A few years ago, I met a vibrant gentleman in his 50s. He had real estate investments and he was meticulous. He accounted for every penny, and was all set financially. He felt confident that he did not need my help.

Still, when I looked at his financial situation from afar I was concerned that all his eggs were in one basket. If and when the real estate market started to dip, he could find himself in real trouble. After several offers to run a comprehensive financial plan for him, he finally agreed.

There were some red flags when the plan was finished. The biggest were his lack of liquidity, his large real estate holdings and lack of diversification, and the titling of his estate. After 20 years of marriage, he and his wife were divorced, but his will had not been updated, his beneficiary designations had not been changed, and he needed an Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT). He had children fast approaching college age, and he wanted to establish a plan for how he was going to pay those education expenses.

He hired an estate-planning attorney and we got his will, trusts and an ILIT in place. Then he changed all the beneficiary forms for his annuities and retirement plans. Finally, he replaced an expensive whole life policy that no longer met his needs with a new policy that cost less and accomplished what he wanted.

As his eldest child was about to embark on her college career, he was clear that he did not want to have the college funds exposed to market volatility so we set up a laddered certificate of deposit portfolio in his taxable account to fully fund his children's higher education expenses. Finally, he rolled over his retirement accounts and invested them. He did not have much experience investing in stocks, bonds and other investment products, so we took it slowly and worked on helping to educate him and helping him get comfortable with the ebbs and flows of the markets.

One month later, his ex-wife unexpectedly died. He was devastated and called me the next day. Over the course of the next few months our team spent a lot of time with him. He was finding this transition difficult and said it was a relief not to have to worry about what would happen to his children financially if something happened to him.

Then the market turned south. He handled it well as we had considered his risk tolerance and time horizon when we set up the accounts, and had spent the time up front educating him and making sure he had realisticexpectations of what could happen in a down market.

He is starting to plan for the next phase of his lifecycle, and we are working with him to help create streams of retirement income. We are discussing ways to maximize his social security benefits when the time comes.

He has a very clear vision of how he wants to spend his retirement-participating in outdoor sports that he loves. And he hopes to spend time with the people who are most important to him-his children and family.

He started out confident that he did not need our help and has turned into one of our favorite clients. He expresses often how much he appreciates what we do for him. It's a reminder of how lucky we are to be financial advisors, as we can surely make a difference in our clients' lives.

Wendy W. Murphy is a financial advisor for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Shrewsbury, NJ.

The case study presented is intended to illustrate products and services available at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. They do not necessarily represent the experiences of other clients, nor do they indicate future performance. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment results may vary. The investments mentioned may not be suitable for all investors; and the investment strategies and products and services presented are not appropriate for every investor. Individual clients should independently evaluate particular investments and review with their Morgan Stanley Smith Barney financial advisors the terms and conditions and risks involved with specific products or services. Diversification does not guarantee a profit or protect against a loss.