Evie Hauer receives income from a trust and she and her husband are in a high tax bracket. Nonetheless, her previous advisor had taxable bonds in the trust and income from the bonds in a bank checking account. We immediately shifted to tax-exempt bonds and did away with the bank account, replacing it with a tax-exempt money market fund that offers checking.

RESULT: the trust fund is no longer on the Hauer’s tax return.

Rodrigo and Miranda Davila sold their business in Mexico and moved to their San Antonio home. They opened a $1,004,000 account with us. They’ve withdrawn $57,000 for some personal expenses - hosting a big family reunion in San Miguel de Allende and funding college accounts for Maricela and Rodrigo Jr.

RESULT: Despite those transactions, their account had grown.

Sam Jarek, a resident of Mexico, is a self-made millionaire, a devoted grandfather, and the son of hard- working immigrants. He is also one of our early clients, having first entrusted us with a portion of his wealth back in 1983. We have guided Sam through the worst and the best of times and we’ve always been there when he needed us the most. Sam’s business and his account have grown along with us.

RESULT: Sam says he’ll stay with us another 25 years, God willing.

Marti Rocha is a retired widow and has a very low tax rate. She brought us a $1,000,000 portfolio of stocks and tax-exempt bonds, from which she was receiving only the interest and dividends. We moved her to taxable bonds and explained that her stocks can support distributions greater than just their dividends.

RESULT: Marti’s after-tax income has nearly doubled and her portfolio still has the ability to grow.

Mark Heyer, physician, husband, and father, is the sole owner of his practice. He had a SIMPLE IRA as his main retirement plan and was concerned about its limitations. We showed him how to increase his annual retirement contribution from $12,000 to $190,000 by creating a defined benefit plan.

RESULT: Now Dr. Heyer is more aggressively building security for his family.

In June 2008, Helen Hirsch, an attorney, sent $1,461,000 into her account with us. We met with her to clarify certain financial needs — taxes, distribution to a retirement account, and charitable gifts — and set those funds aside into a money market account.

RESULT: From June 2008 through February 2009 the stock market fell 46%, but all of Helen’s financial needs were met because her funds were not at risk. Needs met, risk controlled.