Barbara started working with us 3 years ago. She initially came to Lighthouse Financial Advisors, Inc. to have her tax returns prepared professionally. It was the first year in which she started to earn a significant income. During that year she had relocated to change jobs; the new job was the result of using a business agent. Her taxes had been prepared over the last few years by either a friend or one of the nationally known tax preparations firms. We found quite a few errors on her prior years’ returns and were able to amend and claim an additional refund for overlooked business expenses of approximately $1,500 for two years. During our first meeting, we stressed the importance of record keeping and the fact that overlooked deductions could be costing her over $1,000 per year. We emphasized that we work with clients all year round providing them with comprehensive financial planning solutions. We worked with Barbara during that tax season and showed her that if she had worked with us over the last year, her refund would have been higher. After filing her tax return, we lost touch with Barbara. We did not hear from her until the tax season of the following year. Barbara had experienced many life transitions during this time frame. She had lived and worked three different jobs in three different cities. If she had taken full advantage of our services during these life and financial transitions instead of trying to take care of everything on her own, she would have been more organized and consequently would have saved more tax dollars.

After coming to this realization, Barbara decided to use of all our services. We filed her tax returns and moved forward reviewing the other financial areas of her life. We consolidated all of her retirement plans in one place, reviewed all of her insurance and emphasized the importance of disability insurance for a young single professional. After we had “crossed our T’s and dotted our I’s” we started laying out a financial game plan for the future. One of Barbara’s goals was to buy a house, so we helped her understand the size house she should look for, along with all the cost and tax advantages associated with home ownership. Barbara was relocated to a new city. She began looking for a house that met the parameters we had discussed during our meetings. She thought she had found the right place, but after discussing the cost with us, we determined that it was not a good investment for her. She continued searching and soon found a house that met the parameters we had discussed. The first house was not in Barbara’s price range and would have left her financially strapped. The second house turned out to be a better house and a sound investment.

Barbara feels that without LFA as a partner she would have made many wrong decisions, instead she working to lay the foundation necessary to achieve financial freedom. More importantly, she also realized the value of having a partner that could guide her to make decisions keeping only her best interests in mind. Finding the right house is just one example of how we have helped Barbara. By establishing a trusting relationship with Lighthouse Financial Advisors, Inc., Barbara is assured that she is financially sound and has someone to guide her through more life transitions in the future.

The turn of the century marked the beginning of my relationship with Robert Walsh and Lighthouse Financial Advisors. For over 12 years Robert has not only been my financial advisor, but also provided guidance with his life planning and coaching skills. Robert has helped me through multiple job changes, layoffs, divorce and relocation to a number of new cities. Through my life changes, Robert has empowered me with the knowledge and direction to manage my finances wisely.

The first half of my life was spent in India, where I was born and raised. My decision to attend college in the USA transported me across the globe.  I went to Kent State University. In 1996 I received my Masters in Computer Science. Following graduation I accepted a job in New York City and witnessed the horror of 9/11. With a new appreciation for my life, I decided that I wanted to give back. I began volunteering with victims of domestic violence. Soon after, I started a successful (woman-owned) business offering technology consulting services to non-profits and corporations alike. I currently split my time between Ohio and Washington DC, living happily with my significant other and working with the American Red Cross.

In addition to my efforts in the US, it is important to me to give back to the children of India as well. I still have family there and visit often. The past few years I have been working with an orphanage in Kolkata for children with special needs. Just recently I have started working with a small school on the west coast of India as well.

Lighthouse has been involved in every major decision of my life: financial, professional and personal. LFA is a great team and everyone is always very responsive, helpful and pleasant to work with. The support has been wonderful and is something that I have come to rely on very heavily.

We do not tell anyone that we are financially comfortable, mostly we smile when friends talk about investing; we do offer some advice based on our life experiences. Some folks talk about their broker buying this and selling that. We just feel the only one making money in all those stories is the broker. Most people just let our words pass over their heads. You see, we do not live a lavish lifestyle, we do live comfortable in a condominium. In fact we just purchased a larger one that we completely refurbishing. We have a new car and we take several vacations a year. All of this may seem like the good life to anyone, and actually, it is not far from it. We did not always live this way. It was not until one of us got sick and retired that we chose to accelerate our spending and live “our” lavish life.

We will start our story in 1989, I had just lost my job with a New York bank and we were trying to keep everything afloat. We owned a two family home and a condominium one block from the ocean in New Jersey. I had a 401K that we were drawing down – we paid a heavy tax penalty for taking our own money in early withdrawal. In 1989 through 1993, the housing market hit bottom and our condo was only worth 2/3 of what we paid for it. We rented our beloved ocean condo and tightened our belts. We were afloat, but not by much. The water heater in the rental went one week before Christmas. We were already on a budget for the holiday gifts for our family. The plumber replaced it and insisted on being paid before Christmas. I finally got a job after almost a full year; however the salary was about 20% less.  We tried to sell the condo (which was under water by 33%). We found a buyer and sold our dream home at the shore. We needed to make additional changes in our lifestyle as we could no longer count on both of us always being employed. The first order of business was to get rid of the BMW. My wife started shopping in the outlets and Marshall’s. We only ate out once a month instead of once or twice a week. Our goal was to live off one salary and save the other; most months we had to rob from the savings salary. We put the two family house for sale at a price only $1,000 more than what we owed the bank on the mortgage. It took two years for the housing market to come up to our needed price, but we did clear $1000.00 after paying the realtor.

It is now 2002 and our investments were moving nicely as we had invested into T.I.P.S., Treasury Investment Protection Securities. We are introduced to Robert Walsh through a trusted friend whom my wife had worked with for more than 20 years. Our first meeting with Robert was in his Jersey City office. We never realized we had managed to save enough money that it even needed to be managed. After much discussion, we decided to have Robert manage our money. He researched our current investments and asked us what our goals were for retirement. We thought our goals were simple, retire at age 65 and live in retirement with as much money as we make when we were working. Several years went by with Robert making changes in our accounts as he followed the market changes. We found that even when the market went down, the positive was that we would buy funds at a lower price and when the market went back up, we had much more value.

Moving forward to 2009, my wife retired and then fell ill. The rain began to fall in our lives. Our retirement goals and our hopes and dreams were fading into the sunset. We met with Robert for a revaluation of our situation. He could help with the finances, but what are the rules about Medicare and Medicaid.  Robert recommended an attorney who specializes senior citizen affairs. Robert handled the revaluation of our retirement and has assisted us in so many ways to keep our lives running smoothly. Our tropical storm had lessened and is now only a slight drizzle of rain. Robert and his staff at Lighthouse were just as the name implies, a lighthouse that guided my wife and me through the storm and showed us the way to a safe port.

Robert Walsh and the staff at Lighthouse were able to turn a potential disaster for my wife and me regarding the future of our retirement into a financially safe and structured retirement. There is no way that we can thank  Robert and his staff for all of the help they have provided to us. I hope our story encourages you in saving, as the rain may come and go in all of our lives. Saving for retirement must continue through all kinds of weather until your goals are met. I am going to retire soon and look forward to going to Yankee and Giant games and buying new cars…all thanks to LFA, Robert Walsh and his efficient staff.

Robert & Pamela could be classified as a typical/atypical couple who have been long-term New Jersey residents. Bob and Pam have been together some 47 years now, and they are still talking….in fact they’re thoroughly enjoying life and retirement. Perhaps that is due in no small part to their habit of “taking lemons and making lemonade. ”   Bob & Pam’s first big dose of lemons started with a series of automobile accidents in 1984, which left their middle daughter nursing injuries and missing out on the end of junior/beginning of senior years in high school. This inspired her to adapt Ziggy as her role model for her college application essays (yes, the cartoon character, who takes a licking in life and keeps on plugging along). Apparently this went over quite well with college admission officials, along with her great grades, and she wound up off to Caltech with a great financial package. Pam was also injured quite badly in a car accident that year; as part of her lengthy recovery, Pam returned to finish the college degree she had started more than 20 years prior. The whole journey also strengthened the bonds within Bob & Pam’s family, as their three children took on more responsibilities, and Bob found himself being Pam’s number one cheerleader and pitching in more at home.

After graduation, as Bob and Pam’s financial situation improved with Pam’s new career, they decided to diligently save for retirement as well as pay off debts incurred with having three children complete college, and Pam’s education bills. They started to travel a little, mainly flights from NJ to CA to see their daughters and grandchildren on the left coast. One of their daughters is also a financial planner, but they did not think it wise to use a family member as their financial guru. Their daughter recommended Robert Walsh and as they will tell you, it has been a truly enjoyable relationship. Bob & Pam felt that they were normally extremely conservative when it comes to financial matters, but certainly not knowledgeable about making the best investments with their savings. With Robert’s guidance, Bob and Pam built up their retirement fund and also made plans to retire in CA to be near their grandchildren.

In 2004, Bob & Pam retired and moved to CA. They had already purchased their retirement home in CA, before the housing market hit its peak. They decided to drive from NJ, because although they had flown between the coasts, they hadn’t really seen much of the US in between. They took a rather wandering route, over a period of about a week and did some sightseeing along the way. They visited the Natural Bridge in Virginia, the Ryman auditorium, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and Elvis’ estate in Tennessee, Flagstaff and Sedona in Arizona and left US40 in various places to travel the old Route 66. They vowed to see more of the US on future trips.

In 2007, Bob was diagnosed with cancer.   After a long year of treatment, and another 6 months to recover his stamina, Bob and Pam went back to making lemonade. Bob started going to the gym during treatment and today he is fit and also has many new friends. Pam had joined Jazzercise before the cancer was diagnosed, and discovered that not only is it a fun way to exercise, but the support they both received from her friends there was phenomenal.

Pam and Bob have made three cross-country drives since then. Each time they vary the route a bit to see something new. They have seen Pella and Amana in Iowa, Mount Rushmore and the Chief Crazy Horse monuments. They took a 20-mile detour from Route 80 in Illinois to see Ronald Reagan’s birthplace, have trekked parts of the Nebraska Badlands and made a loop through Yellowstone to see Old Faithful (and lots of bison). They have seen armadillos walking along the road in Texas, the Buddy Holly Museum in Lubbock, and his original recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, the “new” Grand Ole’ Opry in Tennessee and toured the Corvette museum and the Corvette production plant in Kentucky. (They own an unrestored 1980 Corvette…Bob’s dream car.) Pam and Bob stopped at the national museum and memorial dedicated to the victims of the bombing in Oklahoma City of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. In Little Rock, Arkansas they visited Clinton’s Presidential Library.

Bob and Pam were in PA for the birth of their 4th grandchild, and visited with old neighbors, friends and co-workers from years ago. They have even attended 3 of Lighthouse’s client appreciation outings at Monmouth Raceway.   On one return trip, while headed for Bowling Green, Kentucky, rains flooded out much of the 40 in Tennessee, so they changed course and returned home on Route 70. Along the way, they went through Missouri, Kansas and Colorado and stopped in Independence, Missouri at Truman’s Presidential Library.

On their latest cross country drive, a 6 week road-trip, they attended a 4-day shindig for Pam’s 50th high school reunion.   They reconnected with people they hadn’t seen for the entire 50 years!   They also visited with Bob’s sister in northern NJ, a cousin in Asheville, NC and family in Mountainair, New Mexico, stopped in Las Vegas, spent time in Salt Lake City, and visited family in Columbus, Ohio. On trips back to the east, they enjoy spending time in their old NJ neighborhood and visiting their grandchildren in PA. They are a very busy, great couple!