Finance

Outliving their prosperity

Walk into a roomful of people born between 1946 and 1964 – the baby boomers – and the fear can be almost palpable. Yes, they grew up and built their careers in an age of relative prosperity. Yes, many of them have had it all: career, house, car, college-educated kids, nice vacations. But they also have the jitters from finally beginning to contemplate a future that they forgot to fret about until now. They expect to continue living far longer than their parents and grandparents. But most of them long ago scrapped the save-and-sacrifice mentality that characterized earlier generations. Now they’ve got – yikes! – too little money put aside. And so, a terrifying thought haunts them: “what if I outlive my money?”

Eve L. Kaplan hears about this fear all the time. Her company, Kaplan Financial Advisors, works largely with boomers who boomed quite nicely – typically with incomes of $150,000 or more and investment assets of at least $1 million. (remember when a million bucks sounded like real money?) She also works with single women – widowed, divorced, or never married – who feel a bit intimidated by financial jargon or feel pressured by male financial types.

To all these folks, Kaplan brings years of sophisticated financial experience. She did investment research for Standard & Poor’s in Singapore and was an equities analyst in Tokyo. In the Netherlands, Kaplan managed nearly $1 billion in funds for a Dutch investment firm.

But she found it all too impersonal. “I enjoy working closely with individuals and that was part of what drove me to get my Certified Financial planner® designation and open my own business,” Kaplan said.

She adds, “In my line of work, the kind of relationship I have with ongoing clients is close.” Kaplan confers with them regularly, noting, “It’s not just investment management. It’s financial planning,
whatever direction that goes in.” This can include college funding for children or grandchildren, creating portfolios that are rebalanced regularly, having insurance and estate documents reviewed and updating financial plans to deal with ongoing changes specific to each client.

Kaplan may be doing a bit of financial psychotherapy with her nervous clients, too. “I’ve seen – even in my own family – how money decisions can affect family relations, sometimes adversely,” she says. “I grew up in a very stressful family environment. My parents ultimately got divorced, in part due to financial issues. I feel that these are areas where someone like me can help individuals or couples resolve issues before they become insurmountable.”

For more information, please visit: www.kaplanfinancialadvisors.com

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