Learn more about how we bring clarity, comfort, and control to our client's lives
(Note: These are derivative scenarios and do not involve any specific Collabria clients)
Career(s): Physicians
Jack and Brittany are 15+ years into their careers and have loved the journey, but are unsure what they want to do in the future.
They've spent most of their time working and their challenge is that they want to make sure they start using their money efficiently to plan for their future. They have 2 kids approaching high school and they want to optimize their finances rather just saving what's leftover each month.
Also, with a growing family comes new challenges. They want to see if one of them could work part time, or even take a few years off, to spend more time with the kids before they go off on their own. They know they could live off one income as they both currently have high income jobs, but they want to know if they could provide for their kids’ college, travel as a family, and still retire on time to while not giving up everything they enjoy in life.
They've done a great job of taking advantage of their company benefits and they own a beautiful home, but they know their money could be working harder for them.
As they approach this new stage of life, they want a financial planner to help them make the right decisions for their family so they have confidence knowing that financially, everything is taken care of.
Jack and Brittany weren't sure where to start, so they wanted to hire a financial planner who has done this before for people just like them.
During our meetings, they shared some of their biggest life goals and we began to prioritize them so that they can be achieved in the most efficient ways possible. They wanted peace of mind knowing that the decisions were being made with professional guidance, and knowing that they aren't going at it alone.
With our PlanNow service, they were able to get ongoing support and guidance from a Certified Financial Planner to assist with life's inevitable changes.
Jack & Brittany were excited to get started with a financial planner who provides comprehensive planning, not just investment management.
Their financial plan incorporated:
• A tax-efficient retirement investing strategy
• Cash flow planning to help figure out how to use their extra savings
• Life insurance analysis to make sure their family is protected
• College savings plan taking advantage of the best accounts for flexibility and tax savings
• Automation for their investments and savings so they don’t have to spend time manually doing this every month
• A plan to show what would change financially if one salary was reduced due to a career change or at $0 so they could determine what the best strategy would be for them moving forward
Now Jack and Brittany have a clear picture of where they are and where they're going. The best part is that they finally have peace of mind and feel ready to move through the next stages of life knowing that they're on track to hit their goals.
Career: Data scientist
Louis has spent his entire career in tech and has been heavily rewarded with company stock and a substantial income. As his career winds down, he wants to get a plan in place that can accommodate his travel and philanthropic goals while ensuring that his wealth is being used effectively.
He went through a divorce about a decade ago, but has continued to invest and build up a healthy retirement portfolio. His two adult children are now independent and he has time on his hands to pursue the retirement that he's always dreamt of.
Louis knows that he's done a lot of things right, but he wants to work with an experienced professional to make sure he's taking the appropriate retirement steps and not leaving money on the table. Given his high income ($750,000/year), Louis has to take into consideration what he wants his retirement spending to look like as he'll no longer have earned income, only passive income from investments.
He's debt-free which has allowed him to invest often, and it now provides him with cash flow flexibility. He wants to buy a condo in Hawaii, but is unsure if that's the best use of funds.
One of the biggest areas to be addressed is a retirement income and investment plan, which will take into consideration the taxation of different investment accounts and social security benefits.
After working with Collabria, Louis received a plan that not only addressed his concerns, but answered questions that he didn't know to ask. His plan included:
• A cash flow plan to address the concern of losing earned income and living off of investment income
• A multi-bucket investment strategy to address the need for security as well as growth
• A mega back door Roth conversion strategy to maximize tax deferral and tax-free distributions
• Stock diversification strategy
• Healthcare options & timing
• Social security claiming
• A stress test for potential adverse scenarios
Louis now has the confidence and clarity he needs to finish out his career and transition into the next phase of life. He has comfort knowing that if anything within his plan changes, he has direct access to his financial planner to ask questions and get answers.
Career: AI Engineer
Samantha has been in the tech industry since she graduated college. For the last 15 years, her salary has allowed her to live her dream life. She's traveled the world, checked off some of her biggest bucket list goals, lived in a downtown high rise, and has accumulated a sizable company stock position.
She knows the risk associated with being heavily invested in her employer and wants to learn about the different approaches to take. She's prioritized her career for years but has been in a relationship for 3 years and has recently began to think about marriage and a family.
She wants to get a plan in place that best utilizes her current assets to fund the next stage of life while planning for early retirement.
While she's built a large investment portfolio, a few essential pieces of a financial plan have slipped through the cracks. In our meetings, we discovered that she was underinsured in regards to disability insurance and has yet to do any tax planning.
As part of our planning process, we took the time to carefully evaluate each area of her financial life, aligned the different pieces with her life goals, and created a plan that prioritizes her life today while still planning for tomorrow.
The plan Samantha received helped her in various ways:
• It incorporated a cash flow strategy that gave each dollar a purpose
• It outlined a plan to sell some of her equity over the next 5 years to minimize taxes
• It showed her the risks and tradeoffs she would have to make so she could make work optional by 45
• It helped her understand what types of investment accounts are available to her and how they affect taxes
• It outlined insurance recommendations for proper coverages
Samantha now understands how all of her finances play together and knows that while life might completely change, the plan she has is adaptable and will allow her to pursue the things that matter most. She also has peace of mind knowing that she has professional guidance on her side to assist with any new challenges that life decides to throw her way.