Primary goalPlan for their family's future, set their kids up for success, and take advantage of their high-earning years.
The Situation
Tyler and Brooke both work in sales, Tyler in software and Brooke in heavy equipment, and between the two of them they're bringing in serious income. They don't have kids yet, but they're planning to soon, and that's put a new lens on money they hadn't needed before.
Because their income is so variable, a lot of it has gone uncaptured over the years. They make good money and spend as they go, saving whatever happens to be left at the end of the month instead of deciding on a number up front. They've noticed real lifestyle creep over the past couple of years: as income went up, so did spending, almost without them deciding it should. They believe the industries they're in will keep growing, but they don't want to be exposed if a job changes, a market turns, or one of them wants to step back once kids are in the picture.
The Approach
Tyler and Brooke wanted to be involved in every decision, not handed a plan and sent on their way. They wanted to understand what they should actually be doing differently, and they wanted someone in their corner on an ongoing basis as their income and family both changed. They didn't want investment management. They handle their own accounts and wanted to keep it that way. What they needed was help building a plan, executing it, and saving more consistently toward the goals that mattered to them. This became an advice-only planning relationship: ongoing access to a planner, no assets under management.
The Results
- Life insurance analysis sized to their actual income and family plans
- College savings plans put in place before kids arrived
- Cash flow planning built on the bucket and income-smoothing methods, so savings gets set aside first instead of whatever's left over
- Sinking funds for the vacations and big purchases they actually wanted, funded on purpose instead of by accident
- A plan showing what their life looks like at 80%, 100%, and 130% of their combined income plan, so a strong year or a slow one both have a place to go
Tyler & Brooke
Primary goalA one-time snapshot to know when he can realistically leave sales and start something of his own.
The Situation
Derek has spent his career in sales and done well at it, but he's ready to think about what comes after. He wants to start something of his own, and before he makes any moves he needs real answers: when he could realistically leave, how much runway he'd need to cover himself in the meantime, whether his RSUs and other investments are positioned for a transition like this, and what the tax picture looks like if he starts pulling money differently. He didn't want an ongoing relationship. He wanted one clear, complete answer.
The Approach
This was a one-time engagement: a single financial plan built to answer Derek's specific questions, not a standing relationship. We mapped his current equity and investment positions, modeled what leaving sales in one, two, and three years would each look like, and built the runway number he'd need before making the jump.
The Results
- A target exit timeline based on his actual savings rate and equity vesting, not a guess
- A specific runway number: how much he needs saved before he can responsibly leave
- A clear picture of his RSU position and what to do with it heading into a transition
- An investment plan for the years leading up to the move
- The tax impact of the transition mapped out in advance, not discovered after the fact
Derek
Primary goalHand off his entire financial picture, investing and planning both, so he can put his energy into selling and the rest of his life.
The Situation
Colin didn't want to spend his free time managing investment accounts, rebalancing, or trying to keep up with his own financial plan on top of a full sales role. He wanted one relationship that handled both the planning and the investing, so he could put his attention back into selling and the rest of his life.
The Approach
Colin's engagement combined ongoing financial planning with investment management under one roof: one advisor, one relationship, both pieces handled together instead of split across a planner and a separate portfolio he managed himself.
The Results
- His investment accounts consolidated and actively managed, instead of scattered and self-directed
- An ongoing financial plan that gets revisited as his comp plan and life change, not a one-time document
- Less time spent thinking about money day to day, more spent on his career and the rest of his life
- One point of contact for both the plan and the portfolio
Colin