Mission Wealth Management of Santa Barbara is teaming up with Noozhawk to present a Financial Makeover.

The makeover will include a series of articles that illustrates clients’ case studies and how Mission Wealth Management helps plan their financial future. Click here for the first article.

“It will show other real-life issues that people face when dealing with their financial future, such as how to plan for long-term care, how to adjust an investments portfolio when interest rates are low, or how to get a widower back on their feet,” said MWM client advisor Dannell Stuart, who will be writing the series.

“They are themes many people in Santa Barbara experience.”

Stuart, a UCSB graduate, has 15 years of experience in the industry and has been a certified financial planner for 12 years.

Her first column portrays the situation of a family of five. Logan Green is ready to retire but is worried about the health of his aging mother, Logan and his wife, Sarah, are expecting their first grandchild and one of their children is just finishing high school as the other is about to earn his undergraduate degree.

“Like the Greens, many people find themselves in a sandwich generation where they may have an aging mother and a kid going through college,” Stuart said. “They need help prioritizing those goals and best way to achieve them.”

After reading each column, Stuart hopes people realize help is available.

“I want people to know that they aren’t alone because sometimes people feel their financial stresses are insurmountable,” she said. “Many people are forced to retire and have to care for their aging parents; these are common issues and I want people to know there are resources for financial support and they don’t have to go through it alone.”

Retirement is very different than it was 20 years ago, pensions are often no longer significant, Social Security is still there but to a lesser extent, and people — especially in Santa Barbara — are forced to rely on their own resources and assets to cover their retirement, she said.

“People need to know where the best place is to draw from their investment portfolio and how to generate income,” Stuart said. “Many people are faced with the option of working longer or sacrificing their lifestyle.”

Mission Wealth Management was founded by Seth Streeter and Brad Stark in 2000, and the company serves 350 affluent families. Stuart said advisers have the best interest of their clients because MWM does not produce or sell any internal product and acts as their personal CFO.

“We not only manage investments but attend to their entire balance sheet to help them feel more secure about their financial future by integrating commercial real estate with their investment portfolio and analyzing their cash flow to make sure their income will cover predictable expenses,” she said.

MWM helps coordinate with all of clients’ professional advisers to ensure everyone is on the same page and to save their clients time.

“We don’t replace those advisers but we quarterback to make sure everything is as efficient as possible, and we want to demonstrate that through the articles,” Stuart said.

Mission Wealth Management has grown five-fold in assets since investments director Matt Adams joined the team eight years ago, Stuart said.

“People work their whole life and all of sudden it boils down to a meeting,” he said. “People are nervous to find out their alternative, but we provide the awareness that there’s a lot of different ways to solve a problem.

“Yes, sometimes there is bad news but the majority of time we’re here to give good news. A lot of people unnecessarily carry around worry when coming to us winds up being a big positive.”

Click here for the first article.

Readers can reach Stuart at dstuart@missionwealth.com if they have questions or would like to contribute to the Financial Makeover by Mission Wealth Management. Click here for more information on Mission Wealth Management.

— Noozhawk business writer Alex Kacik can be reached at akacik@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Become a fan of Noozhawk on Facebook.