For highly successful individuals who require a trusted partner to help them create a sound wealth management and investment strategy, Cornerstone provides a fee-only, team-based approach that helps ensure you stay on track with your long-term goals.
Our CFP® professionals provide experienced and thoughtful
financial services tailored to meet each client’s specific goals. All of our advisors are CFP® professionals, providing clients with exceptional service, utilizing strategic partners throughout the region to deliver a comprehensive, 360-degree approach to address their wealth management needs.
Jack had just sold his interest in a medical practice and was preparing to retire. His wife, Linda, an administrator at a local non-profit organization, was six years younger than Jack and wanted to work for two more years. They recently became grandparents. They were uncertain about what lay ahead in retirement, and wanted to make sure they could provide for themselves through their lifetimes, while leaving a legacy for their children and grandchildren.
We did a detailed retirement analysis that showed them how much they could afford to spend while providing assets to leave to their children. We showed them how to avoid taxes by contributing IRA assets to a favorite charity. We helped Jack make the decision to delay taking Social Security until age 70 to provide a larger lifetime benefit, while helping him invest the proceeds of his practice’s sale in a combination of tax-free municipal bond and stock mutual funds. We rolled over his profit-sharing plan into an IRA, and also set up a plan to convert some of the IRA each year into a tax-free Roth IRA. We assisted their attorney in setting up an estate plan to minimize estate taxes. We also helped them set up a 529 college savings plan for their new grandson. And, to help fulfill a lifelong dream, we advised them on the best combination of down payment and mortgage to buy a second home on the Yellowstone River in Montana to satisfy their passions for fly fishing and horseback riding.
Jack and Linda consult with us three to four times a year on various financial matters as they arise. We have even been able to provide basic financial planning for one of their children. As Cornerstone clients, Jack and Linda know they have trusted advisors to help them and their family through the generations.
We created a full financial plan for them that showed they were in decent shape for retirement. With a few minor tweaks to their portfolio and a smart Social Security claiming strategy they were in much better shape. We identified a strategy to save them over $1,300per year in taxes when paying for their regular medical costs. We recommended changes to their insurance policies that saved them over $1,400 per year in premiums. We implemented changes to their retirement savings strategy to save $2,000 per year in taxes and we maximized the efficiency in their portfolio by being smart about how we invested in different types of retirement accounts. We reduced the cost of their investment portfolio by over 50% by using low-cost mutual funds and getting them out of a very expensive annuity.
