Financial Planning

Situation: After two long and successful careers, a couple wanted to retire and devote more time to their real passions. One spouse had a parent with significant medical issues. The couple needed a financial plan that covered all their family expenses, including a plan to care for the mother, and allowed them to retire without financial worries.

Action: We first completed a detailed analysis of all the family investments, identifying many areas for improvement: simplification, reduced fees and improved performance. Next, we reviewed their income and expenses, finding a number of meaningful ways to reduce costs. Finally, we ran a series of cash-flow projections under a number of different scenarios: (1) retire immediately with no earned income; (2) continue working full-time for 5 more years; and (3) continue working at a reduced rate for 5 more years. Our analysis showed that they could work a reduced schedule for 3 years and then retire, free to pursue their interests.

Asset Management

Example 1.

Situation: A business owner sold his company and placed the funds with 4 different money managers.

Action: We monitor all these investments for the client, and twice a year produce a detailed report on asset allocation, performance, risk and fees for each manager and for the portfolio as whole. The reports help the client to understand his investments and performance. We discuss the analysis and determine what, if any, changes should be made.

Example 2.

Situation: A leading manufacturing family was considering investing the assets of numerous trusts in index funds.

Action: We recommended an index replication approach, which uses individual stocks rather than mutual funds, providing much better control over risk and taxes. We also designed a unique structure that allows the family to hold all the investments in one combined account.

Wealth Transfer

Situation: A family owned a portfolio of assets. The majority of the assets were owned by the immediate family, but one block of assets was owned jointly by the family and their cousins. The family wished to buy out the interest of the cousins, and the cousins wished to exit under favorable tax treatment.

Action: We designed a strategy that gave the family 100% control of all the assets, and gave the cousins their proceeds without any capital gains tax. We also coordinated this work with an update of the family’s overall estate plan that significantly reduced their potential estate tax burden.