Money Magazine asked financial planner Anne Gibson in nearby Ellsworth, Maine to meet with the Alleys.
Her suggestions:
Have a worst-case plan Rick has good reason to be concerned about disability: His father had to give up his lobstering business at age 48 when he found out he was diabetic and had high blood pressure.
But finding an insurer who will write a policy for a lobster fisherman is tough. To help, Gibson contacted brokers Keith and Judith Maurer of Low Load Insurance Services in Tampa, who were turned down by six carriers before they found one that would offer coverage to the Alleys.
The price: $705 a year for Rick and $660 a year for Stefanie for a policy that would pay a monthly benefit of $1,000 for two years.
If either Rick or Stefanie should die, of course, the consequences would also be devastating. So Gibson recommends that the couple increase their life insurance from their current level of just $10,000 to $200,000 each for a 10-year term policy. That would cost $300 to $400 a year for Stefanie and $520 to $740 a year for Rick.
Make savings work harder While Stefanie and Rick are up at the crack of dawn hunting for lobsters, their money is loafing around doing nothing, earning an anemic 0.6% at the local bank.
To land better rates while still keeping their funds liquid, Gibson suggests the couple shift their personal savings and about $6,000 of their business account to a money-market account, recently paying around 4.5%, at a discount brokerage such as Schwab or TD Ameritrade.
The planner recommends they put the remainder of their business funds in three- and six-month CDs. These steps ought to generate about $2,000 in additional income over a year's time.
Pump up the retirement plan Gibson urges the Alleys to consider shifting about half of the $126,000 in their IRAs, now in fixed-income investments, into stock funds to boost their returns and provide a hedge against inflation. She'd divide that money as follows: 70% in large-cap funds, 15% in small-cap funds and 15% in international funds.
The other half should stay conservatively invested in fixed-income vehicles, mostly CDs.
Gibson also urges the Alleys, who are each currently putting $3,500 a year into their IRAs, to bump up their contributions. Stefanie should be setting aside $5,000 in a Roth IRA, the planner says, while Rick should set up a Simple IRA that would allow him to contribute up to $12,500 a year.
They should be able to afford these increases in contributions using the cash balance from their business, Gibson says.
"If they follow this plan, by the time they reach age 66, Social Security will kick in and they should be able to cut back their lobstering work to half time," Gibson says.
Rick and Stefanie tell Gibson they will give her advice some thought. Then, in a gesture of thanks, they toss a few lobsters into a bucket and head to the island's bed and breakfast, the Braided Rugs Inn, where Gibson is staying before taking the mail boat home in the morning.
The proprietor drops the lobsters into a pot of boiling water and melts some butter. It's the end of the season, so the shells are soft and the claws tender and sweet.
Rick and Stefanie provide a master class in shucking a lobster, devouring every morsel of meat.
In the coming weeks, they will feast on the five eider ducks Rick shot this morning. Such resourcefulness reveals how their traditional way of life has managed to thrive for yet another generation; this small island has all the wealth these two fishermen will ever need. 
