We work with many young-ish 🙂 families who are in the thick of building careers, raising kids, managing households, and sometimes even supporting aging parents. These are smart savers with a lot on their plates and even more on their minds. Time and money are both valuable assets to this subset of clients, and our role is to help them make the most of both.
This stage of life brings unique financial challenges. You’re trying to build wealth, prepare for the future, and still enjoy today. And while the need for a plan is clear, many families don’t know where to start—that’s where we come in.
The questions and conversations that we work through with these clients include…
- How much should we be contributing to our company retirement plans (401k/403b/457 plan, etc)?
- How do we choose among the various plan investment options?
- Should we refinance our home mortgage, or make extra payments over time?
- How much should we maintain in our savings account as an emergency fund?
- What is the best way to begin saving toward higher education costs for our children?
- How can we save for children that may not end up going to college?
- Should we add our names to our parents checking and/or savings accounts in order to pay their bills in the event they become incapacitated?
- Should we contribute to a Traditional or Roth IRA, and what are the tax implications of both?
- How can we reduce tax liability as our incomes rise?
- How much life insurance do we need?
- How do we set up a plan to ensure our children and/or aging parents continue to be cared for in the event something happens to us?
- What debts are okay to maintain as a growing family, versus debts that should be paid off as soon as possible?
- Will our current savings rate allow us to “make work optional” via early retirement or retirement from our full-time positions to start a small business or work part-time turning a hobby into an income stream?
We review your overall financial picture by gathering data related to your personal finances (tax returns, retirement statements, etc.), but also gather data via discussions regarding your values and how that relates to your money mindset. Often, these discussions uncover different perspectives between partners, and that’s okay. Our job is to bring those to light, facilitate clarity, and build a plan that honors both joint and individual goals.
We do this by breaking goals down to more manageable time frames and realistic savings objectives. We work in concert with and link these clients to appropriate professionals to aid in tax preparation and estate planning. We help create buckets to place their hard-earned money in order to provide for their own future, but also to ensure their family is taken care of in the event something happens to them. Ultimately, we know that a plan provides peace of mind and a sense of empowerment in knowing they are doing the best they can with the resources at hand. We also know that their plan is ever-changing and so we meet at least annually to ensure they remain on track to continue meeting their goals and objectives.