary consultation regarding retirement planning. They were disciplined savers, and had always planned to retire at 65, but wanted to see if it was feasible to push this date forward.

The Solutions

After an initial consultation to review our planning process the clients agreed to engage our services. We set a data gathering meeting to understand the clients’ current circumstances as well as pinpoint their future objectives of maintaining their current standard of living even in retirement. In a follow up presentation, we were able to develop a strategy that incorporated private equity and private debt into their portfolio, diversifying away from just owning the public markets. The investments in their portfolio held at an outside institution were sending them into a higher tax bracket, which we were able to mitigate by utilizing tax sensitive investments. The wife had a large pension, with lump sum or payment options, so we were able to model multiple income scenarios and recommend the most viable option. Lastly, the husband had concentrated employer stock that had highly appreciated over the years, and we were able to implement a specialized planning technique under the tax code (NUA) to take out the funds and diversify with favorable tax treatment.

This resulted in a recommendation for our clients to retire at 62, 3 years earlier than anticipated with the peace of mind of thoughtful planning and credentialed guidance.

The Request

A busy family with both parents working and two children that were in school reached out on social media to inquire about comprehensive financial planning. They had recently relocated to FL from the northeast after the husband’s tech job enabled him to work remote. “We have a lot going on, I have a strong income, but wonder where I should be directing it. I am torn between setting money aside for the kids’ colleges, paying down the mortgage, saving for retirement, and spending funds now on family vacations. I just need financial guidance on what’s best for us.”

The Solutions

This customized strategy included cash flow planning to understand what our clients’ take-home income was, and detailing what went back out for expenses. We then itemized future financial goals and corresponding time horizons. These clients wanted to plan for their young children’s future college needs. We determined the future amount needed and allocated monthly dollars set aside in 529 plans. The wife was the bread winner, and her husband would not be able to stay in their family home and care for the kids should she pass prematurely, so we recommended life insurance to remedy the shortfall. He received restricted stock (RSU’s) from his employer and was not sure what the most appropriate tax or investment strategy would be for the funds. We developed a strategy that coordinated with their income tax bracket, his growth objective for the funds, and their timely schedule for funding vacations and vehicle purchases. His only savings were in his 401k but we recommended changes to his allocation to align them with his overall financial plan. The clients understood the value of the plan we created and engaged us for fee only financial planning.

The Request

A well-established and thriving business owner of a plumbing company had poured years of hard work and reinvestment into his business to build it what it is today. Not only does he no longer need to invest in the business, but it’s also generating more income than what he’s spending and its quickly accumulating in savings.

That’s when he engaged us, looking for a place to put the excess funds.

The Solutions

Directing savings into alternate areas with potentially higher returns was the easy part. The more thoughtful part of the engagement came when we started to discuss what he was saving for. Currently his business is his income, and although it’s sustainable, his goal is to generate the same level of income without the everyday challenges of business ownership.

We began the planning process by determining how much the business was generating in income and how much he was spending to maintain his current lifestyle. We then calculated how much he would need saved to generate that same income from his investments, thus alleviating the ever-changing demands of running a business.

This led us to create a financial plan that would test the likelihood of his current strategy being sustainable. Our financial plan helped the client understand the required return he needed to create the retirement he envisions. The portfolio was then built using both private and public markets to create a better risk reward scenario. The client was concerned about not having enough cash for his business. We showed him how we can collateralize his portfolio to establish a line of credit to provide liquidity if needed, while maintaining his investments to keep him on track to meet his goals.

After completing the financial plan our client found confidence that even though his plan A was working, his plan B…. didn’t need to work at all.