Melanie’s Story

Sometimes you’ve figured out your RichLife. Sometimes you know all those answers, and you’ve planned for them, and you’re ready to cash in. And then everything changes. That’s what happened to Melanie. She and her husband John had been saving for retirement for decades, and that day was just around the corner. They’d just purchased a brand new RV, which would take them to see all the parts of America they’d always wanted to see, not to mention all the far-spread family and friends they loved and missed. It was going to be the culmination of all their planning and dreaming. And then, one rainy Saturday an oncoming truck hydroplaned head-on into John’s car. He died instantly. And all of Melanie’s answers changed.

Family friends, a couple I had advised for several years, referred me to Melanie, and when I met her, she was understandably terrified. She had learned after the accident that her husband’s life insurance policy had reduced by half recently. She had an expensive new RV sitting in her front yard that she couldn’t imagine ever taking out on her own. She had never had any hand in managing the finances, which John had always taken care of himself. And she was grieving.

My first step was to be sure that Melanie knew I would do everything that needed to be done so that her financial future would be secure. And over the next weeks, we took small steps to make that happen. I wanted her to feel safe about the decisions she was making with her money, because at the moment, it must have felt like her only safety net.

Today Melanie is figuring out her new answers. What is going to make up her RichLife now? She will focus on her children and grandchildren, who were already part of that picture, but she’s developing other goals too. And with a little support, Melanie may just be traveling the country to see all those friends and sights. Just like she and John had always dreamed.