A working couple with school age children had $2.1 million in 8 investment accounts at 4 different banks and brokerages. They realized they had little insight into how their money was invested as a whole, if they were properly diversified and what the overall return was on the investments.
They wanted to commit more time to their active family and needed a Trusted Advisor to consolidate, oversee, plan and manage all of their planning and investment needs, including their estate planning, insurance, and banking needs.
Our first step was to provide a consolidated view of their accounts and proceed with combining them as we could at one institution. We provided them with an online personalized online planning site to view all the accounts with daily updated values. We evaluated the family’s current spending including: household and personal expenses, private school tuition, and insurance expenditures. We helped them lay out their longer term goals with regard to college funding for their children, and their own retirement objectives.
The information we collected helped us define several areas of tax inefficiencies, as well as pinpoint areas where they could increase savings even more. Using our aggregation technology, we were able to fold their existing company 401k holdings into our quarterly review and personal planning site and derive an allocation model that took into account all of their assets, those held elsewhere as well as the ones under our direct management.
We maintain contact information for their accountant, attorney and insurance agents and gathered all documentation into one location so we could review their filed tax returns, insurance needs, and estate documents in connection with continual planning reviews.
Having all of their financial information managed in it’s entirety by a objective, professional Independent CFP® brought them tremendous peace of mind, and instead of worrying about their finances, they are able to confidently focus and enjoy their family’s personal needs.
