A long-term client of FFA had a small pension account with us, but her husband had passed away and she was now expecting a significant inheritance from his estate.

This was her second marriage and she was having a difficult time working with her stepdaughters, who are executors.

Her main objective was to ensure that her inheritance was set up in a way that would help provide for her retirement whilst also being able to help her children and grandchildren where possible.

She was stressed about the whole process, as she didn’t understand how this would work and how any inheritance received would impact the rest of her financial situation.

As an aside, they also had an SMSF which she didn’t really understand and had been left to deal with. She wanted some guidance around this and wanted to know if there were simpler ways to do things.

Overall, she felt alone and needed help from an expert, both to help manage her current situation and for the longer term.

I provided her with a step-by-step process of what needed to happen initially and where she stood according to her late husband’s wishes in his Will.

I then asked what she was after in terms of setting up her financial future and she explained she didn’t want anything complicated and wanted someone to look after this side of things for her so that she didn’t need to worry about it.

I explained what our role could be and how we could help in managing her financial affairs. I also explained our investment process and some of the simpler alternatives available to her for the management of superannuation, instead of an SMSF.

We then created a financial plan to suit her needs.

From the outset, she needed someone to take charge of her situation whilst she was dealing with the grief of losing her husband. We were able to provide that for her.

Being there to provide her with advice and guidance for the future, has also lifted a huge weight off her shoulders.