Client Stories

What This Work Actually Looks Like

Most retirement websites show you a stock photo of a couple on a sailboat. That has never helped anybody decide anything.

So here is the actual work instead. A Nevada teacher about to make a permanent pension election on instinct. A school employee for whom one word on an enrollment form was worth $78,000. A nurse with a million dollars saved and one unanswered question that mattered more than all of it. A 39-year-old single mother who believed she had nothing to plan with, and was wrong.

Some of these end in a strategy. Some end in homework. One ends with me telling a client to leave an account exactly where it was. That’s the honest range of what this job is.

Nevada Educator

He's 61. His Wife Is 50. Their Youngest Is 11.

Nevada teachers don't pay into Social Security and don't collect from it. His pension was the plan, not part of it — and he was about to choose the bigger check without pricing what it would cost his wife.

Nevada EducatorNVPERS
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School District Employee

The $78,000 Word

Same $250. Same intention. One box on an enrollment form separated $144,385 from $65,833 — about $481 a month, for life.

School Employee403(b)
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Federal Employee

The Question Nobody Had Asked

By every reasonable measure she'd done everything right. Then I asked whether her husband's pension was straight life or joint-and-survivor. Nobody had ever asked.

Federal EmployeeFERS
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Georgia Educator

She Thought She Couldn't Afford to Plan

She opened with “I don't have anything to plan with.” Her pension projects to $62,700 a year for life. We stabilized the debt before funding anything else.

Georgia EducatorTRS
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Florida School Employee

She'd Be 82 the Year She Made the Last Payment

Her mortgage would eat 43% of her retirement income into her eighties. Nobody had put those two facts on the same page.

Florida School EmployeeFRS
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Public Employee

He Asked When to Retire. That Wasn't the Question.

Waiting a year was worth about $600 a month. What happens to a wife with $1,000 a month in disability income and serious medical needs was worth vastly more.

Public EmployeeSurvivor Income
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Early-Career Educator

She's 34 and She Already Has a Tax Problem

She projects to $129,670 a year at 67 — and about $120,000 of it is taxable. At 34 she's in one of the lowest brackets she'll ever occupy.

Early-Career EducatorTax Planning
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Federal Employee

She Wasn't Just Retiring. She Was Leaving the Country.

A portfolio that swings 20% is uncomfortable at home. Swinging 20% while the exchange rate moves against you is a bad year with no job to go back to.

Federal EmployeeTSP
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Client names have been changed and identifying details omitted or altered to protect privacy. Figures reflect projections prepared at the time of each engagement and are specific to that individual’s circumstances. They are not guarantees and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any product. This content is for general educational purposes only and is not financial, tax, legal, or investment advice. Stream Income Group is an insurance and financial services firm. Any guarantees referenced are backed solely by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Please consult qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your individual situation.

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