Income Planning

"Begin with the end in mind." - Stephen Covey

What do you think of, when you think about retirement?  Do you think about going someplace warm for the winter, owning a beach house, visiting family and friends, or traveling the world?  Retirement is meant to be the best years of your life.  But, you need to plan for it.  With fewer companies offering pension plans and a lot of uncertainty about the reliability of Social Security, it is more important than ever to plan for your own retirement, and a sound plan starts by defining your income needs throughout retirement. 

Our goal is to help you create a tax efficient retirement income plan that includes the necessities as well as the little luxuries that make life worth living.  Additionally, we need to understand the larger expenses you plan on making during retirement such as that retirement trip that you’ve been waiting for, the downsizing of your current home or maybe even the purchase of a second home.

Once we understand the income you want during retirement, we can now look at the retirement income options you have available, starting with your employer’s pension plans.  We will advise you on your options contained within your employer’s plan, letting you know the pros and cons of these options, allowing you to make a more informed decision for you and your family.

Next, we advise you one of the most important financial decisions you will make during retirement and that’s when and how to elect your Social Security benefits.   With half of Americans 65 and older relying on Social Security for at least 50 percent of their family income, making the wrong choices when it comes to claiming your Social Security benefits could drastically change how you live in retirement.

The last step is determining how to most tax efficiently withdraw the remaining income you need from your retirement accounts. 

“Since IRAs were first established, the only thing most advisors and investors have worried about is how to get money into them.  Now, with baby boomers entering their retirement years, and once-secure pensions disappearing, investors will have to change their focus.  The real issue now is how to get money out of their IRAs correctly without losing an undue amount to taxes or penalties,” Mr. Slott said.  “There are very few advisors that even know what to look for,” says Slott.

Phil is an Ed Slott Master Elite Advisor (irahelp.com).  Elite Advisors are not your average Financial Advisors.   Folks think that if they are with a big broker, a big bank, or a Mutual Fund company, their advisor is up to speed with all the changing information coming into play.  This is not always the case.

“Questions? Phil Putney, CPA/PFS is a federally licensed fiduciary. Call (248) 888-7530 or click here to schedule a no obligation consultation.