If family life is busy and you have lots of priorities to juggle,
we’ll help you simplify and stay on track.

Cash Flow & Budgeting
Retirement Savings
Investment Management
Career Decisions
Employee Benefits
Student Loans
Home Financing
Planning for Children
Insurance Analysis
College Savings
Tax Planning
Health Insurance & Medicare
Social Security
Pension Analysis
Estate Planning
“What-If” Scenarios

Case Study

“How should we prioritize our goals?”

Initial Situation

  • Age: Gayle, 41 | Kyle, 42
  • Feeling: Ready
  • Goals:
    • Career changes
    • Invest in real estate
    • Save for kids' college
  • Income: $150,000
  • Investments: ~$340,000

Gayle and Kyle had gotten through the early years of raising their three children, but they’d been so busy that they knew they’d probably missed some things. Still, they were ready to embark on a new phase of family life, and they wanted to know how to prioritize a number of different goals. Gayle was interested in returning to work full-time now that the kids were older, and Kyle was dabbling with the idea of starting his own consulting business, but he wasn’t sure if now was the “right time”.

The couple came to us wanting to understand if (and how) they should think about saving for their kids’ college tuition, and they also wanted to know how their proposed career changes might fit into the bigger picture. In addition, they wanted to know if it made sense to begin investing in real estate, along with their other savings and investing goals.

Situation Now

  • Status:
    • Net worth $1.1m; up from $600k
    • Gayle: Full-time work
    • Kyle: Full-time + "side hustle" consulting
    • On track for retirement and college
  • Feeling: Stable
  • New questions:
    • Should we reduce our investment risk?
    • Should we buy a beach house that we can rent out?

The couple’s retirement investments have increased to more than $800,000 over our five-year relationship, even as they’ve aggressively saved toward their kids’ college tuition. We set an ambitious annual savings target of $40,000, which they have been able to meet. The market turbulence was anxiety-provoking at times, but the cumulative investment gains in their portfolio have been strong.

Kyle recently started a part-time consulting business on the side, which has added about $1,000 per month in extra income. They’ve saved all of that extra income toward retirement, and they’re now considering using some of that new cash flow to finance their first real estate investment property. They’re well on their way to achieving their long-term goals, and they’re even starting to wonder if early retirement might be an option.

How we helped Gayle & Kyle

When we brought Gayle and Kyle through our Wayfinder process, we quickly noticed that they could start saving an additional $600 per month on top of their existing savings. We recommended they start contributing to an “emergency fund” while also increasing savings to their 529 college savings fund.

We also helped them to understand the benefits of refinancing their mortgage, recommended an appropriate amount (and type) of life insurance, and referred them to a lawyer to create a will and other estate planning documents. When Kyle started his consulting business, we helped him set up a new business retirement account to help capture some of that extra income and minimize the impact of taxes.

 

 

The client stories are based upon the specific client circumstances, each of which had a particular set of goals and objectives. The services described in these stories may differ from services provided to other clients, and the results achieved may not be similar, as every client’s goals and objectives are unique.