Life was great for Brent and Dannie. They each had steady incomes, a great family, long-term friends and were working hard in their professions. Brent ran his own carpet cleaning business and took great pride and immaculate care when building, upgrading and improving their home in Northfield Center. Dannie was settled in her long-term career at AllState Insurance. Everything was exactly as the high school sweethearts wanted it to be.
Things were going so well they started to explore the idea of fulfilling a lifelong dream of owning a second home in Florida. They started seriously talking about this next journey in life. They knew they wanted to keep their home in Northern Ohio but started to explore locations and home prices in Florida. Brent was looking in to a new business opportunity in Florida, but he didn’t know if that business venture would grow, or if they would be on track for Dannie to retire in a few years at the age of 60 like they hoped. What if something happened to either of them? There were a lot of questions to address and work through financially.
Months before Brent’s 57th birthday Brent called his long-time friend, Vince Westerman, CEO of the financial advisory firm, The Westerman Group, LLC, to set up a meeting. He wanted to explore planning with someone he trusted. He and Dannie needed to discuss their changing situation and they needed some solid, holistic financial advice. “Can we do this?” Brent asked Vince.
Vince did what he does with all his potential clients. He listened and asked them the tough questions. They talked through all the potential life events and the impact of the financial consequences of death, disability, career change, retirement and care planning. They engaged Vince’s services at the end of the meeting. Being the type of person that measured twice and cuts once, Brent knew having a solid plan would give he and Dannie clarity and peace of mind on the new journey that lay ahead.
They all worked together and started planning for the Florida home purchase, Brent’s second career and Dannie’s retirement in mind. They took a holistic approach with their long-term life goals in mind.
Their planning was broken in to two phases. The first phase included research and analysis on the next five to seven years of transition as Brent moved from full-time to part-time work and Dannie retired. The analysis of their transitioning income during this time was critical. If not conducted properly, they ran the risk of not having enough income to maintain their desired lifestyle during retirement. The second phase involved social security and retirement income analysis which meticulously detailed how to best position their current assets during their full-time retirements.
Another critical part of the holistic plan included an income replacement analysis that determined both Brent and Dannie were underinsured. Neither of their current policies would serve to maintain the lifestyle of the surviving spouse should the unthinkable happen to either of them.
They framed their new holistic financial plan with multiple scenarios around lifestyle and the Florida home purchase. With the mortgages figured out, life insurance policies in place, and investments realigned, all was now in harmony with their life goals.
After a year of traveling back and forth from Cleveland to Florida, Brent’s labor of love turned into the home they both dreamed of. All the hard work paid off. They started to spend time in Florida and invited friends to visit. Life was grand until the unthinkable happened. While hosting long-term friends from home over Memorial Day weekend, Brent was killed in a boating accident only a few months after their Florida home was renovated. Dannie was devastated.
The emotional and financial shock this kind of event can have on someone is notable. The financial issues she immediately confronted went beyond losing an income. In the weeks following Brent’s death, Dannie was faced with making dozens of immediate financial decisions, and money was the last thing she wanted to think about.
Even though she had a solid financial plan in place and Vince to serve as her trusted advisor throughout the process, she still had to face the necessary conversations with the social security administration, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, the bank, the mortgage company, lawyers, accountants, and even the department of motor vehicles. Fortunately, because of many conversations had together before the tragedy, Vince understood her long-term goals, plans and the big picture based on the time spent working with Brent and Dannie and creating a plan. Having him there to lead countless conference calls made what seemed like an impossible situation easier.
“Vince and the good people at The Westerman Group were there for me. They are still there for me. They supported me immediately when I was overwhelmed with grief and was struggling to put all the pieces together. I can’t imagine how much harder it would have been if I was dealing with more unknown financial factors like not knowing if I would be able maintain my lifestyle, or if I could keep our Florida home,” she said.
Dannie now tells every woman she knows to get their financial life organized. She tells them to draw up a list of household accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement plans, insurance policies, loans, credit cards, tax returns, computer user names and passwords. She tells them to talk to a financial advisory firm like The Westerman Group.
Of course, life wasn’t exactly as it was before. Living through the loss of a spouse isn’t anything anyone wants to imagine. Vince and his colleagues at The Westerman Group went from working with Dannie and Brent as a couple to working with Dannie as a widow and she was still able to maintain the same plan they had put in place. By being steadfast and invested in her future, she is now able to live the life both she and Brent wanted for each other.
“I have tried to express to friends and family that it’s never too early to start planning for retirement. As we know the dreams and plans of retirement can change in an instant. I’ve explained that simply rolling over money someone may have in their 401k is a great way to get this process started without penalty or digging into their pocket. As Brent and my retirement plans changed over the course of years TWG worked with us to achieve our goals. As my life changed in ways I never expected, the TWG team assisted in every step as I moved into the next juncture of my life. I am truly grateful to have their support and expertise to guide me through this journey,” said Dannie
