A portfolio manager asked me to work with one of his clients. He shared that Anne was struggling as she knew she had to learn about her family’s finances but it seemed overwhelming to her. We had a brief conversation on the phone, and agreed to meet in person.
Anne had asked me to be fully transparent with their portfolio manager - something I was very happy to do. I explained to her that if the professionals in their lives had more information about their thoughts, issues, and perspectives, the better they would be able to serve them.
Steve and his wife are in good health and have built a successful consulting company. He has two adult daughters from his first marriage, two adult sons with his second wife, grandchildren, siblings, nieces and nephews. There are some familial challenges, health challenges, and multi-generational challenges that Steve wanted to review before he redid his estate plan.
Emily was brought in by an asset manager to consult her client, Barbara, on bequest concerns. Barbara was eager to name 10-12 organizations in her trust to be paid out upon her death. She had a keen interest in five areas.
Diane and Jan had an estate plan that was created 8 years ago. In that time, they acquired more assets, adopted two dogs, supported different causes, and had altered relationships with some family members and friends. Together with Emily, they discussed these different elements of their lives and how these changes affected their feelings and intentions. The ensuing personal conversation covered a lot of ground by looking at the alignments and disconnects with their head and heart. Questions of taking care of the surviving spouse, equitable giving to family members, next generation funding, asset distribution, philanthropic bequests, honoring friendships, and a host of other issues and concerns were discussed.
Ilsa and her partner, Pat, have been together for over two decades and are a loving couple who are compatible in many ways. They both have successful careers and because of their age difference, Ilsa had some concerns about how each would be affected by the other’s death in regards to their assets. They had very different perspectives when it came to their assets, their respective families’ financial pictures, and their end-of-life planning. Ilsa knew she had to create a plan, but shied away from having a conversation with Pat about it because of their differences.
Photos by Sonya Yruel
