A business owner asks SYM,
“How do I provide for my own retirement?”

“When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”   George Washington Carver

Robert, a SYM client of many years, worked as a self-employed consultant in the manufacturing industry. Success, however, brought unexpected challenges.

Robert had been effective and well-respected in his prior, corporate job and was responsible with his income, taking care of priorities first like the children’s education and helping family members. He knew a career change meant he was risking his retirement by moving to independent consulting and would need to bear the brunt of retirement savings himself. He also knew that making $6000 annual contributions to an IRA wasn’t going to get him to a comfortable retirement, but he wasn’t sure what would.

Robert’s problem, however, wasn’t a lack of income to direct to retirement – it was a success problem. He succeeded in leaving his corporate job early; he succeeded in establishing a profitable business. The sticking point was that Robert was so successful in his new endeavor, he was generating a lot of income but paying tax on that income at a very steep rate.

In response, Robert’s SYM advisor helped him to set up a defined benefit plan, which allowed him to make significant retirement plan contributions over and above what he would have been able to do using a 401(k) plan. This plan helped to defer a good part of his taxable income, postponed until after retirement. All in all, SYM helped Robert to defer taxes on more than $1 million income over a period of several years.

Good financial planning helps people live how they want to live. Robert did the work to be successful in his business, and SYM captured the benefits of that success for the longer term. Robert knew he had a service that people were willing to pay for. His priorities were to provide for his spouse, children and grandchildren and create something for their future. SYM helped him to do just that.