Maggie’s Story

The scene opens on a woman sitting at her kitchen table in Virginia. Her name is Maggie. She is 62 years old and works as a nurse. Morning light is pouring through the window. Her laptop is open. She stares at the screen, uncertain.

Narrator:

Maggie recently lost her husband. In a few short years, she plans on retiring. But until then, she’s trying to make sense of her finances. A younger colleague recommended an app that brings all of your bank accounts into one place. It sounded promising, but now that she’s opened it, she’s overwhelmed. There are so many features. So many buttons. And no clear place to start. Just as she’s about to close the laptop, a message appears on screen:

Screen:

“Choose your trusted guide.”

Narrator:

There are four illustrated avatars: a younger man, an older man, a younger woman, and an older woman. Maggie chooses the younger man. He reminds her of what her grandson might look like one day.

Austin (appearing as an animated character on screen):

Hi, I’m Austin. I just graduated from Tulane University and would be happy to take you on a tour of this app. Would you mind telling me your full name?

Narrator:

Maggie types in her name. She follows Austin’s prompts and enters her email address and date of birth.

Austin:

Look, I know picking up an app like this can be daunting. But let me reassure you, downloading it was the hardest part. I promise that if you follow my guidance, you’ll be just fine. And if anything doesn’t make sense, just let me know, I’ll be happy to explain it again.

But first, I’m thirsty. Would you mind putting on the kettle? I’d love me some hot tea.

Maggie (typing):

I’m more of a coffee drinker than a tea drinker. Would you like some of that?

Austin (grinning):

Coffee makes me a bit jittery, but hey, sure, why not?

Narrator:

Maggie smiles. She’s surprised at how natural this all feels. It’s like her grandson suddenly grew up and decided to help her with her finances.

Austin:

Would you be a dear and tell me how many financial institutions we need to pull into this app? If you don’t know the full number now, no big deal, we can add them later.

Maggie:

I believe there are three. One credit union, where my late husband and I kept most of our money. A credit loan. And then my husband had a national bank for his business.

Austin:

Thank you, Maggie. So, three financial institutions. Which one would you like to start with?

Maggie:

The credit union.

Austin:

Awesome. What’s the name of the credit union?

Narrator:

Maggie types it in.

Austin:

I love credit unions. My papa always told me to go with them. They’ve got so many perks and it really does feel like a home where you leave your money.

Now, I don’t 100% agree with him. Don’t get me wrong, they’re incredible, but my home away from home is a tea shop. Love me some chai latte with king cake. Jeez, I hope I’m not getting you hungry, Maggie.

Narrator:

Maggie chuckles and starts entering her login credentials but she gets an error.

Austin:

Hey Maggie, everyone makes mistakes. As a matter of fact, I accidentally shrunk my girlfriend’s sweater the other day. She left it at my apartment, and I wanted to be a good boyfriend. Came out small enough for a mouse.

Now, as for your credentials, how about you re-read the account number one more time? I might have misheard you.

Narrator:

Maggie tries again. This time it works.

Austin:

Well, look at that, Maggie. We got all your financials in from the credit union. Here’s your account balance: a grand total of $210,000. And underneath that are your latest transactions. You like Whole Foods, I see. Same here.

Now that we’ve got all your banking information in here, I’ve got an important question for you. Let me tell you something first.

Remember my girlfriend? Well, I’m planning on proposing to her next year. The way I’m going to do it is by buying our dream house. I’ll take her on a tour of the house, get down on one knee, and say:

“Janet, I love you more than anything in this world. Will you marry me in our new beautiful home?”

How can she say no?

Anyway, what’s your dream? What’s your goal?

Maggie:

I’m very happy for you and Janet. As for me… I’m a recent widow. Robert was a good man who did everything he could until the very end. We did everything together. Traveled all across the world. Went on so many cruises, I nearly became a mermaid.

But now I’m 62, lonely, and thinking about retirement. I want to have fun again, Austin. This working is for the birds.

Austin:

I’m very sorry to hear about your husband. He sounded like a delightful man. My parents love going on cruises too; their favorite was in the Mediterranean.

As for working… I sometimes enjoy it. But there are days, Maggie, when I want to toss every computer I own into a raging volcano.

So how about we work on getting you retired smartly and happily. How does that sound?

Maggie:

I’d like that. But where do we start?

Austin:

Let’s begin with what you spend each month. Do you have a general number?

Maggie:

When my husband was alive, we were rolling in riches. But since he got sick, the money stopped coming in. What I have is good, but I definitely want more.

I want to learn about investments. That’s what got my husband rich, but he never really taught me. I think if I could learn about investing, that would be great.

With what I have now, I can envision the next several years learning about investing and becoming great at it.

I’ll have a pension from my job, so money will still be coming in. But if nothing changes financially, I’ll need about $6,000 per month for expenses.

Austin:

When I get older, I want to be like you, Maggie. Right now, $6,000 is a bit of a stretch for me but with everything you told me, it’s completely doable for you. And learning investing? That’s hardcore.

Do you need a break? Another cup of coffee? There’s a lot to unpack here, but none of it needs to be done in one sitting. We can pick right back up where we left off whenever you want. You tell me what you want to do.

Narrator:

Maggie relaxes into the chair and lets out a small laugh. The room feels lighter. She raises her mug, savors the warmth, and smiles because someone is there to guide her.

Fade to black.