Imagine yourself working hard, putting your heart and soul into an organization, knowing it will pay off. You’ve saved it all for retirement; and now, you’re ready to be able to live comfortably and free during your ‘Golden Years’. Suddenly, the company goes through a restructuring and needs to downsize. Many jobs are cut and you are forced to retire several years before expected. After the shock wears off, a major concern pops up, “how much can I take out of my retirement account and still live comfortably?” To add to the uncertainty, you have a wife who is several years younger and wants to make sure she is taken care of should anything happen. Well, you are not alone; this, like many others, was the case with the McKinneys.

After listening to the McKinneys’ concerns, I could allready relate. I had seen many of these cases before and I felt their pain. We turned to the SIPS Retirement Planning System to make a brief account of the money they had been able to save. We also set about calculating their general monthly expenses, helping us get to know each other in the process. Putting these combined fields into the SIPs tab itself, using conservative estimates, we quickly found the couple was going to hit their fiscal cliff within eight years. The McKinneys were in a complete state of shock.
How was it they had worked so long and so hard and still hadn’t saved enough? Not to mention, that if Mr. McKinney himself were to unexpectedly pass away, his wife would be left financially devastated. Many tears were shed. It was not surprisingly an emotional moment for everyone; however, I had good reason to hope.

Using the system, we slowly built multiple thought out scenarios to stretch their retirement money further. We engineered a few scenario that optimized their social security benefits. We maximized their savings, finally hitting their target income, while also pushing back their fiscal cliff forty years into the future!! Essentially we created a personal pension out of their assets and even developed survivorship benefits. After an hour of hard work together, we were all overjoyed with our new plan!!

Had I not had the SIPS Retirement Planning System to show the McKinneys’ exactly what their financial future held, they would have entered their Golden Years blind. The eight years would have gone by all too quickly, along with their savings.
Fortunately, I had tools available to effectively communicate with the couple and was able to use the SIPS Retirement Planning System to transition the clients from a state of concern to a state of confidence.