Financial Clarity, Confidence and Control in action.

Pre-Retiree and Retirees

Michael and Terri McCarthy are four years away from their envisioned ‘target’ retirement date.  Their youngest child graduated from college three years ago.  All their children are fully launched and are independent young adults.

Michael works as an in-house attorney for a Fortune 500 company and Terri works as a sales consultant providing change management training.

They have diligently saved throughout their careers, each having multiple 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth IRAs, and a joint trust account.  Also, each of their parents left them an inheritance of real estate and retirement assets (Inherited IRAs).

While out to dinner with friends who recently retired – Michael and Terri asked them several questions, including – how they picked their retirement date; how they knew they would be OK without earned income; where they invested their assets; and how those assets generated income.

They received confident answers from their friends who shared that they work with Trio Wealth and offered to introduce them.

After an initial meeting with Trio Wealth, the McCarthys decide to work with Trio Wealth on a full financial life plan to:

1. Simplify their financial lives by consolidating accounts to one financial institution.
2. Create a goals-based plan that provides clarity on whether they can move their retirement date up a full year. They will understand whether they will be able to meet their daily spending and their bucket list items such as travel, gifting to children and charitable endeavors.
3. Create a retirement spending plan that optimizes tax-efficiency by utilizing the right mix of pre-tax and post-tax accounts.
4. Ensure an investment allocation that reflects their risk tolerance and addresses their longevity concerns that their assets comfortably sustain them for 30 years.

Michael and Terri are excited about this next venture with clarity in their current financial landscape, confidence in when they can comfortably retire, and the control to make it happen.

Executives

Andrew and Denise are successful executives balancing many responsibilities including their children, parents, work schedules and their financial lives.

Andrew is a successful software sales executive whose compensation package includes variable income, Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), and cash bonuses.

Denise is an officer of a publicly traded company privy to inside information, making her subject to strict disclosure and sale requirements regarding company stock. Additionally, she has a deferred compensation plan.

Their challenges include:

1. Protecting and providing for their children (estate, insurance, education).
2. Providing time and resources to care for their aging parents.
3. Understanding the “big picture” on how their accumulating wealth will fund their goals.
4. Lacking clarity on how to get to “work as optional.”
5. Worrying about single company stock wealth concentration.

Andrew and Denise met with Trio Wealth for an initial consultation and afterwards chose to build a financial life plan, including:

1. The Trio Blueprint – a summary of their financial, insurance and estate information, as well as important points of contact.
2. Alignment of their investment strategy to financial life goals such as college funding and a second home in retirement.
3. Developing a plan of action for Denise’s company stock via 10b5-1 sales and Andrew’s RSUs to reduce single company risk in favor of a diversified portfolio.
4. Scenario planning showing feasibility of time off work to care for parents and/or children while preserving their own financial wellness.
5. A comprehensive and coordinated review of their income taxes, estate plan and insurance risk management.

The Trio Wealth financial life plan ultimately provides Andrew and Denise with:

• clarity on next steps to live the lives they want;
• confidence and peace of mind to enjoy today while being on track for retirement; and
• control to make better decisions as life inevitably unfolds in the future.

Non-Profit and Trade Associations

The Challenge

A trade association with growing reserve balances recognized a need to review and evaluate ways in which they can manage their excess reserves beyond their usual operating accounts.

The Board and Association leadership as fiduciaries and prudent financial stewards want to strengthen their organization by creating an investment reserve that promotes the long-term fiscal strength of their organization.

Based on research – they recognize a need for a formal governance structure, investment policy statement, investment strategy and monitoring program to meet their fiduciary duty.  Questions still remain though:

1. What governance structure fits their organization?
2. Should they have one general investment account or should they create investment pools with separate investment policy statements and corresponding investment strategies?
3. What will be the hallmarks of a successful investment program?

The Approach

The trade association worked with Trio Wealth:

1. to develop a governance structure reflective of their association and board size, clear delineations of roles and responsibilities and a communications plan that fit within their existing channels;
2. to develop goals for the association with corresponding time horizons leading to the creation of three investment pools – the Operating Fund (<1 yr), Short-Term Reserves (1- 3 yrs) and Long-Term (3+ yrs); and
3. to develop an investment policy statement that reflects their risk tolerance and time horizon. Their portfolio seeks broad diversification across market capitalization, investment style, and geography while striving to keep investment costs low.  Additionally, they utilize individual bonds where applicable and market participation funds to hedge overall exposure.

The Results

The association’s leadership team and board meets their fiduciary duty in making prudent use of their resources.  The pools of investment reserves will become a potential source of revenue, funding of special initiatives and secure operations during periods of economic or organizational stress.

They have a documented Investment Policy Statement (IPS), an articulated governance structure and a foundation upon which the association will grow with clarity, confidence and control.