Case Study: Young Professional Family

1. Meet & Share Goals

This was the first time John and Sarah had ever really sat down and talked about money and finances. 

At the same time, they are family first kind of people, and knew having some clarity about where they were going would make them feel much more confident.  Sitting at the intimate conference room table with a coffee in hand, they were happy to learn there was a process designed specifically for them to meet their comprehensive needs.  They jointly came up with the goals they had for their family's future.

Shared Goals:

• Balance Enjoying Today vs Saving for Tomorrow
• Protect Children and Spouse
• Have Flexibility to Adjust Over Time

2. Optimize Resources

Sure they had a little bit of everything they were "supposed" to, but was it the right amount in the right way?

With some CDs, a money market, 401(k) through work, and some life insurance policies from parents, John and Sarah had pretty much everything they had heard of before as what people should have.  They wanted to better understand though how each piece could best fit for what they wanted to accomplish.

Realignment with Goals:

• Balance Today - Family Vacation Account: Wanted to ensure family trips happened every year.
  
• New Family Protections: Needed to protect their biggest asset - future income potential - through life and disability coverage that they could grow with over time.  They could see how that level of insurance translated into the income their family would need.
  
• Created Flexibility: A flexible Intermediate Account to be invested, growing, and accessible for future home renovations, education, or early retirement needs; sitting between a bank account earning nothing and a growing, but inaccessible, retirement account.  Each account was invested according to the proper time horizon, and cash flow was redirected to achieve their desired level of flexibility.
  

3. Realize Clarity

Seeing is believing - each part was clear on how it supported what was important to them.

John and Sarah saw exactly what path they were on now for education and retirement goals, and how enjoying more today affected it.  They saw how their protections would translate into real life income to protect them if needed.  They understood where their money was going, and the trade offs for doing so, allowing them to make intentional, educated decisions.  Best of all, they asked questions, and in real time were shown on the screen what would happen if they took those actions.

Clear Path to Goals:

• How to take additional vacations
  
• How to have family protected if something were to happen
  
• How to build up financial flexibility for education or early retirement
  

4. Enjoy Living!

A clear plan puts you in control to enjoy life.

John and Sarah now just needed to worry about what vacations to take with the children.  They knew what path they were on, they knew how they had flexibility built in and where, and had protections in place if something didn't go according to plan.  As life and goals inevitably changed, they had someone they could count on to make those adjustments with them.