Who:  Bob & Lisa Stewart

     A little bit about them...

But Here's The Challenge

Bob is starting to hear about decision points in their 60's that are complex, often confusing, and the more he works on his plan, the more he is seeing that deferred taxes are beginning to look like a problem.

Bob has these parts nailed down:

• Low cost, diversified investments.
• A plan to switch to Medicare when they retire at 65.
• A plan to start Social Security at their Full Retirement Ages.

What Bob is beginning to realize is:

• Investment diversification is nice, but they have the majority of their wealth in Pre-Tax accounts, and he's starting to realize that can cause problems.
• Bob didn't realize that Medicare Premiums are based on a tax return line item, and he's realizing that they may be exposed to additional costs and surcharges.
• Bob assumed they would be in a lower tax bracket in retirement, but is now realizing that it may only be temporary or not true at all.

Bob is a Do-It-Yourselfer with his retirement plan. He and Lisa have avoided working with an advisor because they didn't like they way most advisors charged for their services (a percentage % based on how much he had saved), they questioned whether they would get any value for what they would pay, and always felt like there was sales pressure based on whatever products that advisors' company promoted.
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Bob had a feeling that he and Lisa would "Be OK"...they were diligent in saving and liked what their accounts looked like on paper, but he was beginning to realize that he didn't fully understand the timeline  of decision points in their 60's, how taxes work, what healthcare will look like, or how all the moving pieces work together.
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Plus he found himself 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. Bob began to realize that actually retiring is much MORE COMPLICATED than just working hard and saving for retirement when he wasn't able to confidently answer all the questions that Lisa was wondering about.  

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 have done this ourselves, and done well. Advisors always try to sell us on how much 'better they are than we can be'...but we know we have 'enough'…we just don't want to be blindsided by unexpected costs or miss opportunities to improve...so let’s go talk and find out.")

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The Approach

Bryan welcomes Bob & Lisa 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 I began to see that they had saved a lot and were clear on their investment philosophy. That's great. But I could hear that they were missing critical items that could cost them dearly. So, I shared insight, drew things out on the whiteboard and computer, and helped them to begin to see what I was seeing. Things that were being overlooked. Things that Bob didn't know to look for, let alone how to look for them.

They were surprised, because even with detailed spreadsheets and the tools on their investment custodian's website, they were still missing some important, critical items. And now their eyes were being opened up to this.

They started to wonder out loud "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 - AND - that working together did NOT require that they move accounts if they wanted to manage investments on their own. They were intrigued, so they took me up on the invitation.

When the details and data were laid out for them, they could see very clearly that what they thought was their retirement plan was not in any way proactively helping them to reduce their tax obligation, identify a strategic income timeline, and navigate Medicare costs (and the associated surcharges).  
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With everything laid out in front of them, they could now see what it would cost them if they didn't act, and see a path to being proactive in their approach.

So, when we proposed an option to engage in our Specialized Retirement Planning Only Package, 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, the time it would take, 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.

It felt good for Bob & Lisa to know they wouldn't be missing opportunities to improve what they built for themselves.

They had an action plan summed up on One Page and the guidance to tackle the most meaningful items proactively. (The stuff that they weren't getting from the current tools they were using.)

Even more specifically, they...

• Now have a plan for the ideal places and timing of taking income (which was different from what they originally planned) since their income plan is now designed through a strategic tax lens.
  
• Adjusted their thoughts on their “when should we elect our Social Security” question…now that they were looking at their retirement more comprehensively.
  
• Kept the same investments they are familiar with, and now had a plan to get them over to Roth where they would keep the gains.
• Benefit from a Proactive Roth Conversion plan designed specifically for them. (Proactive Roth Conversion planning 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.)
• Understand their exposure to IRMAA surcharges, which they didn't understand before.
• Get ongoing access to advanced online planning tools that cover all of these decision points.

The overall result:

They get the advice they need, without any pressure to move their accounts, and they are no longer concerned about missing anything.

They are confident in their plan, knowing it has been improved and is much more comprehensive and proactive.  (They received significant value for what they paid for advice, they are happy they didn't get pressured to move their accounts, and they are more prepared to tackle what lies in front of 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.