Retirement Planning

Long before retirement even hits our radars, we’re planning what type of education, skills training and professional designations we’ll acquire. We also spend a lot of time planning which industries are the best place to work in, and which employers to work for. Once employed, we carefully strategize our every career move, so that we progress to the top of the ladder in our respective fields.

Sadly though, while we focus most of our efforts on all these plans, we often forget to plan for “life after work”!

Why Retirement Planning is Important

Everything we do – from choosing a career to managing career progressions at our employers – is presumably so we and our families and dependents can have a better life. But if we fail to plan for “Life after work”, all of the plans and effort we put into our working lives, could be jeopardized.

What will retirement look like? Are we spending too much? What if we’re not saving enough? How frequently should we be saving? Could we run out of money in retirement? Are we investing in the right places? How much will we need in retirement? Will Government and Employer pension plans cover us through retirement?

If we don’t plan for retirement, we’ll never be able to prepare for it. And an ill-prepared retirement is bound to be one filled with financial stress and chaos!

What We Can Do For You

For our clients, retirement planning doesn’t start at retirement. It starts much before! Our Retirement Planning service takes a long-term view of your financial wellbeing. We use a life-cycle approach to ensure your “Life after work” is as well-planned as your life prior to retirement.

Here’s what we do for you as part of our Retirement Planning service:

  • Your personalized retirement planning strategy: Everything we do for you centers around four pillars - Helping you plan towards your financial goals prior to retirement; Planning to ensure you have retirement income; Putting plans in place to manage your Nest Egg and yourself against potential catastrophes; Planning for your legacy.
  • Understanding your goals: Through an intensely personalized approach, we understand what your retirement goals are.
  • Analyzing where you are at: To plan a meaningful retirement, you need to know where you currently stand. We’ll help you build an in-depth financial inventory to use as part of our retirement planning process.
  • Developing the plan: Remember all those questions you had on your mind – largely unanswered? Well, we’ll work with you to create a retirement plan that addresses every one of them. When we’re done, you’ll not only know what you need (income) to fund your retirement lifestyle, and what your investments will generate; but you’ll also know how to bridge the shortfall – if any.
  • Implementing the plan: As you move closer to retirement, we’ll work closely with you to ensure the plans are implemented in a phased and orderly manner. The goal of our Retirement Planning approach is to make transitioning into retirement as seamless and stress-free as possible.
  • Supporting you make decisions on pensions and benefits: Our retirement planning professionals will be right there when you need them, with help and advice on pensions and benefits (Government or Employer): Whether to apply or not? When to apply? What to do with those funds…and much more.
  • Looking out for you in retirement and beyond: Our Retirement Planning service isn’t done yet – not by a long shot! To live a long and fulfilling retirement, you’ll need help with many other facets of your life – Health Care, Insurance, Charitable Giving and Legacy Planning. When you need our advice, our professionals will know exactly how to respond!
  • Ongoing reviews: Our Retirement Planning service ensures that we maintain a long and enduring relationship with you. We’ll continue to monitor and review your retirement plans, and consult with you frequently about any changes or updates needed to address your evolving retirement lifestyle needs.

 

Retirement Savings Accounts

When you are young and just starting a professional life, retirement might be the last thing on your mind. However, if you ask any retired person, or someone entering retirement, what advice they would give you about planning for that day, chances are they’ll say: Start as soon as you can!  

Why Retirement Savings Accounts Are Important

The best way to assure you have a comfortable retirement, is to select a retirement savings account/s that matches your retirement objectives – and start saving as much and as frequently as you can! Without such accounts to help you, or with the wrong type of savings accounts, you’ll likely find it extremely hard to meet your retirement savings goals. 

What We Can Do For You

As you start planning to save for retirement, you’ll likely have many questions that you need answered:

  • When should I start saving?
  • How much should I save?
  • How much will I need for a “comfortable” retirement?
  • What’s the best vehicle for me to save for my golden years?
  • Which “pot” of retirement savings should I tap into first?

Our professionals experienced in Retirement Savings will help address all of your questions. We’ll also help you make informed decisions about which types of savings vehicles are right to address your particular retirement goals. Not all retirement savings accounts are designed the same. For instance, some have yearly maximum contribution limits, and others have planned distribution criteria associated with them. Violation of those rules can lead to IRS-imposed premature withdrawal penalties. 

Our professionals experienced in Retirement Savings Accounts will help you navigate the plethora of saving options available to you, some of which include:

  • Individual Retirement Account (IRA): This is the most commonly used savings account available to most Americans saving for their retirement. Where a company-sponsored retirement plan isn’t available, IRAs can be used as a way for tax-deferred savings. Over the period while you work, tax-deductible “contributions”, up to an eligible amount, can be made into the account. You only pay taxes when you withdraw funds in retirement  

    Some IRA’s have contribution limitations and tax consequences for early withdrawals. Distributions from traditional IRA’s and employer sponsored retirement plans are taxed as ordinary income and, if take prior to reaching age 59 ½, may be subject to an additional 10% IRS tax penalty. Converting from a For complete details consult your tax advisor or attorney.

  • Roth IRA Account: Roth IRAs differ somewhat from traditional IRAs – which allows for tax-deferred growth opportunity of retirement savings - in that the money deposited into these accounts is from “after-tax” dollars. Subsequently, when you make withdrawals from your Roth account, you are not taxed. Additionally, your savings within the account also grow tax-free

    To qualify for the the tax-free and penalty-free withdrawal or earnings, a Roth IRA must be in place for at least five tax years, and the distribution must take place after age 59 ½ or due to death, disability, or a first time home purchase (up to a $10,000 lifetime maximum). Depending on state law, Roth IRA distributions may be subject to state taxes.

  • Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA: Some employees may have access to employer-sponsored SEP-IRA accounts. These are similar to traditional IRAs, and may sometimes use Annuities as a retirement savings vehicle

  • Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) IRA: This is yet another retirement saving plan available to working Americans saving for their retirement. SIMPLE-IRA plans mandate an employer-matched contribution, and are ideal for smaller business (less than 100 employees) 

  • Traditional 401(k) or Roth 401(k) plans: Like individual and Roth IRAs, employers can offer staff traditional 401(k) plans or Roth 401(k) plans to their employees. In some cases, for instance where an employer matches 100% of your contribution to these retirement savings accounts, it might make sense to join the plan. However, the funds are invested at the discretion of the fund manager, and you (the employee) might have no say in those decisions. We’ll help you decide whether you should participate or opt out of these plans 

  • Value-added services: We’ll not only help you choose the right retirement savings accounts for you, but we’ll ensure they are the most cost-effective and tax-advantaged for your particular situation.  If you switch jobs, we’ll also advise you on whether it makes sense to Rollover, Stay, Move or Cash out from an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan

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