Here is the first in a series of “Case Studies”:  Why we should start planning now for you and your family’s future financial security!

The purpose of financial planning is to attain financial security, which everyone defines differently.  In the ideal situation, we start early, establish goals, develop a plan, and consider as many contingencies as possible.  For example, we just helped some twenty-something’s with a retirement plan, permanent insurance, and emergency fund. Assuming they stay the course, they will never have a money care in the world.  However, it does not always work out that way.

A few years ago, we had the unfortunate situation of a sudden death. The surviving spouse had not worked in 20 years, and we had one kid in college and one on the way to college in two years.  There were some life insurance proceeds and a 401k that we rolled into a spousal IRA. Working together, we were able to figure out that by paying off the mortgage and returning to work just ten hours a week, we would have no change in financial standard of living.  We even got both kids through college without owing a penny!