"I am thinking more about retirement, but I wonder if I am financially prepared for it. How much money does someone need to retire? And what do I need to know about health insurance?"
An executive in her early-50s was referred to us by her accountant. She was experiencing great success in her career but that meant she had much less time to manage her portfolio and address other financial needs. And, she was beginning to wonder whether she was on track financially; particularly, to retire by age-60 and with enough assets to travel and live comfortably. For her, it was time to have a conversation with an advisor; what she found with us was a team of advisors who worked collaboratively for her benefit and brought timely matters to her attention – like investment recommendations, insurance considerations, and even information security best practices.
We met with her to learn more about her ideas for traveling and what a comfortable lifestyle might entail. We created a Road Map for her based on her projected travel and expense figures, the projected cost of private health insurance pre-Medicare, her assets -- including restricted stock units and options – and other important figures that helped to answer her questions in detail. It showed that she could, in fact, retire as hoped – but that she could significantly increase the prospects of not outliving her assets by increasing her retirement plan deferrals and modestly reducing her future expenses. She followed through on increasing her retirement plan deferrals. And she has adjusted her expectations around future spending; she does not think that it will materially alter her plans. Most of all, she is thrilled to have the finish line in sight and have a plan in place for reaching it. Because she does not have any children, part of the conversation has been around what to do from a gifting and estate perspective. We discussed the possibility of adding her favorite charitable organization as a beneficiary of her Baird assets and we referred her to an estate planning attorney to explore that in more detail and to create necessary documents including a Will and powers of attorney.
*These do not represent actual client experiences rather demonstrate a hypothetical client relationship and how The King Cruse Bitter Group can serve clients unique situations.
