Retirement and Estate Planning
Retirement Planning and Estate Planning from FranklyFinancial.com in
New Jersey
| Why are retirement planning and estate planning so important? Why do
they seem so difficult? We’ll explain that here and show how they can be
made easier. |
Planning for Major Life Events
There are many life events that carry potentially difficult
outcomes. Your retirement shouldn’t be one of them. Yet people often
avoid retirement
planning and estate planning, causing problems for them in their
retirement and problems their heirs after they’re
gone. The natural progression of financial planning to retirement
planning and estate planning will help minimize the difficulty of
various life events.
Retirement Planning
 Your retirement accounts probably represent the largest portion of
your net worth. Individual Retirement Accounts, (IRAs), Annuities,
401(k)s, 403(b)s, SEPs, SIMPLEs and other “qualified” accounts are all
included under retirement planning. “Qualified” just means they grow tax
deferred, and in some cases allow for tax exempt withdrawals. Pensions
and Social Security also provide retirement income but can only be
utilized by you and your spouse in most cases.
They do not form part of
your legacy for your heirs. IRAs can be the core of that legacy, if properly planned.
Changing tax laws can even confuse IRA custodians so most people
shouldn’t be expected to understand them. That's why you
should rely on a retirement planning expert like
Frank McKinley in New
Jersey.
There comes a time in our lives when we need to add our retirement
plan to the overall picture. Those who start accumulating for retirement
later than others always wish they had begun the process earlier. The
single greatest fear among retirees today is living past their assets.
And just because they are on ‘fixed incomes’ doesn’t mean they live with
fixed expenses.
Your financial independence is directly tied to the strength of your
retirement plan. Your ability to leave the workforce at some point is
dependent on having a sufficient income from pensions and social
security or your investments. The age at which you are able to do this
is a direct result of successful retirement planning. Moving 401(k)
assets from a previous employers plan to a self directed IRA, called a
‘roll over’ is one of the simplest and most important things you can do
for yourself and your family.
As you can imagine, a well diversified portfolio which has grown tax
deferred in retirement accounts is the most efficient method of
accomplishing this. Other tax efficient investments can help too. But
the main thing is to start as early as possible and leave those
investments intact.
Estate Planning
 Estate planning is closely tied to retirement planning. Since we
don’t want to live past our assets, we will need a sufficient base to
generate income without depleting our principal. This in turn will form
our estate, or legacy which may be passed on to our children,
grandchildren and charitable causes we wish to support. Estate planning
must therefore take into account estate taxes, efficient wealth
transference and when appropriate, charitable giving.
This aspect of financial planning can be distressing because nobody
wants to spend time and effort planning to die. It may entail the
distribution of assets before death to reduce the estate tax impact.
Like the fear of living past one’s assets, the suggestion of giving an
asset away, even if it’s just control over that asset, can seem scary.
Estate planning can actually create more income for you now by using
certain tax advantaged vehicles such as a trust, life insurance, an
annuity or a family foundation. And, even though estate tax laws are
changing favorably on the federal level, they aren’t necessarily
following suit on the state level as states like New Jersey are taking
up the slack with their own estate taxes.
So, a good retirement planner can lead to a happy retirement, just as
an adept estate planner can help ensure that future generations are
cared for. You wouldn’t want your retirement funds relinquished to taxes
simply because you failed to designate beneficiaries properly! A
specialist like Frank McKinley in New Jersey can see that your plans
flow together to provide an enjoyable retirement and carry out your
wishes.
| Retirement planning and estate planning are
two essential life planning issues that will benefit from the
expertise of Frank McKinley in New Jersey.
Contact Frank today! |
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