Retirement Planning

Retirement planning is much more than calculating the amount of money you will need to start retirement. Retirement planning is the process of you and your advisor working together to make sure the right questions are being asked and answered for your particular circumstances and wishes. There are financial, health, family, longevity, and personal situations, as well as desires and wishes that often conflict with one another.

Our job, as your advisor, is to simplify the process. Basically, together we determine where you are, where you want to be and the steps to bridge your present to your future.

Why work with us? We offer insight. There are hundreds of web sites, including this one, that offer tools regarding retirement. We offer more than calculations. With our knowledge, experience and perspective we offer an insight that can illuminate both technical issues and, often, conflicting goals and wishes.

Why work with us? We offer technical knowledge. For most people, two primary tools for saving for retirement are (1) qualified retirement plans, which may be available through your employer or your own business if self-employed, and (2) individual retirement accounts (IRAs) - each offer a tax incentive for saving. We can help you with decisions regarding them and how they fit in your overall retirement plan. We may also help you establish qualified retirement plans for your business or set up IRAs and Roths as deemed appropriate and advantageous for your particular situation.

Be aware of actions that can be dangerous to your wealth regarding "rollovers" and to "distributions". We can assist you in rolling over your employer retirement plan to either your own IRA or your own business retirement plan. Alternatively, you have the choices to leave the money in your former employer's plan, if permitted, or to cash out the value although there can be severe tax consequences to do this. If you own employer securities within the employer plan, there are some distinct tax advantages that you should consider - we can help. If a rollover or transfer is handled improperly, or you take an unwise distribution, taxes and penalties could approach 50% of the amount involved. Both proper tax planning and proper execution are critical to preserve what you have worked so hard for.

There are several choices investors have when rolling over money from one plan to another. Since each choice has its own implications, it is recommended that you discuss and compare all potential fees, expenses, commissions, taxes, and legal ramifications with your qualified advisor before making a rollover decision.

Finally, Social Security benefits are a major component of most retirement plans. We can help you determine when to start benefits and whether to claim your own or spousal benefits. These decisions can make a difference of thousands of dollars over your retirement life span.

Why work with us? We offer retirement planning with the following objectives:

• Helping to identify the appropriate time to retire for you,
• Confidence that your investments may be sufficient for your lifetime,
  
• The specific steps needed to pursue your goal of retirement,
  
• A strategy to use your savings in a tax efficient manner, and
  
• An understanding of how inflation, investment return, and lifestyle decisions impact your projected retirement time frame.
  

Retirement Planning involves both a plan for "accumulation" and, later, a plan for "distribution". Although there are a lot of technical compliance issues to deal with, we can help you determine your objectives and follow your plan.

Contact us today.