Bill and Kelly were invited to an Encore University event by a coworker, who was a longtime client of Collier. Since our firm has worked with aerospace and defense families since 1987, many of the people they met were from companies they worked with in the past and they even recognized previous coworkers that had retired. Kelly had worked for Lockheed Martin for 30 years and the grueling hours and the tough deadlines, common in the aerospace and defense industries, were taking their toll. She had great benefits, a large 401k with company stock, a pension and some extended healthcare benefits for when she retired.

Even though they were comfortable managing their finances on their own in the past, they were not confident about how to make their money last nor how to tie in programs like Medicare and Social Security. They also knew a time would come when neither would be willing or able to manage their finances anymore. They decided it was important to start a relationship with a firm that specialized in their needs, while they still had the time and capacity to be involved in the process. Knowing Collier’s history and experience working with families from the aerospace and defense industries, they felt confident in the firm’s expertise in their benefits programs.

After completing the Encore Process, they were able to develop strategies that helped them save on long term taxes with her company stock, chose the right pension options for their family, create a lifetime sustainable income plan. We were also able to help them pair their extended healthcare benefits with the right Medicare programs. All this allowed them to retire from the grueling jobs they no longer enjoyed and pursue their other passions in life that they never had time for before, like volunteering and traveling with new friends that they connected with through our Encore University events.