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Surrogate husband
Rick Van Der Noord
Greenville, South Carolina

I had a client who came from "old money" in Georgia and was accustomed to the good life. Everything was taken care of for her by her husband. After his death, she was very lost and scared. After two years of being on her own, she had depleted quite a bit of her capital and, out of fear of running out of money, sought out the help of a financial advisor.

She began working with our firm. Our first job was to repair her investment nest egg and then structure her portfolio so that she could maintain the standard of living to which she was accustomed without the fear of running out of money. In the process, we also became somewhat of a surrogate husband. We have been called upon to assist her in purchasing automobiles, getting repairs done to her home, selling her home, finding a retirement community, selection of home health staff, even getting her money back on faulty products!

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Last updated June 11 2008: 7:16 AM ET
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