Who:  Jack & Susan Smith

     A little bit about them...

But Here's The Challenge

They start to wonder about things that haven’t been answered for them, concerned about their situation…

Nagging questions like...

• When is the best time for us to elect our Social Security?
• How much is Medicare really going to cost us?
• Will we have a larger tax burden than we thought?  (We’ve never really talked taxes except for the “benefit” to deferring them in our retirement accounts...)
• Will I “Be OK” if my spouse passes away?

And these were on top of the normal questions like...

• Should we consolidate our various retirement accounts?
• Are our investments right for us?
• How much should we be taking out monthly when we shift from wage income to living off our accounts?

The thing is, like many folks, they have worked with the same advisor for years, so they assume everything is just fine. They feel like they “have enough” to retire and still leave some money for the kids and grandkids.
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Their advisor kept saying “you have enough, you have enough” but never proactively covered their timeline, how taxes work, what healthcare will look like, or how all these moving pieces work together in retirement.
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They found themselves starting to wonder if some of the taxes they had been deferring were going to become a BIGGER PROBLEM in retirement than they originally thought.

They were getting concerned about the lack of clarity they had on the many decision points in retirement, and began to realize that actually retiring is much MORE COMPLICATED than just working hard and saving for retirement.  

Their gut was telling them something...and they could sense they were missing stuff.  

They heard different things, read different things. So they went to a few workshops, looked online, asked Facebook. But that still left them confused and overwhelmed because they weren’t getting answers.

Then they were introduced to me. (Bryan)

I’ve had folks like this get introduced a few different ways. An introduction from current client, or by attending one of our events, or by receiving a personalized letter I send out. Ultimately, they hear something that I shared or taught, it opens their eyes and they begin wondering how it could impact them.  

So, being reasonable, and recognizing how important their decisions about their retirement are, they say to themselves: "Ok, we’ll come in and talk to Bryan, to see what we might be missing." (And at the same time the voice inside their head is saying: "We won’t make any decisions on the fly…we already have our advisor...they tell us we have 'enough'…but I’ve never heard some of these things before, and we didn’t realize how they might impact us…so let’s go talk and find out.")

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The Approach

Bryan welcomes Jack & Susan into the office for what he calls a “Talk” meeting.  

A chance to hear what they are trying to accomplish, share insights with them, and listen to hear if there are things that can be costing them dearly...things they are missing.

We got right to it, and when I began to see that they were missing critical items that could cost them dearly, I shared insight, drew things out on the whiteboard and computer, and helped them to begin to see and understand what they actually had been missing. Things that were being overlooked.

They were shocked, because they had been told they had a 'plan', and they had a bunch of printouts, but their gut was telling them they were missing something, and now that was being validated.

They were baffled as to how they could have been missing all this even though they had been working with an advisor for years. They were wondering out loud ”What are we getting for the 1% fee we are paying our advisor?” and more importantly "What else are we missing?"

So I invited them into our 2-Step Process so they could get the details and truly see for themselves the costs they would incur if they missed these important items in retirement.  I explained that our 2-Step Process was built to help folks make more educated decisions about their retirement, including an educated decision about the advisor they work with. They wanted that. So they took me up on the invitation.

When the details and data were laid out for them, and we touched on the 5 Critical Areas in Retirement (compared to just talking investments) they could see very clearly that what they thought was their retirement plan (a pile of investment statements and 50-page reports) was not in any way proactively helping them to reduce their tax obligation, identify a strategic income timeline, and navigate Medicare costs (and associated surcharges).  Plus they were paying for advice based on the size of their accounts, and that cost was dragging unnecessarily on their investment portfolio.
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With everything laid out in front of them, they could now see what this was actually costing them...and compare it to what it could be.

So, when we proposed an option to engage in our Bundled, FLAT-FEE Retirement Planning and Investment Management model, it made a lot of sense to them.  They could see the benefits. They wanted to engage.

I still wanted them to sleep on it…to make sure it felt right…No pressure...

So we gave them a few days to discuss personally.

And when we met again, we made sure they were making an educated decision for themselves. We made sure we were all on the same page about the good work we’ll do together, how I'll guide them, and how I am compensated for it. They wanted that.

So, now that we were all on the same page and knew we were going to make a positive impact, we began working together so we could get results.

Let's see what that looked like for them...

The Results

The results are felt emotionally and financially.

Finally, the couple felt like they had their heads wrapped around all the moving pieces of retirement.

They had an action plan summed up on One Page and the guidance to tackle the most meaningful items proactively. No more searching through 50+ pages of various printouts to wonder what their next step was.

Even more specifically, they...

• Immediately save money by significantly reducing their advisory fees.
• Organize their assets and accounts so they can see that they have enough money to fund what matters most to them.
  
• Got an answer to the “when is the best time for us to elect our Social Security” question…and were pleasantly surprised that it was different and more thoughtful than they expected.
• Now have a plan for the ideal places and timing of taking income so they can enjoy spending their hard-earned money at different phases of their retirement.
• Benefit from a Proactive Roth Conversion plan designed specifically for them. Their Proactive Roth Conversion plan coaches them on the benefits of reducing their lifetime tax burden...but then, more specifically, how much to convert, when, and the most ideal place to pay the taxes from.
• Better understand the life insurance policies they have, and know how valuable the permanent ones are.
• Understand their exposure to IRMAA surcharges, something that they were never coached on before.
• Get the same big name investments they are familiar with, without the big name overhead…and their portfolio is now more efficient with less drag on it.
• Get ongoing access to advanced online planning tools that cover all of these decision points.

Plus…Our Proactive Meeting Process helps them stay in front of any curveballs or opportunities the future holds for them!

The overall result… they are excited for retirement.  

They are confident in their plan, knowing it has been stress tested, and is ready to be tweaked as needed.  (Plus the engagement model reduces their costs...keeping more of their hard earned money in their accounts working for them!)
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NOTE: THIS CASE STUDY IS HYPOTHETICAL AND DOES NOT INVOLVE AN ACTUAL REVISIONIST WEALTH ADVISORS CLIENT. NO PORTION OF THE CONTENT SHOULD BE CONSTRUED BY A CLIENT OR PROSPECTIVE CLIENT AS A GUARANTEE THAT HE/SHE WILL EXPERIENCE THE SAME OR CERTAIN LEVEL OF RESULTS OR SATISFACTION IF REVISIONIST WEALTH ADVISORS IS ENGAGED TO PROVIDE INVESTMENT ADVISORY SERVICES.