Case Clients: Adam & Liz
Age: 35 and 33
Occupation: Creator and freelance marketer
Primary goal: Get a financial plan in place, prepare to have kids, look at moving to one income
The Situation
Adam & Liz have been in creative careers since they graduated college. Adam is a photographer turned full-time creator and Liz does consulting while running a small community of marketers. They've loved their careers so far and they've been married for 3 years, but now want to consider starting a family.
Their challenge is that they want to make sure they start using their money efficiently to plan for their future. The last 10 years have been fun but they haven’t spent much time making sure their money is working for them, rather just saving what's leftover.
Plus, with a growing family comes new challenges. They want to see if one of them could take a few years off to take care of their kids while they're young. They know they could easily live off one income as they have minimal expenses, but they want to know if they could provide for their kids, their kids’ college, and still retire when they want to while still traveling and not giving up everything they enjoy in life.
They've saved up a healthy ($200,000) cash reserve, but have hesitated making any investments.
As they approach a new stage of life, they want an expert to help them make the right decisions for their family so they don’t have to worry about it.
The Approach
Adam and Liz weren't sure where to start, so they wanted to hire a financial planner who has done this many times before for people just like them.
They wanted to be involved in the process and empowered to choose what is best for their family, but they didn’t want to have to handle it all on their own. They wanted peace of mind knowing that the decisions were being made took into consideration the now, and the future.
The Results
Adam and Liz received a plan that included:
• A low cost, tax-efficient investment strategy
• Cash flow planning to help figure out how to use their surplus for college, work optional, and everything in between
• Life insurance analysis to make sure their family was protected against events that could hurt their financial picture
• College savings plan utilizing the best accounts for flexibility and taxes
• Automation for their investments and savings so they don’t have to spend time manually doing this every month
• A plan to show what life would look life if one salary was at 50% and 0% so they could determine what the best strategy would be for them moving forward
Now Adam and Liz have a clear picture of where they are and where they're going. They're on track for all their goals and feel empowered in their decisions. The best part about it all is that they finally have peace of mind around their finances and feel ready to have a family knowing that one of them can stay at home with the kids and raise them themselves.
They also have unlimited access to ask questions and can meet with me at any time to update the plan as life changes.
Service chosen: Ongoing Planning
Case Client: Nick
Age: 29
Occupation: Freelancer & creator
Primary goal: Plan for business and personal taxes, open retirement accounts, insurance review
The Situation
Nick's been building his freelance writing and creator business as a side hustle for the past few years while working a 9-5 and he's ready to take the leap and go all in on his passions. He knows taxes and available retirement accounts will be different as he transitions into self-employment and wants help getting everything straight. He will also be losing company-provided insurance so he would like to review insurance coverages and costs.
The Approach
First, a big congratulations for taking the leap into self-employment 🎉
Then, we walk through how taxes change for self-employed individuals and how to plan ahead. We go over retirement accounts options, weigh the pros and cons, and help open and fund the correct accounts.
Since we're fee-only, we do not produce insurance policies or receive commissions from them, but we review their situation and refer to our trusted insurance partner to implement the recommendations.
The Results
Nick was able to successfully and painlessly make the transition into self-employment, has an automated system to save a portion of income each month for taxes as well as retirement savings, and he now has the necessary insurance coverage so he can focus his energy towards growing his business.
Service chosen: Financial Foundations
Case Client: Nicole
Age: 28
Occupation: Founder
Primary goal: Pay off student loans, get a plan in place to manage her cash flow, plan around the business
The Situation
Nicole started a freelance design agency after working in the startup world for 3 years. She's grown it to a team of 6 and reached $500,000 in revenue last year 📈
She has a good understanding of the business finances with the help of her CPA, but she knows she hasn’t handled her personal finances as well as she wanted to. She also wants to start providing benefits to her full-time workers but is unsure what the best options are.
The Results
The plan Nicole got was exactly what she was looking for:
• It designed a plan to pay herself a regular salary from the business every month
• We created a reverse budget for her that automated her savings and investments first, then lets her spend what's left guilt-free
• It helped her understand how much and what she should be investing in with her retirement accounts
• It outlined the potential costs and tradeoffs to think through when providing benefits to employees
• It also broke down her net worth and how 'on track' she was for her retirement goals
Nicole has always felt anxious about money and guilt for how she has spent it. But after seeing her plan, she finally feels good about where she is at.
She realized she was actually doing a lot of things right, she just needed some help to do the things she never learned about.
Service chosen: Ongoing planning
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