Retirement Planning

Retirement planning is the process of determining retirement income goals and the actions and decisions necessary to achieve those goals. 

We approach retirement planning different than most firms. 

People used to say that you need around $1 million to retire comfortably. Other professionals use the 80% rule, i.e., you need enough to live on 80% of your income at retirement.

It sounds like cookie cutter phrases to us.

The only way we will uncover how much you need is to determine your needs. 

Although big numbers on a piece of paper or statement is nice, we have found as a society we all live on a monthly basis, that is when all of our bills are due. It is important to figure out what your monthly income goal is when you retire and how much fun money you want to have for other retirement activities or travel. Then it is a matter of working backwards to see when you have enough to pull the trigger and enjoy life and retire. 

Our goal is to talk with you and actually design a retirement plan to insure your retirement is successful.

During the first visit, the goal is to get to know more about you and talk about all the things that may concern you and discuss decisions that will need to be made, such as the following:

• Pension Benefits: We can discuss the different payout options offered by your pension to understand what may be your best choice. 
• Social Security Benefits: There may be ways to maximize when to start your benefits. If you bring in a copy of your latest statement we will provide you a report from Social Security Solutions software showing different strategies available to you.
• Medicare Benefits: You may have questions about what options are available to you regarding protecting yourself for items not covered under Medicare. Our office has a benefits specialist to show you all of the different choices available. If you plan to retire before you are eligible for Medicare you will need to factor in the cost of healthcare into your retirement budget. 
• Required Minimum Distributions: Based on your age and IRA balances, we can calculate the amount of distributions required when you reach age 70 ½.
• Retirement Income Planning: When to retire can be a critical choice to make certain you stay retired. The best scenario is to have help looking at where your income comes from when you make the change. Our software allows us to help you do just that. We can input projected income from Social Security, pensions and assets at any year you may want to retire in the future.
• Discuss Long Term Care Options: Consider long term care insurance to pay for things like nursing home costs. Long term care insurance can be costly as well, but the earlier you get into a plan the lower your overall premium will be.
• Wealth Transfer: Once your retirement plan is in place and you know you will never run out of income, we can discuss the best ways to pass your family’s inheritance with the least tax consequences.

The level of advise an individual receives should not be based on the size of their retirement portfolio!

Call our office now to set up a time to visit about what plan may work for you!! 636-791-1330