Making Retirement a Reality

The Background:

Jim and Nancy Smith were at their breaking point when they came to a Brayshaw Financial Group seminar. They owned their home in an affluent part of town but were trying to purchase another property in an area in which they hoped to retire. The Smiths were unsure how they could afford to do that and were fearful that they had exhausted all options. They considered buying the new home and renting their current home but were anxious about exposing themselves to added risk.

The Smiths don’t have any children, Nancy had a 401k, and Jim was contributing to his Simple IRA. They had some basic life insurance through their employers, but it failed to cover any of their concerns over “replacement income” should one of them pass away. They were holding some profits from a previous real estate sale in a low-interest bank account but were fearful about investing it in the market considering the indecision on their ultimate path and the risk inherent in the market should they need the funds quickly.

During our meetings, we uncovered several concerns, fears, goals, and hopes that enabled us to begin drafting a plan. Nancy and Jim’s ultimate concern, familiar to most, was that they didn’t have enough money saved for retirement.  They had exhausted their efforts trying to create their own “retirement solutions” but were unsuccessful in finding something they believed was viable. 

The Brayshaw Financial Group implemented a strategy for Jim and Nancy that would address all their concerns as well as issues uncovered in the team’s analysis.

The Brayshaw Financial Complete Wealth Management Approach:

1. We started by reallocating funds and implementing a strong and stable income solution that allowed Jim and Nancy to have the security needed on the retirement portion of their investments and enabled them to meet their basic retirement goals.
2. *In the next step, we put some of their assets to work in the markets through our low-cost Managed Portfolios. This created strong upward movement in a positive market with tactical allocations to hedge downside loss.
3. We instituted a “Roth Alternative” program using insurance, in order to build tax-friendly income in retirement. By doing this we were able to alleviate some of the daunting fears Jim and Nancy had over potential tax drag on distributions from their qualified accounts.
4. The Brayshaw team was able to tackle some of their fears around life-altering health events through intentional and tactical insurance coverage. By doing this we protected them from critical, chronic, and terminal illnesses with insurance riders rather than having them purchase separate policies that would magnify their overall insurance costs. We also used some simple term life insurance to protect each spouse against an unexpected death while creating an income replacement for the survivor.   
5. Finally, with the solutions above, and the remedied fears, we were able to revisit the living situation and get the Smiths their dream home.

Jim and Nancy now feel better about their financial future. They no longer have unanswered questions about their financial objectives, and they are able to enjoy their lives, their hobbies, and buy the home of their retirement dreams!

*Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values.