Case Story – Corporate Executives

FELICITY AND MICHAEL

Felicity is a corporate executive, she and her husband both have PhDs with significant life and financial complexities. Along with financially supporting one child in college, and another starting their career in the big city, they have a blended family with children from prior marriages to take care of. On top of meeting her family’s needs, Felicity works in Boston and San Francisco, owning multiple properties with a complex, overscheduled daily itinerary. Both Michael and Felicity qualify as high-income earners and have complex benefits and incentives with fast-moving pieces and tax implications that have become a hassle to keep straight.

A SCHOOL PRESENTATION AND A SMART QUESTION

Michael’s career is established in education, having started a private school and staying on as principal, he regularly attends career-day presentations on campus. After one such event, Michael was impressed by a parent’s seemingly smooth running life, despite their career and responsibilities being close to, if not the same, as his and his wife’s. He asked this parent, “You travel the world, you seem to have all the time and money you need. How do you do it?” The parent smiled and replied, “I have a really strong financial planning team.” It was then that Michael was introduced to Retirement Solutions Inc.

THE VALUE OF EDUCATION

During the first consultation, it was apparent that Michael and Felicity needed financial assistance, especially looking at the mounting needs of their family. Our team at Retirement Solutions Inc. identified many spinning plates in the air—including helping their oldest with their career in the big city, funding college for another child, private school for their youngest, Michael going back to school for an additional Ph.D., and updating their estate plan to include their youngest. With Felicity hopping from coast to coast for work, and Michael’s career on top of additional education, the couple started to fall behind and under their targeted goals.

STOCK OPTIONS, THE SEC, AND THEIR CPA

Meanwhile, Felicity’s company has been doing well. The value that’s been building up in her employee stock option plan has opened up several beneficial avenues that she wants to explore. One such branch is to sell some of her company stock to help their family reach their monetary and lifestyle goals. However, selling company stock as an executive is not a simple task. Felicity needs help designing a complex written divestment plan called a 10b5-1, which would allow her to trade stock as a company insider. Along with this plan, she would need in-depth coordination with her CPA, which she and Michael have not had time to set up between their careers, much less take the time to sit down for complex consultations.

BACKING UP THE FAMILY BACK OFFICE

After getting in contact with Retirement Solutions Inc, it became apparent that Felicity and Michael needed a strong support team, starting with their CPA and attorney. Up to this point, the pair were unenthusiastic about their current CPA and Attorney’s performance, mainly due to not knowing what or how things should be done. As a first step, we introduced them to a new CPA and estate planning attorney that was better suited for their needs. While they assembled their team and got settled in, we continued to ensure all of their goals were properly funded and up to date.

HOW IT STARTED… HOW IT’S GOING

With adequate support, Felicity and Michael were able to continue with their busy lives, but with the added peace of mind that their financials were being taken care of. To this day, we continue to work hard behind the scenes with their peace of mind as our number one goal.