Success Stories
The stories listed below are fictitious and do not represent actual clients
Background
Emily is in her late 20s and was just promoted to sales manager. She is making more money with the new role and cash is starting to pile up in her savings account. Though the pay is good, Emily is now facing the realization that time is very valuable and there simply isn’t enough of it in her new role. Her non work activities include painting, live music, hiking and traveling to visit family and friends. Being in a new position of leadership, Emily loves delegating and collaborating with others at work. Crushing goals and leading gives her purpose and empowerment.
What We Uncovered
- Emily had 6 figures in cash in a savings account. she has been wrestling with the idea of investing some of the cash but not sure where to start.
- She wanted to be a home owner. She grew up seeing her parents rent her whole life and wants the feeling of owning her own property.
- She has been receiving RSUs for the past few years. Her company stock now represents over 50% of her overall portfolio.
- She has a goal to retire earlier than traditional standards. Making work optional will give her freedom to travel and live a fuller life.
Initial Action Plan
- A 2 year plan to save enough cash for a sizable down payment on a home. Emily already had enough in cash on hand to make a home purchase immediately. She wanted the flexibility of investing a portion of her cash for long term growth (to retire early) while still planning for her goal of home ownership.
- Invested a portion of her cash into a tax efficient portfolio that aims to be a supplement for her retirement accounts.
- We made a plan to sell a portion of her RSUs to a more diversified portfolio. We also agreed that RSUs (and company stock in general) should never be more than 20% of her investment portfolio.
- Adjusted her 401k to be more geared towards pretax contributions. Emily ‘s salary +RSU income + bonus income was pushing her into the 32% tax bracket.
- Began implementing backdoor Roth IRA contributions to supplement retirement savings.
- Put together a cash flow plan that focused on her overall savings rate. This allowed Emily to focus on spending her money guilt free and not stress over how much avocado toast she bought month to month.
Outcome
Emily is happy to see an action plan put into place that takes into account her goals and future financial plans. She appreciates being educated on the tradeoffs of making financial decisions and how pulling one financial lever usually effects another. Emily will continue to work with Branson Financial Planning to make sure her plan is implemented, executed, and adjusted as life changes.
Background
Maria and David have been married for about 5 years, together for 10. They have two children who are 6 and 4 years old. Maria the VP of marketing at a large wholesale distributor. Maria spends many hours at work and she wishes she had more time to enjoy her hobbies: pilates and volunteering at her local food bank. David works as a program manager for a start up that just received their series C funding. Maria and David realize that time is quickly becoming their most valuable asset. They both romanticize over the ‘old days’ when they were both dating and had all the time in the world for each other. With both of their careers taking up more and more time, they know they don’t have time to accomplish everything and need help completing tasks and making sure they both are on the right (and same!) path in their financial lives.
What We Uncovered
- Maria and David want to ensure their children have a safe and successful future. They’re the number one priority when planning for the future.
- They don’t quite know what to do with David’s incentive stock options that have been granted from his start up. They know there are opportunities to take action before any liquidity events, but unsure of how to weigh decisions.
- They worry about their spending and the increasing costs of raising their children.
- They would like to upgrade their home. Their current 3 bedroom ‘starter’ home is beginning to feel smaller now with two children running around.
Initial Action Plan
- Analysis showed that company provided life insurance was not enough in place for catastrophic events. We connected with an insurance agent to provide life insurance quotes for term insurance.
- Maria and David had not updated their estate plan since being married. We connected Maria and David to an estate planning attorney to put together a trust, will, health care directives, and power of attorneys.
- We discussed the cost of college for both children. A plan was put in place to account for college costs while still being flexible enough should either child not want to attend university.
- We discussed several scenarios around saving and spending that balanced living today and saving for tomorrow. We discussed the tradeoffs of having a large travel budget vs. saving more for retirement.
- An analysis was done and plan was put into place for David’s incentive stock options. We concluded that a balanced approach of exercising some tax efficiently now and waiting for a liquidity event for others was the practical choice.
Outcome
Maria and David were very happy to see clear and actionable steps to accomplish their goals. They have worried for months about money and now have the comfort of relying on a professional to help sort through their financial lives. They appreciate a financial advisor that truly listened to their financial concerns and who is able to give honest feedback on their plans.
Background
Frank and Gustav have been married for about 19 years. They have 2 children they adopted many years ago who are about to attend college. Frank has been working as an HR manager for a large fortune 500 company for about 3 years as a Director of Human Resources. Frank loves his job, but it requires a lot of time and energy. Time with Gustav and their kids is important to him and he would like more time to focus on them and less on personal finance when at home. Gustav just recently made the switch from corporate employee to solo entrepreneur. He quit his corporate job about 6 months ago and is focused on building a consulting company. Gustav quickly learned that running your own business is an incredibly difficult endeavor. He is learning new skills on the fly and having to constantly switch gears. Gustav loves to travel with Frank, hike, and tinker around with his electronics at home. Making work optional for both of them is top of mind when they discuss their future.
What We Uncovered
- Frank and Gustav have a goal to retire in 6 years. Based on their current assets and the cost of retirement, we concluded that an increase in their savings rate would be needed to satisfy their goal.
- Since opening his business, Gustav has been ‘winging it’ with cash flow management. He’s getting his second contract and money is starting to pour in. He’s not too sure where to save tax efficiently.
- They both wanted to continue to contribute to their favorite charities, but also want to be tax conscience with their contributions.
- They both don’t want to rely on their children for care in their older years and are curious about long term care insurance.
Initial Action Plan
- We discussed the various costs of retiring: healthcare, travel, housing, general living, etc. and put together a plan that aligned their savings with the full cost of retirement. We incorporated medicare costs, social security planning, income planning, and how taxes effect nearly everything.
- A savings plan for Gustav and his new consulting business was put into place that allowed him to make ‘catch up’ savings through a solo 401k and cash balance plan.
- We discussed the benefits of a donor advised fund and how accelerating charitable contributions in their pre-retirement high income years would give them a bigger tax deduction as opposed to spreading out the charitable contributions over many years.
- We explored the cost of a long term care event. We analyzed self funding the event versus getting coverage through long term care insurance. We agreed that a small policy to cover a portion of expenses made the most sense.
Outcome
Frank and Gustav were relieved to see that retiring comfortably was a very real possibility. They were worried that retirement would bring many cut backs. They appreciated being educated on the various retirement trade offs such as saving less and retiring later vs. saving more and retiring sooner. Frank and Gustav look forward to working with an advisor who will be by their side from now and into their retirement years.
