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Juggling Multiple Goals

It can be hard to know what to do first when all your goals are important.

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Through proper planning, we can help you juggle multiple goals and balance your objectives. Here is one story based on an actual client (names and personal details have been changed):

Jess and Chris had been married for 5 years and had a new baby boy.  When they came to us they just purchased their first home, Chris had recently started a new commission-based business, and Jess was employed as a marketing manager.  They had been working with a local financial advisor at Raymond James, but he never called them unless he was trying to sell them something.

How should we tackle our student loan and credit card debt? We don’t know how much we need to save for retirement?  What is the best way to save for college education for our son? Can we afford to remodel our kitchen?  

We advised them to start with a financial plan.  The first order of business was to set up an emergency fund account.  Like many young couples, they had very little in cash and used their credit cards when they had emergencies. In the plan, we evaluated their spending and developed a strategy for them to add to savings for their emergency fund and home improvements. Next, we established goals to pay off their debts, targeting those with the highest interest rates first. For retirement, we recommended that Jess contribute to her 401k at work, to obtain the employer match and Chris established a SEP- IRA which was flexible and easy to use given his variable income.  We recommended a 529 plan for their son’s college education and set monthly savings targets for them.  Jess and Chris decided to have us open and manage the various accounts that they needed. Thanks to their hard work and our oversight they have eliminated their credit card debt and moved the needle on all their financial goals. We have met with them regularly to review how they are doing relative to their goals and adapt the plan as needed.

They key to financial success later in life is a solid foundation of planning and making the right decisions with your money now. We love to help young professionals get off on the right foot financially, so they can focus on their careers. Whether it’s paying off student loans, saving for a house, planning for child’s education or investing for the future we can help make sure you are on the right track. Your future self will thank you.

We are uniquely positioned to help young professionals and families because we offer only the services they really need, so they aren’t paying for something they don’t want or can’t use. Our investment programs have low minimums for asset management which allows us to work with younger clients who are still growing their accounts and below the minimums required by larger firms. If you don’t need portfolio management but would just like someone to assess your current financial situation, develop a plan to reach a specific goal or analyze your financial life we can accomplish this with financial planning. There is no long-term commitment with financial planning and we can tailor it to you, so you get precisely what you are looking for.

Saving for Retirement

Even though retirement may be a long way off for you, retirement savings today will have a huge impact when you make the choice to stop working. The evidence shows that the most important thing for young professionals when it comes to retirement is to start investing early. While there are general rules of thumb for the amount you should be saving, your specific savings goals should be based around when you plan to retire and how much you plan to spend in retirement.

Have you left a job where you had a 401(k), 403(b) or other retirement plan? Metis can help you analyze alternatives and if appropriate help you with an IRA rollover and provide professional management from our investment management team. We have a proprietary model composed of low cost ETFs that can often enhance your diversification. You can also count on our investment team keeping a close eye on the markets to provide active management when we feel an asset class should be over or under weighted.

Do you have a 401(k) with your current employer? We would be happy to look through your current investment options and make sure you are invested in the assets that are right for you. If you are currently maxing out your 401(k) contributions, we can advise you on establishing a Roth IRA or Traditional IRA.

Debt

If your student loans or credit card debt keeps you up at night, we can work with you to develop a plan of attack. We take a look at all your debts help you prioritize them, make refinancing decisions and develop a repayment plan. This often involves analyzing your budget to make sure you are on the right path to achieving your goal of getting out of debt. People with large amounts of debt often feel that they will never get out, but there are ways to deal with debt and we are here to help.

Large Purchase Decisions

Should you purchase a car or lease one? Does it make sense to rent or buy a house? Want to take an exotic vacation or buy a boat? These are just a few examples of potential large purchases our young clients are asking about. We can help make binary decisions like lease or buy or if you already know what you want to do we can develop a plan that allows you to achieve that specific goal.

Education Planning

Young parents often don’t know where to start when it comes to planning for their child’s college. Our planners can help you estimate what the costs of college will be in the future and guide you towards a plan to meet those future needs.

Children often get help with education funding from multiple family members and gifting to family is often an integral part in estate planning for older clients. Our planners can help you look at all available options and we are often able to achieve multiple goals (such as gifting and estate planning) at once.

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We are a fee-only firm unwavering in our promise to deliver a long-term financial strategy that will help guide your financial decisions and answer your financial questions. We want you to know where you stand and have a plan to get where you want to be.