When planning for retirement, there are a number of options available to you. You’re likely taking advantage of several of those retirement options, from employer-driven pre- and after-tax contribution programs to corporate benefit plans and personal savings.
While contributing to some of retirement plans, like your 401(k), is an easy, set-it-and-forget-it measure, that approach may not be optimal. You could be leaving additional money on the table if you don’t plan proactively.
In this webinar, the Willis Johnson team will highlight four guidelines to ensure you’re making knowledgeable, proactive decisions about your financial future, including garnering maximum efficiency from your employee investment benefits. From the presentation, you’ll learn:
What Your Retirement Budget Will Look Like
Before you can make decisions on your retirement saving and spending strategies, it’s important to determine the type of lifestyle you’d like to maintain in retirement. While some sources of conventional wisdom cite spending 60 percent of your previous salary annually once you’ve retired, that number is a bit vague and may not apply to everyone’s circumstances.
- You may spend less because you choose to downsize your home, or because you’ve finished putting children through college.
- Other expenses may arise, or your vision of retirement may be substantially more costly than you expected, because of costs associated with caring for aging parents, purchasing additional real estate or traveling.
What to Know About Working Post-Retirement
While the addition of new expenses in retirement may not be especially heartening, one positive about retirement cash flow is the possibility for new career ventures. More than half of all current workers intend to work at least part time after their first retirement.
That work, whether another full-time job or a part-time consultancy, can bring new motivation and excitement into your retirement. And, even more importantly, it can allow you to infuse your retirement nest egg with additional funds and stretch its lifespan.
How to Maximize Your Employers’ Investment Offerings and Incentive Plans
Once you’ve submitted your personal pre-tax contributions and your employer has provided theirs, you may think your work is complete. However, although you may have maxed out your pre-tax savings options, you still have other avenues available to you.
The webinar highlights additional ways to capitalize on savings options, including non-qualified plans, IRA rollovers and after-tax contributions. And, it discusses the IRS tax code and how you may be able to use its guidelines to maximize the effectiveness of your savings.
How to Structure Your Future Disbursements For Maximum Tax Efficiency
Once you reach retirement age, many different sources of income typically become available to you, including:
- Stock awards
- Unused benefits (such as paid time off that has accrued over the course of your career)
- Social Security disbursements
- 401(k)/IRA/pension disbursements
- Severance payments
It’s not uncommon for income in the first year of retirement to exceed the income generated the previous year, because of the confluence of these diverse income streams. Many people take those rewards in one fell swoop, then live from them for the next several years, which can have a negative impact on their tax burden.
Where tax efficiency is concerned, looking at your financial inflows in a more strategic manner can allow you to potentially reduce your tax rate and maximize your benefits. The webinar discusses how you can structure the disbursement of your income streams to lighten your tax load and spread the initiation of various income streams over multiple years.
How To Consistently Take Advantage Of Every Investment Opportunity Available To You
At each stage in the arc of life, there are financial opportunities you don’t want to miss and ones you should address to make the most of your savings efforts.
Carefully weighing your options and preparing for contingencies is an important part of your financial strategy. A seasoned and knowledgeable advisor’s years of experience can be beneficial in making these best-laid plans, because this expert has worked with other clients in similar situations.
An advisor has seen the scenarios that can arise and has provided actionable recommendations to help clients move from hoping the numbers look “pretty good” to feeling confident and prepared for retirement, a second career, or whatever the future may hold.
Watch this webinar to learn more about how you can maximize your efficiency in preparing for retirement. And, if you’re ready to connect with an advisor, we’re ready to talk about strategies that make sense and help you gain the most from your employee investment benefits.
