Widow Case Study

Our client, Linda, was in her late fifties, and still dealing emotionally with the unexpected passing of her spouse.  He had been the primary bread winner and she had spent many years raising their children.  One of their two children had graduated from college, and already independent.  The other was a senior in high school.  Her spouse had left a life insurance benefit for the family, as well as two retirement accounts.  Linda worried that she wouldn’t have enough money to continue to support herself or fund her son’s upcoming college education.  She also wondered if she could afford to stay in the family home, pay the mortgage, taxes, how to best use the life insurance proceeds and to invest the inherited retirement accounts. All of this overwhelmed her.

We met with Linda, helped her prioritize all her concerns and created a customized investment plan for her.

1. We learned about Linda’s spending needs today and itemized the mortgage/taxes/monthly expenses to run her home.  We discussed “what if” scenarios to uncover and account for any possible surprises. 
2. We made educated projections about 4+ years of college costs and added them to her plan.
3. In all aspects of the value and use of the insurance policy and her spouse’s 2 retirement accounts, we guided Linda through investing the assets to serve her needs now, and for the future. 
4. Due to the information we collected, analysis performed, and plan created, we were even able to dream a little about Linda’s future with her and put plans in place with regards to her retirement and social security planning.

It’s very difficult to lose a spouse, especially much earlier than one could expect.  We, at Oakwood Wealth Partners, relish the opportunity to help people who can benefit greatly from our coaching and expertise.

This case study is for illustrative and educational purposes only.