The Challenge

A widow in her fifties was faced with the recent passing of her husband. He had been the primary bread winner while she was self-employed part time. With two children in college and one still in high school, concerns were having enough assets to continue to support herself, maintain their home and contribute to the youngest child’s college education. She needed guidance on her cash flow (will she have enough to pay the bills) investments and how to protect the proceeds from the life insurance policy, his retirement accounts and a partnership payout from his employer. In addition to providing for current needs, she was concerned about being able to retire comfortably. It was important to her to understand her options for consolidating his retirement assets and collecting social security.

The Approach

To help address her concerns, Matson Financial Advisors, Inc., would gather financial data to prepare a formal, written financial plan that would analyze the current situation and how to solve for retirement and education savings goals. We would help assess all sources of income, all available assets, spending needs today and in retirement as well as potential college costs based on private and public universities. The plan would provide her a number of difference scenarios to review the impact of different levels of college spending, the timing and ability of her retirement, and options for the timing of social security benefits.