Personal Wealth Building

Financial Plan Exercise using Financial Planning Software
INSTRUCTIONS
Attached please find the case study of James Wilson and Harold Newton. James and Harold are a same-sex couple and that have been together for seven years; they both live in the house that Harold owns.
Harold has inherited money in a generation-skipping trust from his mother; the trust allows for distributions for health, education, maintenance, or support. Most years, Harold has not taken withdrawals from this account. The trust reverts to Harold’s brother at his death if he has no children. Harold has a will that leaves everything to his parents; Harold has a power-of-attorney and health care power-of-attorney that names his father as attorney-in-fact. Harold runs a successful consulting practice out of his home. Harold states that he is fairly aggressive, and his investment account is almost entirely (90%) equity investments.
James has no estate documents. James contributes $3,000/year to his 401(k), just enough to obtain the maximum matching contribution offered by his employer. In contrast, Harold contributes $10,000 / year to his SAR SEP IRA
James and Harold live a fairly extravagant lifestyle of dining out and vacations, funded primarily from Harold’s income and assets. However, James still provides the primary support for his basic living needs.
Neither James nor Harold has any life or disability insurance. James is the beneficiary of Harold’s SAR SEP IRA.
James’ sister is the beneficiary of his 401(k)
The primary residence mortgage is a 5/1 ARM 30-year loan and was has taken out exactly 2 years ago. Harold has made 24 payments at a rate of 7.25%.
James is currently paying a 16.99% annual interest rate on his credit card debt.

GOALS

1. Save for retirement
2. Provide for each other in the event of death.

NEXT
Using the information attached about James and Harold create a financial plan using MoneyGuide Pro (see below and attached for directions.).

QUESTIONS
Based on your MondeyGuide Pro financial plan for James and Harold:

1. Summarize the MoneyGuide Pro recommendation
2. Do you agree with the recommendations?
3. Would you suggest they lower their risk tolerance?
4. How would you reallocate Harold investments? (currently they are 90% equity)
5. How would you implement the recommendations? (prioritization, time, money)
6. In your opinion, how often should the financial plan of Harold and James be monitored?