The following description is the financial situation that I choose. Joseph and Mary are 60 years old. They have $200,000 saved in an IRA, and own a house worth $200,000. Mary is retired, and would like Joseph to retire as well, but he would prefer to work part time at something that will allow them to travel whenever they please. Their lifestyle is such that they required $60,000 per year to live comfortably. They don't feel that they need a will or an estate plan because they have no children.
I chose to financially advise choice number four, Joseph and Mary. In my opinion, this situation is easier to advise because there are only two people involved. They have no kids that they have to take care of and can take a chance with their money without worrying about any kids. I’m not saying that having kids to worry about is a bad thing but when it comes to money, you can take more of a chance when investing.
Joseph and Mary are both 60 years old. They have probably worked all or most of their life and from the looks of it have a relatively good retirement savings. The IRA that Joseph and Mary have saved has $200,000 in it. This seems like a lot of money now but in the long run they might find out that it will not be enough, depending on how “enjoyable” they want to spend their retirement. Keep in mind though, that Joseph and Mary do not have children so all of this money that is saved in an IRA will be for them. An advantage to not having children and retiring, as stated above, is that Joseph and Mary might feel more comfortable taking higher risks if and when they invest some of their retirement savings. I would recommend that they do invest in mutual funds because of their situation.
Their house that they own is worth $200,000. Depending on where they live this could be a very elaborate and big house. If this is the case they I would recommend