Retirement planning is a puzzle. There are a lot of pieces that need to fit together to create a complete financial picture for the retirement years. Social Security is the border of that puzzle, making up the majority of income in retirement for most people, even wealthy executives.
With everyone buzzing about the crushing inflation the U.S. is experiencing right now, many retirees and soon-to-be retirees are coming to me asking what they can do to protect their retirement. The great news is that while inflation can hurt your wallet in the short term, inflation isn’t a huge cause for concern when it comes to your retirement accounts.
Though there are all types of retirement formulas you can use to gauge how much money you need in retirement, most of them don’t take into account six very important issues that can affect your money after you’ve retired.
Many people dream of being rich, though what that means varies widely among people of different backgrounds and experience. To some, it means never having to worry about expenses. For others, it is not working so many hours. Another definition might be complete financial independence. No matter what your idea of “rich” is, experts offer suggestions for how to get on the road to greater wealth.
Among the slew of champagne-tinged resolutions declared on New Year’s Eve, cutting back on spending and getting one’s finances in order was a big one. Learn how to stay or get back on track with your financial goals.
TruNorth Advisors works with individuals and families to integrate retirement income planning, investment management, and asset protection considerations within a personalized financial planning process. As fiduciary advisors, our guidance is provided based on each client’s unique circumstances and long term objectives.
There’s nothing quite like knowing your finances are in check regarding retirement. Nowadays, it’s hard to live off of social security alone when the monthly payouts average $1,200 per month. There are many ways to ensure financial stability when you retire, and it’s good to start early to get ahead of the game so you can work towards retirement, and financial security for your future. Below you’ll find a list of services you should consider when planning for retirement.
TruNorth offers various resources and services to help you determine the right plan for you to achieve your financial goals. Our retirement advisors are dedicated to helping you understand your current financial status and can help you create a plan to maximize your finances and ensure you’re on the right track for retirement. Income Planning As you plan for retirement, it’s wise to plan on having other sources of income streams because you will no longer be able to rely on your job for income. During this planning stage, your financial advisor can work with you to plan different strategies to start investing in other sources outside your current job income that can help grow your money over time. Investment sources like social security, fixed annuities, and pensions are a few examples of how you can use your money to invest in your future. Investment Management Investment management has everything to do with developing your financial plan, evaluating your goals, and discovering how comfortable you are with risk. Once you understand your plan and your needs, it’s important to stay on track and start working towards completing each milestone. You’ll start by looking at your finances and discovering where you have extra money and how to save that money to then invest in your retirement plan to have that money grow. Managing your finances means you have a road map to your future set, and you’re working towards making smart investment decisions, helping you achieve your retirement plans. Legacy Planning Legacy planning is all about transferring your assets to your loved ones or whomever you want your assets to go to after your death. Without a plan, transferring your assets can get legally messy. Without a planned-out beneficiary of your choice, the courts will assign an administrator to handle your finances and divvy out who gets what. This can then become a huge burden on your loved ones, and your assets may not be passed down to the people you want them to go to. Risk Management TruNorth can help you understand the risks when it comes to planning for retirement. Below are a few tips about what qualifies as risk and how you can plan for it. Through a third-party organization, a complete audit of insurance will be conducted. The third party can then work with us to discover how much risk you have with your investments like auto, home, and liabilities. What is risk? Risk is uncertainty about your investments that has the potential to impact your financial status in a negative way. Long-term care analysis. This analysis is a service provided to meet a person’s overall health and personal care needs for an extended period of time. Everyone ages, and with age, it gets harder and harder to perform daily activities. Planning for your long-term care is important to make sure you are taken care of as you get older. Life insurance benefits. This can replace your income for years of lost job salary and can also assist you in paying off your home mortgage and debt. Medicare needs. Medicare is federal health insurance that most people can qualify for at the age of 65 years old. Tax Planning Understanding how taxes works, in general, is a good way to invest your time, but it can be crucial when you’re setting up and beginning your retirement planning journey. If you aren’t careful, you could hurt a large part of your income and savings. Our financial advisors can help you understand how retirement tax works and determine tax-saving strategies that can lower the amount of taxes you pay. Here are a few examples: If your employer has a 401k option, contributing a set amount of money towards this can lower your income tax. A Roth IRA is an incredible resource that can save you money tax-free. Delay withdrawing from your 401k because you can be penalized for withdrawing early. Make catch-up contributions. Catch-up contributions are applicable to those who are starting their retirement plan later at the age of 50+.
The future is a long way away, and many people tend to think that they’ll have plenty of time to think about retirement later. What some don’t realize is that retirement creeps up on you, and if you haven’t taken the necessary actions to plan for retirement, you’ll start to scramble and can stress about not being prepared and financially secure to quit your job and retire. Social security is typically not enough to live off of, and you likely don’t want to work until you die. What’s going to cover your mortgage, food, clothes, and lifestyle you’ve developed over the years? Social security typically does not cover even half of those costs. When you are no longer earning an income and transition to living off what you’ve put aside for retirement, it is inevitable that you will experience a change in lifestyle and likely that you will not have as much disposable income. However, with adequate preparation, you can expect to enjoy your retirement in relative comfort and to have all of your needs met. There tend to be more unexpected expenses as we age as well. These often come in the form of medical expenses, increases in the cost of utilities, commodities, and housing, and growing extended families. Grandchildren are a blessing, but the price of visits and gifts can certainly add up! Social security and pensions can help but are generally not enough by themselves to allow you to live comfortably. The sooner you begin planning your finances for retirement, the more you typically can enjoy yourself when you are no longer working. It is never too soon to start thinking about how you want to live when you retire and to take steps toward making that vision a reality. Planning for the future now and starting your retirement journey can give you more peace of mind as you continue living your life.
