Hiring a financial advisor can be the best way to develop a strong financial plan and achieve your long-term financial and life goals. Too often, however, people hesitate to seek out the assistance of a professional when it comes to helping them manage their finances – even if they’re struggling. In fact, research on the subject shows that even though 71% of adults need improvement with their financial planning, only 29% take the step of hiring a financial advisor. Some are too nervous to put their money in someone else’s hands or simply don’t feel that an advisor would be beneficial, yet research suggests those who work with a financial advisor have significantly more money for retirement than those who don’t.
So, how do you take this critical step and choose the advisor who is right for you? With something as important as your hard-earned money, you’ve got to find someone you can fully trust. As you consider hiring a financial advisor, keep these common mistakes in mind to avoid them as you begin your process.
We spend most of our working lives striving toward the ultimate goal of enjoying a happy retirement. But what exactly does that look like? And how do you achieve it? The answers to those questions depend a lot on YOU. Every retiree is going to have their own definition of what a fulfilling retirement looks like. For some, a happy retirement might look like getting to spend more time on hobbies, while for others it might look like finally getting to travel to all those destinations they’ve dreamed about. It might even be simply about spending more time with your kids and grandkids. Whatever a happy retirement looks like to you, you’ll have to be intentional to achieve it.
Below are 10 habits that can help you find happiness and fulfillment throughout your retirement.
Within many companies, employees enjoy a plethora of benefits that come along with their salary. Typically, there’s paid time off, health insurance, and for some, access to retirement savings accounts through the employer. One way a company may offer to help their employees save for retirement is through a cash balance plan, which works almost like a traditional pension plan but with some differences that make it attractive to small business owners. In essence, a cash balance plan provides self-employed individuals the opportunity to make sizable contributions to a retirement savings account while also enjoying tax benefits for their businesses.
This is an important option to consider because, oftentimes, self-employed individuals end up robbing themselves of the benefits that others get because they’re focused on putting all their money and resources into their business. However, cash balance plans come with tax benefits that significantly help any self-employed individual in the present, while offering a valuable way to save for retirement, too.
Every family will experience various stages of life and unexpected events as the members of that family grow. Having a strong family financial plan in place can help ensure that, no matter what your family encounters, you’ll remain on firm financial footing. Developing a comprehensive strategy for managing your money requires that you start with the basics – that means setting up a budget, paying down your debts, and building a solid safety net for emergencies. Depending on the family, it may also mean investing for retirement and starting a special savings account dedicated to future college costs.
Personal financial planning can be complicated enough, so financial planning for your entire family can be especially challenging. However, it’s not impossible. With dedication and deliberate care, you can make a family financial plan that works for everyone. No matter your family’s situation, there are key elements that should be included in any family financial plan. As you get started with yours, here are seven key steps to consider.
One of the biggest financial questions near-retirees must answer is what their living situation will look like in retirement. Many choose to move closer to friends or family, while others move simply to downsize. In addition to location and square footage, however, it’s also important to make the decision between renting or buying. Though it may come as a surprise, renting in retirement has become a growing trend. In fact, since 2005, the largest growing group of renters has been people in their fifties and sixties.
Renting may be a growing trend, but how do you know if this is the right decision for you? There are several factors, both emotional and financial, that you’ll need to take into consideration. To help you explore your options, we will discuss several of these factors below, including crunching the numbers, creating cash flow, and the freedom of movement.
If you’re maxing out your 401(k) and IRA contributions, you’re likely on the road to a comfortable retirement. If you’re saving in taxable accounts, too, you’re even further ahead of the game. However, you may be missing out on an incredibly tax-efficient savings vehicle. If you truly want to bolster your retirement plan, it’s time to look into a health savings account (HSA).
Health savings accounts are the only option for triple-tax savings, meaning you can contribute pre-tax dollars, pay no taxes on earnings, and withdraw money tax-free now or in retirement as long as it’s used for qualified medical expenses. Simply put, HSAs go to work for you in three ways and provide the ultimate tax-efficiency. Read on for five ways you can fortify your retirement plan by using an HSA.
As an employer, offering a 401(k) plan to your employees can be incredibly rewarding. However, it is also a challenging undertaking – one that requires much of you, including meeting your fiduciary obligations to plan participants each year. The basic rules outlined by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) offer a standard of conduct that must be followed in administering a plan and managing its assets. Since the required actions and responsibilities are manifold, many small and medium-sized business owners outsource their plan sponsorship through a third-party service provider.
At Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors, we understand your regulatory responsibilities as a 401(k)-plan sponsor and the need for proper documentation – and we know it can be a bit overwhelming. We believe that having a solid knowledge- base of plan governance, plan design, investments, participant investment behaviors, and recordkeeper services is unique, and we are proud to offer our knowledge and experience to our clients wishing to outsource their plan sponsorship. With the growing number of court cases and settlements related to the mismanagement of retirement programs, the stakes are increasing for sponsors to fully appreciate their plans’ risks and take necessary steps to meet their fiduciary obligations.
In some things in life – love, in particular – age is a fairly meaningless number. When it comes to financial planning, however, age can begin to matter quite a lot. This is why it is exceedingly important for spouses with a wide age gap to have a long-term financial plan in place. As we collectively face a time of economic uncertainty, smart long-term planning can also offer you peace of mind.
Long-term financial plans include retirement planning, of course, and this is an area in which traditional advice often won’t work well for couples separated by a decade or more. If you and your spouse are in this scenario, you’ll need a retirement plan that can accommodate the needs of two different stages of life.
Let’s explore a few of the considerations that mixed-age couples need to be aware of for proper retirement planning.
When President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act on March 27, he enacted the largest aid package in American history. One important impact is that Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) for 2020 are, in essence, suspended. In this way, the federal government chose to sacrifice short-term tax revenue in order to provide immediate financial relief to retirees.
This change bears discussion, however, as there are many questions about what the CARES Act means for those who have already taken their 2020 RMDs, as well as any impact on taxes and inherited accounts.
Let’s begin with a review of the basic tenets of the RMD portion of this new law.