Their Goals and Desires
Clyde has had a long and distinguished career. He was hoping to retire the year he turned 62 – a year from now. He greatly enjoyed his position, his colleagues, and the career, but both he and his wife Bonnie felt that it was time for new adventures. They wanted to explore if retirement and the new life they hoped for was financially feasible in the next year.
Their Financial Lives
Bonnie and Clyde had been money-wise their whole lives, and had a debt-free home, and savings in their retirement plans and other investment accounts. Bonnie had also accumulated her own retirement benefits and various retirement accounts and together they had accumulated what they saw as a substantial nest egg.
Their Questions and Concerns
They scheduled an appointment with the DKGB Financial team at which they wanted advice and help with the following questions:
- Is it feasible and wise for us to retire?
- If Clyde retires when should he collect Social Security?
- How much income can we expect to generate from our investments?
- Which investments should we draw from?
- How should we draw from our investments and is there a strategy for an optimal income plan?
- Should we rollover our 401k’s to IRA accounts, or leave it in the plans? What are the tax and planning issues we need to consider regarding our 401ks, IRA and Roth IRA accounts?
- Should we use a Roth IRA for part of our planning?
- Should we consolidate our accounts?
- What do we need to do about our other retirement benefits?
- How should we invest our VIP assets and other investments based on our retirement and income needs and goals?
- Are there any other issues we should be considering or steps we should take to prepare for retirement?
The Outcome
The DKGB Financial Team took Bonnie and Clyde through a retirement planning process. Over the course of several meetings they offered objective advice for their questions, and endeavored to provide a balanced perspective with both benefits and potential disadvantages of the many decisions they were facing.
At the conclusion of the retirement planning meetings, Bonnie and Clyde had achieved the following;
- They had a sense of confidence for, and historical probability of their financial success for retirement.
- They had a comprehensive income plan which detailed how much income they planned to draw, and where they planned to draw it from, coordinated with a withdrawal strategy to attempt to maximize income and minimize income taxes.
- They walked them through a personal analysis of Clyde’s Social Security options that included coordinating with Donna’s benefits to maximize their income, and used this output and their discussions to make a final decision.
- They walked through a detailed discussion of the various tax and investment benefits and disadvantages of an IRA rollover, and used this output and their discussions to make a final decision.
- They discussed and had a much better understanding of investment principles for a retiree portfolio and how they might best allocate their investments.
- They understood upcoming time-sensitive financial decisions and issues they would need to deal with in the months and years to come.
- They had a cash plan in place addressing their liquidity needs, short term spending, and need for a cash balance.
- They had a comprehensive asset allocation and diversification plan for their overall investment portfolio, which they planned to implement and have managed by the DKGB Financial Team.
Implementing their Plan
Once Bonnie and Clyde had a retirement plan completed, that included an investment portfolio planand Social Security plan that they were comfortable with, they took a number of steps to reach their goals. They met with their advisors at DKGB Financial several times before their goal retirement date, to help them with the overall process.
A rollover and consolidation plan for their retirement accounts was implemented, new accounts were set up, and the team assisted with the steps necessary to move their retirement accounts into their new retirement portfolio. They decided to take a monthly income distribution from their portfolio, and a direct deposit was established into their bank account. An account set up and review meeting was held right after the new portfolio was established to go over their statements and to review the rollover and transfer process and their new investments, and answer any of Bonnie and Clyde’s questions.
Bonnie and Clyde were scheduled on a pro-active meeting schedule to get together twice per year to review progress, discuss the portfolio, the economy and the markets, and help with any planning needs that they might need to discuss. They also were set up on an age based calendar that identified many of the time-sensitive financial decisions that they may need to take care of in the future. Bonnie and Clyde were also set up with comprehensive web access to their account, along with regular statements, and an aggregated portfolio and asset allocation view of their entire financial situation. The DKGB Financial team also connected with their CPA and attorney to help coordinate and facilitate any financial information or assistance that their other professionals might need
Bonnie and Clyde had a long-term retirement and investment plan, and more confidence for their future, and they also felt good that they had a long-term partner to help them along the way with advice, guidance, and to manage their retirement assets.
This example is a case study for illustrative purposes and are not actual clients. The principles and strategies and advice are based on our years of experience working with families with similar circumstances. To request a consultation please contact us.