Navigating New Wealth
Kim and Craig have an exciting challenge: sizable stock awards from their employers. They’re savers, but needed guidance to effectively manage the windfall.
Their Dreams and Concerns
They had clear goals: upgrade their home, fund their children’s college education, and retire early.
- Should they sell their stock?
- How would taxes impact their decisions?
- Were they on track for retirement?
- What would college cost, and would they get financial aid?
- How much house can they afford?
Our Strategy
We created a comprehensive financial plan to help put real numbers to their goals. By quantifying their retirement and college savings targets we put together a stock sales strategy to fund them each year while spreading the taxes over time.
The Outcome
Kim and Craig sold some stock, secured their children’s education funds, and moved into a larger home. All the while, they stayed on track toward a financially secure future.
Planning for a Joyful Retirement
Meet John and Elizabeth, lifelong healthcare professionals who built up a great nest egg and wanted to make smart financial decisions for retirement.
Their Dreams and Concerns
With retirement on the horizon, they wanted help to create a plan that would help them maintain their lifestyle, manage their second home, and allow them to pursue their travel aspirations. They had many questions as we began our partnership together all relating to their goals for retirement.
- How much can we spend?
- How should our investments be managed?
- When is the best time to start pensions? Should we take the lump sum option?
- What's the best time to start Social Security?
- How can we consolidate our retirement accounts and withdraw funds tax-efficiently?
Our Strategy
We discussed and prioritized their goals then ran projections to develop a plan and an investment strategy. This answered when to take Social Security, when to start the pensions, and which assets to draw from first.
The Outcome
The planning process helped them to understand how their resources related to their goals, which gave them confidence they would not run out of money, thereby fostering a relaxed and enjoyable retirement.
Business and Retirement Wins
After starting her own company, Faith found rapid success in her business. She knew she needed a 401k to save for her own retirement and to attract qualified employees so she established one with her payroll company. It worked well for a while, but sometimes people over-contribute based on annual testing and Faith is starting to wonder if she has outgrown the current plan.
Her Dreams and Concerns
Faith aims to ensure a confident retirement for herself and her employees. She came to us with a lot of great questions.
- Have we outgrown the current plan?
- Is there a way to ensure my plan stays in Compliance?
- Are our fees too high?
- Do we have a high-quality diversified lineup?
- Can you provide a financial wellness program for my employees?
Our Strategy
We updated Faith’s plan design to allow her and key employees both a higher personal contribution and a higher contribution from the employer. Through profit-sharing contributions with a vesting schedule, we aimed to reduce Faith’s tax liability while supporting key employee retention. We bench-marked the plan, advocated for them with the vendor to reduce fees, and enhanced the fund lineup to better align with the plan’s objectives.
The Outcome
This enabled Faith and her most important team members to reduce taxes and feel more confident about their own respective retirements. Planning became easier and more predictable without needing to remove excess contributions each year if the plan fails testing. Plus, with fiduciary support, Faith spent less time worrying about administration and compliance.