Case Study: Young Professional Family - Enjoy More 30s^TM

John and Sarah just turned 30, have two young children, and are starting to progress in their careers. 

Up to this point they have not paid all that much attention to their financial situation.  They have a house, some insurance through work, and throw some money into their company work plans, but are questioning if they are really situated correctly now or for the longer 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?

 Like many families, they knew money was coming in and bills were getting paid, but they weren't entirely sure where it was all going. They had never looked at everything together. Various CDs, a money market, a 401k through work, and even some small life insurance policies – did they have what they should for their age?

By the time the initial meeting was complete, they had a map of their income, savings, assets, and protections, and how they were all connected. It was more of a relief than they expected.

Now that they understood how everything was connected together, what did they want to be able to accomplish with it?

John and Sarah wanted to:

• See how their finances connected together
• Balance enjoying today vs saving for tomorrow
• Protect their children and spouse
• Have flexibility to adjust over time

2. Optimize Resources

What can be improved for tomorrow?

By the next meeting, John and Sarah’s plan was ready. They learned that while their savings were substantial compared to other families, they were heavily focused on retirement accounts, which didn’t provide much flexibility to adjust for other closer goals they had for their family.

They built out an intermediate-term investment bucket, fitting between their bank accounts and retirement accounts, to help grow funds that could still be used when needed by their family.

Finally, with the visual projections provided in the planning software, they were still confident that they were on track for retirement, even though they had now reallocated more income towards vacations and other goals closer to today.

John and Sarah now had:

• A clear idea on how much they actually have to save
• A vacation fund to ensure family memories every year
• A flexible investment account that can be used for renovations, education, early retirement, or any other needs
• Confidence they can spend more now and still be on a path to retire

3. Reinforce Protections

What if something goes wrong?

 While they were ecstatic about their new plan and finally being able to visually see what track they were on, how to protect this path was also needed.

These were the tough conversation they always knew they should have but never quite got around to – What if someone died or became disabled? What if someone had to take care of their kids?

They made a plan to obtain a will and other legal documents. They also saw what a sufficient amount of life insurance was needed to protect their family, complete with an evaluation of various companies to use and the price points for each.

John and Sarah were now protected for:

• Unexpected life events, such as death or disability
• Ensuring their wishes for themselves and their children were legally in place

4. Enjoy Living!

What would make you happy?

John and Sarah felt great. They knew what path they were on, loved the built-in flexibility, and they finally had protections in place if something didn't go according to plan. Best of all, they had the freedom to make more memories with their family today without feeling guilty about it.

As life and goals inevitably changed, they would have someone they could count on to make those adjustments with them.

Now all they needed to worry about was what vacation to take this year!