Planning Scenarios

Case Studies

These case studies are examples of the kinds of complex wealth and life planning circumstances we are ready to help our clients address. These examples are for illustrative purposes only, and do not represent the experience of any actual client. The "Game Plans" are examples of possible solutions but are not appropriate for all clients or circumstances.

Global Executive

An executive at a multinational firm has a complex compensation structure, multiple real estate holdings, and a young family.

Despite a seven-figure income, the client feels wealth is scattered across legacy 401(k)s, multiple brokerage accounts, concentration in restricted stock units (RSUs) with large cash balances often remaining uninvested.

Questions

What is your current process for planning and tracking your net worth? Is it manual, automated, or currently a 'best guess'?
You have a significant concentration in your employer stock, if the stock price dropped by 25% tomorrow, would that change your perspective on lifestyle or long-term goals?
Is the large cash balance a strategic choice for upcoming liquidity needs or is it 'inertia' because you have other more pressing obligations?
With a growing family and a global career, have you updated your current estate plan since your most recent promotion or the birth of your youngest child?

Game Plan

Implement sophisticated planning and budgeting tools, moving beyond basic spreadsheets to a full financial life tracking system with a single, real-time interface.
Develop a multi-year schedule to manage the tax impact of RSU triggers, with recommendations to hedge near-term vesting shares.
Utilize a Securities-Backed Line of Credit (SBLOC) to provide ready liquidity for portfolio opportunities without disrupting the long-term investment strategy or triggering unnecessary capital gains.
Fully fund HSAs, 529 plans and leverage other employer perks for maximum family benefit.

Retiring Professional

Retiring professional wants to consolidate a fragmented financial life into a high-yield, growth-oriented, and probate-free estate.

Accumulation of multiple accounts across banks, insurance providers and brokerage firms create a "financial junk drawer" effect.

Questions

If you needed to know your exact total net worth by 5:00 PM today, how many different logins, paper statements, or phone calls would it take to find that number?
Are your legacy annuities still serving your current income needs?
If one of you were to pass away tomorrow, do you have any accounts that might be frozen in probate court due to legacy titling?
Have you mapped out which 'buckets' - pensions, Social Security, dividends - to draw from to optimize your retirement cash flow needs?

Game Plan

With lifestyle primarily funded from pensions and social security, reorient overall portfolio allocation toward growth (equities) and away from over-weighting cash or income-heavy bonds. Execute a "Clean Sweep" of the clients' banking footprint to simplify their daily life and reallocate into market-based solutions.
Replace outdated, low-performing annuity contracts with modern solutions. Apply Transfer on Death (TOD) and Payable on Death (POD) designations to all non-qualified accounts and update beneficiary titling.
Create a dynamic financial model to provide clarity and future visibility on income sources meeting lifestyle needs.

Family Steward

Family steward seeking to balance maximizing current income, minimizing potential capital gains and estate taxes and reducing concentration risk.

A co-founder of a successful regional business with a $50M portfolio primarily composed of low-basis stock in a single public company.

Questions

What is the best way to generate liquidity to support your lifestyle, without taking a significant tax hit?
Which wealth structures should be created and transfer funds for children and grandchildren to inherit, while minimizing potential estate taxes?
How can we best transition to a more diversified portfolio over the next 5 years?

Game Plan

Coordinate multiple experts across business, estate planning, portfolio management and tax to create a comprehensive plan with protections in place.
Consolidate investments across multiple institutions and account titles into user-friendly dashboard/reports.
Optimize portfolio to generate near-term losses to systemically transition client from a low-basis concentrated portfolio to a diversified portfolio in a tax-efficient manner.
Incorporate specialized structures including: Irrevocable Trusts (e.g. SLATs and IDGTs), Educational Trusts and Annual Exclusion Giving, Separately Managed Accounts, Alternative Investments, Securities-Backed Lending and Donor Advised Fund.