Ellen is 76 years old and recently lost her husband to cancer. When he passed away she suddenly discovered that she’d not only inherited their financial assets, but the responsibility that went with them.
Things that were always handled by her husband now had to be managed by Ellen and she has been through a baptism of fire of sorts getting her mind around concepts she had very little experience with in the past. Instinctively she knew there were things that she did not know (that she should know) and this made her anxious.
She had also inherited her husband’s financial advice firm and she was frustrated with them. They changed her adviser without notifying her, their fees were becoming increasingly larger for a situation she felt was fairly straight forward and she had difficulty getting in touch with them when she needed to. She felt she was not being listened to and things were not being explained to her clearly.
She needed someone to help her through this period that would take the time and care required to make her feel more comfortable about her financial position.
She came in to see us with her daughter and outlined her situation as a self funded retiree who received part age pension entitlements. She had a Self Managed Super Fund with investments in direct shares and a range of managed funds. We went through her situation and were able to explain her financial situation and her options in a way that she understood.
Once we agreed on the approach going forward we were able to restructure her finances so that they were simple and easy to manage. Whilst one benefit of our advice was lowering the costs she was incurring, the more significant benefits were that she now felt comfortable with her situation, she understood what was going on and what needed to be done and she had the support she needed to make the right decisions for her.
The result was having far greater confidence in her financial future and not having to worry.