This 59-year-old Systems Analyst and his RN wife came to us because they were concerned about retirement.  In their Financial Review we found that they had a life vision of traveling the country and doing volunteer work.  They were avid hikers and wanted to spend more time communing with nature.  They were concerned that they did not have the income to live their life vision and were afraid they would have to continue working at jobs they were not passionate about.

Through our holistic financial planning process, we provided recommendations for re-allocating their portfolio, taking into account their values and their income needs.  We also recommended a strategy for maximizing their social security benefits.  As they continued to work with us to implement our recommendations they were able to leave their jobs within a few years. We continued to work together by telephone and Internet as they traveled the country in their RV, volunteering and spending time hiking in our national parks.  They were thrilled that they could live the life of their dreams.

During the Financial Review with this 60-year old college professor and his wife we discovered that they had a shared dream of retiring in 6 years, relocating to Arizona and building their dream home. When we ran the numbers we found that this was not possible given their current investment assets and living expenses. We did not give up  Together we designed a holistic financial plan that enabled them to make their dreams come true.

As a result of our holistic financial planning process, we were able to set up a defined benefit plan though his consulting business that allowed our client to put away an additional $84,000 per year tax deferred for the next six years. This not only allowed them to reach their retirement goals, it also saved them approximately $36,000 per year on their taxes ($216,000 over 6 years). As a result, they were able to start building their dream home while he was still working. In six years they were happily living in their dream home enjoying their new life in sunny Arizona.

This executive and his wife came to us right after he had retired. The market had just crashed and they had pulled all of their money out and put it into cash. They had a dream of traveling the country in their RV for 3 months during the summer visiting friends and family.

In their Financial Review we determined how much money they would need to live their ideal life. In the Holistic Financial Planning Process we provided them with an asset allocation and asset location strategy. Continuing to work together we were able to dollar cost averaged into low cost tax efficient funds over the next year. We also build a 15-year bond ladder with zero coupon treasuries in their Traditional and Roth IRAs. We determined the most tax-efficient way to pull money from their IRAs to meet their annual income needs. Our strategy ended up saving them approximately $9000 per year in taxes, which allowed them to not only purchase a new RV, but also live the life of their dreams traveling the country for 3 months each summer visiting with friends and family.