Case Studies

Meet Zach and Kelly:

 Zach is in sales at a local manufacturer and Kelly works for a federal agency.  They have been disciplined savers all their lives and live modestly, but enjoy travel, entertainment, and going out to dinner frequently. 

 Their primary concerns:

 Are their current retirement accounts on track and aligned with their goals?

 What is the best strategy for their filing for Social Security given Kelly’s government pension and subsequent offset?

 Can they maintain their same standard of living including travel, eating out, and entertainment?

They’re both 60 years old and have a son and daughter.  Zach and Kelly both like what they do for a living but aren’t overly attached to their positions.  They’ve toyed around the idea of retiring at 62 but are willing to work longer if it means feeling more comfortable about their retirement. 

They are looking for an advisor to review their current work retirement accounts and make sure they’re positioned the right way.  Kelly’s biggest concern is how her government pension will affect her social security benefit and what are strategies that could maximize that benefit.  Zach wants to make sure they have a plan for taking monies from their accounts that will be efficient but also keeping in mind they’d like to leave a legacy for the kids and maybe grandkids one day. 

Case Study:  Corporate employee to Business owner

Lenny is a 56-year-old who’s recently been downsized from his corporate job.  He had no intention of retiring anytime soon and really enjoyed the work he was doing.  He had amassed a little over 500k in retirement savings, only had about 3 years left to go before paying off his mortgage and no other consumer debt.  He is a divorced and a parent to three grown children. 

His primary concerns:

Can I start my own business in the same industry I was in, so I don’t ever have to go through another corporate downsizing?

Is my current nest egg sufficient if I want to retire at 65?

Is my 401(k) allocated properly and what should I do with it now that I’m separated from service?

Lenny has always had the security of a consistent paycheck as well as a retirement matching contribution from his employers.  He’s looking to meet with an advisor with the hopes of laying out a plan for what will now be more inconsistent cash flow, developing a budget for both spending and continuing to save for retirement, and making sure those dollars are invested in alignment with his timeline to retirement.  Lenny also has never run a business before and looking for guidance on what kind of entity he should establish (Sole prop, LLC, S-Corp, etc.) and any other pitfalls that could stand in his way. He also wants to know if he should accelerate payments to pay off his mortgage quicker instead of having some idle cash in a savings account.