As retirement approaches and becomes a reality—it often bring with it new questions. Like how much should I save for retirement? Unfortunately, many of the “financial rules” you learned during your working years simply don’t apply during retirement. This video will discuss unnecessary wealth transfers and how avoiding them can enhance the length of time your money will last AND potentially provide more income for you to enjoy the lifestyle you desire.

Transcript:

How Much Should I Save For Retirement

When people hear the word retirement, it can invoke pleasant thoughts for some, but for many, it can be a word that may cause apprehension with unanswered questions like how much investment risk should I take? How much should I save for retirement? Will I have enough? Do I have enough money to retire now or should I work a few more years?

By far, the biggest concern is running out of money. During your working years, the focus on money was mainly on accumulation. To accumulate more you may have spent time trying to find the best investments, those paying the highest rate of returns or providing the greatest possibilities of appreciation. Investment professionals may have even told you that they had the key to your financial success because their investment product was better than where you currently had your money. In the end, you may have also discovered that there is no such thing as the perfect product.

To use a golf analogy, this is the equivalent of buying new clubs in hopes of improving your golf game. While it is important to have good clubs, the greatest impact on your game will come from perfecting your swing. The reality is it’s not the club, it’s the swing. Suppose we were going to send you to play in the seniors’ golf championship. We have two things we can give you.

You can choose one, you can have the clubs of any player who has ever played a round of golf or you can have their ability, which would you choose? Sure, you would want the swing. What is it that the financial institutions deliver the club or the swing? They have products which we are going to call the clubs. You have to have a club to play, but having the correct swing is of more value. It becomes increasingly more important in our retirement years that we have the correct swing, meaning we may avoid unnecessary losses.

As a child, I’m sure you remember a simple game called tic tac toe. It was an easy game with a few simple rules. Do you remember who won the first time you played? It was most likely the person who showed you the game, they said, I’m the X and you’re the O, you lost regularly until you learn the strategies of the game. The same is true in the world of finance.

The financial institutions have rules they play by that may be complicated and may take us a lifetime to learn. They do not teach us the rules. It is up to us to learn the rules as we play during the learning process of our accumulation years, we may often transfer away wealth to the financial institutions unknowingly and unnecessarily. Wealth transfers occur most often in areas such as interest on non-deductible debt, car payments, credit cards, mortgage payments, pension plans, and perhaps the largest transfer of all taxes.

Unnecessary losses are just part of the problem. The opportunity cost of the money lost is an even greater issue. If you lose a dollar such as a dollar in taxes, you that you could have avoided. You not only lost the dollar, but you lost what the dollar could have earned for you had you not lost it. Opportunity cost is a concept that few factor into their financial decisions, but understanding and applying this concept may make a significant difference in your financial future.

Now that you’re retired or moving towards retirement, all the rules change and you will be forced to learn a completely new set of rules to manage your circle of wealth. The lessons you learned during the accumulation of your assets will not serve you well during the distribution and spending of those same assets.

Having someone to help you with the rules may make a huge difference in the level of retirement you enjoy. You have to become just as savvy in the spending of your assets as you were in the accumulation of your assets to avoid unnecessary wealth transfers. Let’s look at three types of money. The first is your accumulated assets. These are the dollars you have saved and investment gains you have earned during your accumulation years. The second type of money is lifestyle money.

The things you spend your money on. As you move into the distribution phase of your life, your lifestyle will be directly proportional to the level of your accumulated assets. In addition, the lifestyle you enjoy will determine how long your accumulated assets will last. Inflation also plays a major role in how long your money will last because it will take larger withdrawals from your accumulated account each year to enjoy the same lifestyle as the year before. The third type of money is called transferred money.

These are the dollars that you may be transferring away unknowingly and unnecessarily during your retirement years. Transferred money is an even greater concern than during your working years. Since during retirement, there is little opportunity to add to your accumulated account.

Transfers that occurred during the distribution phase of your life will directly impact the level of lifestyle you will enjoy during retirement and reduce how long your money will last. Wealth transfers at this stage of life are important for everyone.

For those who have amassed the largest States, they’re in danger of losing dollars unnecessarily from income taxes, estate taxes, and improper ownership arrangements. Often because they have sufficient assets, their lifestyle is not affected and they are lulled into procrastinating, which can create even larger transfers at death. For those with insufficient resources to allow them to retire at the same income level they were making when they were working.

Avoiding unnecessary wealth transfers becomes extremely important. This brings us back to the number one question. Most people entering the distribution phase of their life. Want to know how long will our money last? The financial services professional who gave you this video can help you determine if you are ready for retirement. Show you how long your assets will last and help you avoid unnecessary wealth transfers that can keep you from having the retirement you desire. They will help you answer these financial questions. How can I decrease my level of investment risk?

Do I Have Enough Money to Retire?

Will I be able to retire at the same lifestyle I enjoyed during my working years? They can also share with you strategies to maximize your wealth during the distribution phase of your life and the rules you will need to know to avoid unnecessary wealth transfers strategies like how to get money out of your qualified pension plan, IRA or 401k without paying all the tax. How to get your social security check tax-free, how to get your social security check in a lump sum, how to maximize the wealth you leave to your children.

How to spend the value of your home and still leave your home to the kids and how to send your grandkids to college without affecting your present income. Call for an appointment today. You’ll be glad you did.