Holistic Financial Planning
We create holistic financial plans designed to help with the five critical components of retirement planning.
Social Security Planning
We will help you determine the best time take your Social Security, and will help you to coordinate any spousal, divorced spouse, or survivor benefits you may be entitled to with your own benefit.
To do this effectively we consider how your benefits will interact with your other sources of income. We also consider the longevity in your family as well as your current health.
By looking at your entire financial picture we are able to determine a claiming strategy that helps to optimize your income and reduce your taxes.
Retirement Income & Investment
Once the paycheck has stopped we help turn your hard earned savings into a reliable income stream. Although investment returns are still important the focus becomes minimizing the volatility with a diversified asset portfolio. This typically includes traditional investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETF's.
Additionally, we incorporate fixed annuity products since they provide protection and guarantees against market losses and outliving your savings. Like Social Security or a pension, annuities can provide a guaranteed income for life.
Various sources of income are taxed differently. We create a withdrawal strategy that coordinates your various income streams to help minimize the taxes you have to pay.
Tax Planning
There's a difference between tax filing and tax planning. Tax filing is concerned with looking in the rear view mirror and filing taxes for last year.
Tax forward planning has to do with looking at ahead, and seeking to minimize the taxes you'll have to pay over the course of your retirement.
Are you holding the right investments in each account? When should you withdraw money from your taxable, tax deferred, and tax free accounts? Can you reduce or eliminate taxes on your Social Security income? Should you incorporate Roth conversions?
These are just some of the things that need to be considered.
Healthcare Planning
Healthcare costs have continued to increase faster than the overall inflation rate. It's critical to have a plan to pay for these costs.
There are important decisions to be made when it comes to Medicare. As a starting point you need to know when you need to sign up to avoid any penalties. Should you choose a Supplement or should you go with a Advantage plan? It's important to understand the differences to determine what's best for you.
Also, Medicare doesn't cover long term care costs.
Planning for how you will pay for these expenses if they arise is critical to the success of your retirement plan.
Legacy & Estate Planning
Legacy & Estate planning involves making decisions as to who you'd like your assets to go to after you pass away.
Estate planning also addresses how you want your affairs handled if you are in a position where you are not able to handle them on your own for any reason. We will work with you and your attorney or can recommend one if needed to ensure any discrepancies between your wishes and your current estate documents.
We will also address any life insurance needs. Even in retirement you might need life insurance. If you were to pass away would anyone such as your spouse suffer financially as result?
For instance, when one spouse passes away the surviving spouse loses a Social Security check. If there is enough income from assets outside of Social Security then life insurance may not be needed.
That said, it may be desired to help leave a legacy to children, grandchildren, or a favorite charity.
