Sometimes the best financial advice is the simplest: tough, objective love
The couple had made every mistake you could: retired too early, spent too much, took on too much house and too much debt. “This is killing me,” Jill told their new advisor (me), as she burst into tears.
Jack and Jill left their well-paying jobs in their late 50s, with little idea how they would pay for a long retirement. With anguished faces, they came to me for a solution. As a financial advisor, my solution was tough love, and since they were at their wit’s end, they were open to hearing it.
Jack, Jill, and I created a plan to save them from personal bankruptcy: sell their home, pay down credit card debt, cut up all cards and only use cash and create more realistic financial goals. Jack and Jill are still working on their recovery plan but things are looking brighter.
When they came to our office, they were laden with paperwork showing their financial distress. The card statements alone were hair-raising. They needed an objective person to tell them: Sell the house, tear up the cards and don’t use them again.
The Importance of Financial Planning
To these well-educated professionals, everything once seemed affordable. Jack was an executive at a manufacturing company, and Jill was a community college teacher. Then he got laid off, and they both figured they could afford to kick back.
But they had no idea what their situation truly was. They had paid to put their four children through some of the best – and most expensive – colleges. They lived in a high-toned town outside the city: It had excellent schools. Trouble was, that meant high property taxes.
Although they lived in an elegant home, their net worth was miniscule due to a $200,000-plus credit card debt, a large mortgage and virtually no savings – apart from Jill’s IRA. Jack’s 401(k) was gone already. To meet expenses, they had drained his account, which of course incurred taxes and penalties.
With the kids gone, what they should have done was downsize their lives and Jack should have gotten another high-paying job. But they coasted along for a few years. Prolonged unemployment does not look good on a resume.
Jack and Jill originally are from South Carolina, and they have an adult son living there, so the couple moved there to join him. After they retired, their cost of living has declined significantly, and they slowly are building up their net worth. Jack found a part-time teaching position and Jill located an office job.
If you find yourself in a similar situation don’t wait until it’s too late! You still have time to turn things around and create the future you want. The Wealth Guardians can help you do just that with our Custom Retirement Paycheck Plan. This unique plan considers your specific needs and goals so that you have a realistic roadmap to follow.
Our Custom Retirement Paycheck Plan shows how to protect your retirement from the risks of unexpected market swings, tax changes, and health care expenses using a mathematically tested strategy to create lifetime income allowing you to stop worrying about outliving your money and get on with enjoying the rest of your life.
Let us show you in black and white a custom retirement income plan that is comprehensive, individualized and based on strategies that balance growth with downside protection. Get your Custom Retirement Paycheck Plan now!
Give us a call at our Charlotte office at (704) 248-8549, or our Clemmons office at (336) 391-3409. Or, click here to request a no-cost, no-obligation meeting.
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