Case Study: 10 Years from Retirement - Enjoy More 50s^TM

Bill and Jennifer are about to hit 55, are at the height of their careers, and their last child is just finishing college.

They can feel retirement finally closing in, and have been saving for quite some time now towards it.  While they have what they feel are pretty significant assets built up, they are not sure if they are on pace 10 years from now to be able to fund how they want to enjoy retirement for the long term.

This represents a hypothetical situation and does not involve any actual client of the firm.  It is for illustrative purposes only to show how The Enjoy More Blueprint process could be utilized, not to guarantee any results of any kind.

1. Map Flows

Where am I today?

With their children now out of the house, retirement was becoming much more real. They had accumulated assets across various accounts, but they wanted to understand how all the pieces connected - were they well positioned to retire as they had assumed?

By the time the initial meeting was complete, they had a map of their income, savings, investments, and retirement resources. They felt like they understood all the pieces that would go towards the retirement they were envisioning.

Bill and Jennifer wanted to: 

• Understand how all of their retirement resources fit together
• Travel more during retirement
• Have a plan for where income would come from
• Feel secure medically as they aged 

2. Optimize Resources

What can be improved for tomorrow?

While they had done an excellent job saving over the years, much of their wealth was spread across old employer plans, current workplace accounts, CDs, company stock, and various other investment accounts.

They learned that how they organized their accounts and withdrawals could greatly affect how long their funds would last. Accounts were reorganized into different buckets – funds needed in the early years were more conservative, while funds not needed until later in retirement could still be a little more aggressive.

A dedicated travel account was even bucketed to ensure they had funds for adventures.

They could see where their income would come from in each retirement stage, and when the next funding bucket would likely be utilized.

Bill and Jennifer now had:

• A clear Retirement Income Bucket Strategy showing where income would come from throughout retirement
• A dedicated travel account to have adventures
• Greater tax efficiency and organization across accounts
• Flexible income sources that could be adjusted as needs changed over time

3. Reinforce Protections

What if something goes wrong?

As excited as they were about their retirement plan, Bill and Jennifer knew that retirement success wasn't only about income and investments. It was also about protecting the life they had worked so hard to build.

They reviewed potential risks that could impact their retirement, including medical expenses and long term care. They also decided to update their legal documents, as the selections they had made for emergencies when the kids were little was much different than their preferences now.

They ended with a strategy that protected for each risk, while still maintaining flexibility based on how retirement unfolded.

Bill and Jennifer were now protected by:

• A dedicated long term care bucket for any funding needs
• An updated Estate Plan, including new selections for power of attorney and medical directives.
• Clarity on when Medicare started for them, and what supplemental plans likely made the most sense at that time. 

4. Enjoy Living!

What would make you happy?

Bill and Jennifer felt a tremendous sense of relief. They understood their direction, and the updated plan and adjustments gave them confidence they were on the right track.

They knew where their retirement income would come from and what protections they had for their biggest concerns. They no longer had to wonder whether they were making the right decisions.

Best of all, they had the freedom to travel, spend time with family, and enjoy retirement knowing they had a clear plan supporting those goals.

As life and goals inevitably changed, they would have someone they could count on to help make adjustments along the way.

Now all they needed to worry about was deciding what retirement adventure to take first!