Whether you’re five years away from retirement or 20 years away from retirement, we’ll help guide you through the steps necessary to secure enough assets for your optimal retirement lifestyle. After evaluating your current financial situation, we’ll identify the income sources and opportunities that are most advantageous for you as you prepare for your life past employment.
OUR RETIREMENT PHILOSOPHY IS SIMPLE
We understand that you're busy and don't have the time to manage your financial life alone. We help you turn temporary prosperity into lasting wealth.
Our retirement planning services involve:
1.) Reviewing
Your overall financial strategy and ensuring you are aligned with your objectives and goals. Simply put, 'where's all my financial 'stuff' located?' We create that road map for you.
2.) Optimizing
Everything; your assets, liabilities, income, and expenses so you continuously make decisions that benefit your broader financial picture.
3.) Optimize Your Social Security Benefits Claiming Strategies.
Married couples, did you know there are 'only' 81 ways to claim your Social Security benefits? Our reports optimize claiming strategies regardless of your household composition; individual, spouse, partner, let us help you optimize your benefit claiming strategy.
4.) Tying it all Together: The Need for Holistic Advice... Say hello to 'The Family Financial Website'
The Family Financial Website will allow you, the client, to create, for perhaps the very first time, a holistic view of your entire ‘financial picture’. You will be able to receive targeted financial guidance from Gratke Wealth on any or all of your financial positions regardless of the location of your investments.
As an example; get help managing self-directed accounts such as your employer sponsored 401(k) plan or employer sponsored stock option plans. By having a complete view of your financial picture of your assets, you will be ‘educated, empowered and enlightened’ to make better, more targeted decisions about your financial life!
Family Financial Websites uses unmatched security – Family Financial Websites leverages the same technology that is used by the world’s leading financial institutions to safeguard Internet banking portals, so we at Gratke Wealth and our clients can be sure their data is protected.
The benefit to you includes complete monitoring and management of your entire financial portfolio. Receive accurate and targeted financial guidance by Gratke Wealth thereby increasing your probability for financial success. No overlapping of activities, no gaps in activities.
The Family Financial Website now includes a secure document vault for you to place key family documents and share them with trusted family members and key trusted advisors.
Track your financial success from your pocket.. ok, your smartphone device.
Our Family Financial Website addresses the need for holistic financial advice, to our core philosophy of acting in the client’s best interest, we are pleased to be of service to you so that you may….
Plan Well, Retire Happy
Contact Us: Click here to set an appointment.
5.) Optional Services: Employer Equity Compensation
Do you receive a form of your compensation in employer stock? Keep in mind, in addition to your equity compensation, your paycheck, most likely your employer 401k match, your healthcare benefits, are all dependent upon one thing, your employment with your employer. That's a lot of eggs in one basket. We can help you answer questions such as:
- How much employer stock should I hold?
- When Should I Reduce my Employer Stock Holdings?
- How Much Taxes will I pay?
5 Things You Should Know About Your Employer Stock and Options.
My Stock Options are Worthless!
Are you sure about that?
During bear markets, many stock options appear worthless since the exercise price is above the stock’s current market price. Sure, you can’t cash the option in today. But it still may have value – if you have the luxury of time.
Compute, Analyze, Model, Manage
According to Equilar, a leading compensation consulting firm, more than 70 percent of the nation’s largest companies recently had options with exercise prices above the market. These grants should have been exercised “in the money” if only the optionee had known when to take action. But even stock options like these shouldn’t necessarily be discarded.
We think we can clear up the confusion
From our ‘virtual’ toolbox at GratkeWealth, we can analyze the value of your employee stock options. Factors to consider include price volatility of the underlying shares as well as changes in interest rates to name a few. In the process, we’ll discuss decision points based on your personal goals.
Welcome To our Employee Compensation Analysis tool
We use a system to help you monitor the intrinsic and potential values of your stock options. Our system enables us to alert you so that you may make profitable decisions when those values change, as we know those values will change.
Important alerts are sent by email, notifying us of critical changes in values including stock price, risk/reward ratios, the level of employer stock and options concentration, and deadlines such as upcoming vesting dates, option expiration dates.
Use It Or Lose It
There are several unique attributes to our work, but two stand out. The first is “Forfeit Value.” If you walk away from your job, what equity compensation value is left on the table?
This calculation is valuable to employers, too. In this economic environment, how easy would it be for a would-be employer to say, “hey you have no value in your options where you are, why don’t you come to work for us?”
But wait just one minute. By analyzing the Forfeit Value, which often can be a considerable sum, we can fully illustrate the present value of your options. Yes, your options may still have value, even though they appear under water.
Hold Or Exercise?
The second key concept of our work is what we call the “Insight Ratio” This calculation can be used to determine whether it makes sense to continue to hold the option or to exercise it now.
For example, an Insight Ratio of 10% means that 90% of the option’s value is “in the money” and subject to loss should the stock price decline. Simply put, the current value of the options equates to high risk and low future potential gains: 10% possible upside verses a possible 90% downside.
An Insight Ratio of 90% by contrast, would mean that 90% of the option’s theoretical value will not be realized if exercised today. The current value of the options equates to low risk and high future potential gains: 90% possible upside verses a 10% downside.
Stock Option Administration and Management Valuation and Strategy Software
For companies or individuals, ask us about our Stock Option Management Software Online Tool. Specifically for companies to help re-establish stock option value for their employees or to manage options of any value. This tool gives executives and employees access to information that helps retain employee loyalty by abating possible misinformation that options are “underwater” or worthless. It helps with calculations that show more true vs. perceived value.
Contact Us: Click here to set an appointment.
If you have stock options, our analysis is an important tool – especially in the current market environment. For a consultation, please contact David Gratke to begin the discovery process together.