Life Changing Events
David and Susan
a married couple in their late 30’s, both earn high incomes and recently made the decision to adopt twins
David and Susan are in a strong financial position, but the recent decision to adopt has led them to the decision to have a comprehensive plan done. Both David and Susan earn high incomes, and David works as a consultant while Susan splits time between research at a medical university and practicing at the university clinic.
David’s position requires a good deal of travel, and although he has no desire to retire early, he would like to find a less stressful job in his early 50s. Both David and Susan plan to continue working full time once the adoption is complete, and they may hire a nanny or consider daycare for the children. They have fundamental goals in planning: to adequately fund retirement and to fund education for the children. They want to ensure they are making optimal financial decisions and they would like to have the framework of a plan within which to make those decisions.
Financial Plan Outcome
Given their high savings rate and low spending rate compared to their income, David and Susan are in a strong position. Nevertheless, their position can be strengthened by increasing their stock allocation slightly and by purchasing additional term life insurance to provide income to the surviving spouse in the event of premature death. We also recommend funding 529 plans to cover the educational goals, and we look closely at their various insurance coverages and methods they might use to minimize their tax liabilities.
Note that David recently became eligible for a deferred compensation plan that’s reserved for firm partners. However, the details of the plan are being finalized, and thus we have not included it here. Given its likely materiality, we would update the plan to include the deferred compensation once details are finalized.
Plan Cost
David and Susan’s plan cost is $1900. In addition, they have requested portfolio design and the fee for that is 0.25% of the portfolio value, or $1125 for a $450,000 portfolio. Should they decide they want to work with Minerva on a retainer basis, the portfolio design fee will be applied to the first quarter’s retainer fee.
How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?
