Success Stories

Sieben Wealth Planning takes great pride in keeping all aspects of our client relationships private. Our client’s financial planning experience is their story to tell. To provide some examples of a typical client experience, we created these three hypothetical scenarios for illustrative purposes.

High-Income Family with Young Children

Money for Now and Money for Later

Issue

This example features a married couple, both high-earning professionals with demanding jobs. They had young kids, and their priority was to maximize their time as a family, mostly outside, and provide their kids with the same opportunities they had.

They felt overwhelmed with financial decisions because they were unsure of the accuracy of their financial planning.

They had done a good job self-managing their investments but as their life become more complicated, they started to have more questions. One spouse was excited to reach out, but the other had previously had a poor experience.

They wanted to know when they could reach their retirement goals and how much they could spend now on experiences with their family. They wanted the confidence to know they were doing everything they should be doing. They just weren’t sure.

Solution

The couple made the decision to have a conversation. We started by getting to know them to see if they were a good fit for our specialties. Once we had a better understanding of their goals and preferences, we discussed their variety of bank accounts, investment accounts, and old 401k accounts.

A few weeks later we met to discuss a concise, one-page summary of their financial plan and clearly review our projections for when they would be able to retire, pay for their kids’ college, and buy a second home in the mountains. They were surprised to learn that they were ahead of their plan. We suggested they take more family vacations, which they said were very important to them. They were thrilled to learn this.

They were excited to become clients, and we seamlessly opened new Fidelity accounts that were digital and super easy. Their existing investments transferred in full to these new consolidated accounts and days later they started to see their investment plan in place.

The investment plan for their portfolio was clear and concise. The foundation of their plan was approximately 5 years of their expected yearly spend set aside in US Treasury bills. This provided them comfort knowing they could get through an unexpected job change. It also provided a sense of security in the event of a market downturn, which they had lived through many times before.

For the Growth assets, we used a custom index portfolio, so we could keep some previous investments and build a portfolio that was built specifically for them, without having to realize unnecessary capital gains.

Outcome

Now, they have confidence and peace of mind with their plan. They are enjoying their family vacations without guilt or worry about finances.

They are excited to be so organized. They can now easily access a beautiful snapshot of their financial plan and see up-to-date, one-page summaries of their plan. They like having access to updated account balances of their bank account, their 401k accounts, and their investment accounts with Sieben Wealth Planning at Fidelity.

During tax time, they reach out to our team and ask that all their tax documents be sent to their CPA. This is one of their favorite services with Sieben Wealth Planning.

Their favorite investment account is the individual US Treasury bills. They love having so much money set aside in ultra-safe bonds that also provide income that they don’t have to pay state income tax on. We enjoy working with them, hearing about their vacations, and seeing how delighted they are about their financial planning solutions.

Tax-Sensitive Plans for Busy Executives

The Beauty of a Customized Plan

Issue

In this scenario, we have late-career married couple. She is a high earning executive at a well-known public company, and he works part-time as a contractor. They have a busy lifestyle with three kids, one in college and two in elementary.

They had their accounts at a well-known investment firm but didn’t hear from them very often. In time, she became overwhelmed with all the decisions from her stock grants (RSUs and NQSOs), and they decided it was time to look for a second opinion.

Solution

We got to know each other and decided to go to the next step which was to build out a preliminary financial plan and look for areas of improvement. They were impressed with how easy it was to securely share documents electronically.

Our team quickly identified some underperforming investments that also had unusually high fees. It was also clear that the current advisor, unknowingly to the client, was using their firm’s ‘model’ portfolio that lacked any customization or linkage of their investments to their goals.

For their charitable giving plan, our team had a creative solution to maximize their giving. We proposed using highly appreciated stocks to contribute to a charitable fund which they could then use for future charitable contributions. This simple strategy allowed them to avoid some capital gains and get rid of an unwanted investment.

For the employer equity grants, we made recommendations for which grants to sell now, identified grants we should sell as they vest, and which we should hold indefinitely. They thought it was awesome how we explained why we used different grants for their family’s goals in the next few years and their long-term retirement income plan.

Sieben Wealth Planning also recommended that they change their savings strategy.

Outcome

With a few changes, they were able to save more than $40k per year in Roth, or tax-free, savings accounts. They previously thought that their earnings were too high to make Roth contributions and were both thrilled to find out they could shift savings to Roth accounts and get more tax-free growth.

Their favorite concept was the charitable giving idea. They are now happy to have funds set aside and ready to make charitable contributions to their favorite non-profits.

They were also happy to have a clear and consistent strategy for their RSU and ISO stock grants with an articulated estimate on their yearly tax obligations from each equity grant. Having a plan for their employer equity grants, with price targets, that is linked to their retirement goals eliminated their quarterly guesses and made the decisions so much easier.

Our team at Sieben Wealth Planning is pleased to see the confidence they now have in a personalized financial plan and portfolio management.

Personalized Plan for Approaching Retirement

Focused Legacy Plan for Survivors

Issue

This story involves spouses with grown children and grandchildren. They thought they had a net worth of more than $15+M primarily from a real estate business they had managed. They had a variety of investment accounts with a few different advisors, at well-known firms. They also had a large balance of cash at their credit union.

A recent health scare had them reassess their overall plan, and they were referred to us at Sieben Wealth Planning. After some conversations, they asked to move ahead with a preliminary financial plan and ideas on how we might approach their situation.

They stated their goal was to retire soon, primarily to travel, spend more time on hobbies, and be with their kids and grandkids more frequently.

Solution

During our team’s planning process, it was clear their investments were well managed and their real estate holdings were terrific investments offering incredible tax planning opportunities.

We identified three areas of focus:

Consolidation
We consolidated accounts from eight different investment firms to one. This made it easier for them to manage their investments, and ensure things were properly titled. They were surprised to learn how much more income their cash could produce and how so many of their investments, although with different names, were so similar. Our team set a tax budget, closely aligned with their real estate holdings, to gradually simplify their portfolio.

We made limited initial changes to their current investments. The team put together their plan using almost all of their existing investments with a plan on how to gradually simplify within their consolidated accounts.

Estate Planning
Lack of an updated estate plan exposed them to unnecessary estate taxes. We also found a few accounts that lacked up-to-date beneficiaries. They needed a refresh of their estate plan and implementation of a few simple trust strategies which we were happy to coordinate. We also discussed utilizing annual gift exclusions so they could start the process of tax-efficiently transferring assets to their children now.
Retirement Planning
We needed to articulate a workable retirement income plan. Working with their tax advisor, we quickly settled on an ideal Social Security strategy that was easy for them to track. They wanted their remaining retirement income to be sent each month.
Another result of the coordination with their tax advisor was shifting their charitable giving to come directly from her IRA. This allowed them to avoid some federal and state taxes while decreasing their Medicare premiums.

Outcome

Having these investments consolidated made them feel better about how the surviving spouse, and eventually their kids, would be able to manage after they were gone.

They were happy to know how a well-designed financial plan could help their survivors. We pulled together their accounts, organized in a simple-to-understand summary, and helped ensure that when they are gone, their money would go where they wanted it to go, in the easiest way possible for their loved ones.

They were relieved to have these unknown issues resolved including incorrect account types, incorrect beneficiaries and incomplete estate documents. At Sieben Wealth Planning, we were excited to see how much more relaxed they were with a simpler, yet more strategic, approach. They now have peace of mind with their finances and their legacy.