Rethinking their retirement journey – (Focusing on what matters most)

Disclosure: The below client experience story is considered an “Endorsement” by the SEC and is intended to provide a narrated example of the services and solutions provided by Goodwin Investment Advisory to its clients. The endorsement is provided by an actual client of Goodwin Investment Advisory. The storylines illustrate real-life scenarios and challenges that our clients face and how we can serve as your investment and planning guide. Our firm does not compensate our clients for endorsements, nor do we believe there are any reportable conflicts of interest between the client and the firm with this endorsement.

One of our client families had an unexpected health event that made them rethink their retirement journey. Here is Judy & Bill’s story. (Note: Names have been changed for confidentiality)

In early 2018 it was found that Judy’s breast cancer had metastasized, and was medically speaking incurable. Statistics showed that only 1 in 5 patients survive more than 5 years.

Bill was 53 at the time, and earning very well in his high-tech leadership job – but Judy & Bill realized that no amount of money in investment accounts could compensate for lost time, and therefore they decided to change gears to maximize whatever time they had left.

Bill spent a lot of time calculating whether he could retire, but realized that he wanted an external input – someone with financial experience and personal insight – to help him reach a sound decision. He found Goodwin Investment Advisory and their personal stories resonated with him. Team GIA reviewed Bill & Judy’s situation and agreed that their plan was sound.
They decided to build a house in Woodstock GA, being a location with lower cost-of-living, and closer to grandkids. At age 55 Bill retired from his job, and they moved into their new home – all the while focused on spending time with one another, and time with children, grandchildren, family and friends. This included traveling to family in other countries, and traveling for fun to various global destinations.

After 18 months of being full-time husband/caregiver and grandpa (including a treehouse project!), Bill recognized that some extra income could be beneficial to stretch their savings and retirement accounts. So he started a few part-time jobs using his skills from his high-tech career – doing about 10 hours of work per week, while continuing to focus primarily on his roles of caregiver to Judy and grandpa to 10 (ten!) grandkids.

During all of this, the team at GIA were an incredible support to Judy and Bill, and the team became trusted friends and continued to advise and guide them along the journey.

It is now more than 5 years since the metastatic breast cancer diagnosis, and despite some further spreading, Judy is still able to have quality time with her loved ones – and they have made precious memories with the grandkids! So the story is still unfolding, and Bill & Judy are keeping things flexible – both on the income side (maybe work more hours per week?) and the expense side (maybe trim back the international travels?)

Bottom line? Financially speaking it was a crazy decision to retire at the peak of his income earning potential, but Bill & Judy have NO regrets! With the financial expertise of Team GIA they will carefully manage their income and expenses, even if that means living more modestly later in retirement, because they know that these “extra” years with one another and with their family and grandkids are precious and priceless.