Case Studies

There are times when you research a company, and you just want to know if they have helped people like you. We can highlight some situations we’ve worked on – maybe they’ll be like yours?

PRE-RETIREMENT

Joanne is single, has been working at AbbVie for the last 10 years and has progressed in her role each year. She is now living by herself, trying to juggle the responsibilities of her extended family, and managing her growing wealth. She knew she wanted to focus her career and have someone else manage the finer details of her financial plan and investments. She needed someone to look at her outside investments as well as the multitude of AbbVie benefits, and ensure they were both complimenting each other.

As part of her plan, we:

Organized her financial picture into an easy-to-understand summary.
Designed a process to streamline how her extensive benefits package impacted her personal situation.
Had multiple discussions regarding what retirement might look like – both in the best circumstances and if times became tough.
Designed a prudent investment portfolio that aligned with the optimum amount of risk Joanne wanted to take, while also planning for a long-term investment outlook.
Put a retirement plan in place to aid long-term savings and save on taxes.
Discussed, in the best case scenario, when she could change careers to work less and be able to care for her parents, when that time came.

RETIREMENT

Andrew and Jennifer both come from a prudent, middle-class background and worked at the executive level for most of their careers – Andrew in the start-up biotech industry and Jennifer at AbbVie. They had been taught how to save by their parents, but even that training didn’t quench the nervousness and anxiety they felt being on the doorstep of retirement. While they didn’t have too much time to make any adjustments, they were able to implement a plan that eased their concerns and paved the wave for an enjoyable retirement.

As part of their plan, we:

Changed their retirement savings strategy so they had a more tax-balanced portfolio in retirement.
Reviewed their current insurance coverage so they understood how to transition into retirement without leaving gaps in coverage or incurring significantly higher premiums.
Examined their current spending to understand what lifestyle their assets would support.
Explored how they would want to work in “encore careers” and how to balance this with having more free time to explore their passions.
Discussed the approaches they could take with their investments given the fact they may not need all the money, and how they may want to manage these funds.
Made a “bucket-list” of things they wanted to achieve in retirement and understood if they could afford all those things.
Discussed potential changes to their estate plan and account titling, as they wanted to gift some of their money to charity and grandchildren.

RETIRED

Beth and Pete have been retired for three years. As they retired, they sought out help from Retirement Matters to design a retirement income, which involved a concentrated stock position. They were relocating across the country, starting a new life and excited for the changes ahead of them. They have no heirs so are currently looking to maximize the amount of money they can spend on themselves while keeping their tax bill as low as possible. Due to an illness Beth suffers with, their focus is on highly enjoyable experiences now before it becomes too late.

As part of their plan, we:

Understood what fun things they had accomplished and what they meant to them. We planned out the next five years and understood how much money was needed for the experiences.
Designed an ongoing income plan with an accountant, that could be adjusted each year to sell the concentrated stock and minimizing the tax owed each year.
Reviewed their investments and aligned them to the realization that they will have more than enough money to live comfortably.
Explored how they could be helping others with their wealth and how much joy that would bring both of them and others.

WANT SOME FREE ADVICE?

We want to make sure you have access to all the knowledge we give to clients, should you want to implement your financial plan by yourself. Download this book to learn how to maximize your AbbVie benefits package.

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