When Sarah and David first came to Mission Hills Financial, they weren’t in crisis—but they were feeling overwhelmed.
They were both professionals in their early 60s, nearing retirement, and had spent the last few decades building a life they were proud of. Between them, they had a rental property, retirement accounts, a small business Sarah had grown from the ground up, and a family trust they hadn’t looked at in nearly ten years.
They didn’t know exactly what they needed, but they did know one thing: their financial life felt scattered. Their taxes were handled by one person, investments by another, the estate plan was drawn up years ago by a family attorney, and the bookkeeping for Sarah’s business was outsourced to a part-time freelancer. Important things were getting missed. No one was looking at the big picture.
So they came to Mission Hills Financial for help tying it all together.
We started with a retirement income plan, projecting what their expenses would look like post-retirement, what income sources they could rely on, and whether their investments were structured to support the lifestyle they wanted. We discovered they were taking more investment risk than they needed—and missing opportunities for consistent income.
We also began a Roth conversion strategy spread out over multiple years, leveraging their charitable donations to help offset the taxable income.
On the business side, Sarah’s company was still growing, but she didn’t want to be tied to it forever. We stepped in with business tax planning and bookkeeping services, allowing her to spend more time leading the company—and less time tracking receipts and reconciling accounts. We also helped her model out a potential sale in a few years and began putting the right retirement plan in place for her and her employees.
At the same time, we reviewed their estate plan. Their trust was outdated, no longer reflected their wishes, and didn’t account for some significant new assets. We worked with our in-house estate planning team to update the revocable trust and wills, ensuring everything would pass smoothly and tax-efficiently to their children and charitable causes.
Speaking of charity, they’d always been supporters of a few local nonprofits. We introduced them to charitable planning tools that would allow them to give in more strategic ways—reducing taxes while increasing the long-term impact of their giving.
One of the last pieces to fall into place was a vacation home they were thinking about selling. Through our in-house real estate brokerage services, we helped them list, market, and close the property sale—all with the tax and investment implications already built into the broader plan.
The best part? All of these services were included in their 1% asset management fee. At Mission Hills, we call this the 1% Solution—a full-service wealth management approach that simplifies every part of your financial life, from taxes to trusts to retirement income, under one roof and one coordinated plan.
Today, Sarah and David feel like they’ve finally caught their breath. Instead of juggling five different professionals with five different approaches, they now have one team coordinating every aspect of their financial life.
They’re not just preparing for retirement—they’re planning for what comes next with clarity, confidence, and a whole lot less stress.