Social Security Rules You Should Know

Are you finally able to collect Social Security this year? Welcome to reirement!

There’s lots to learn with every new step in life and this one will be no different. Social Security benefits can be taxed. Did you know that? They can – and even more depending on where you live. Some states require them to be included in state taxes. Sheesh!

The Motley Fool posted an article that will explain 2 rules you should know:

1. When your benefits become taxable

2. What happens if you work when receiving benefits.

Check out their article for all the details.

Taking Advantage of 401(k) Catch-up Contributions

Did you know that you can contribute more money to your 401(k) plan once you reach the age of 50? These catch-up contributions also come with tax savings!

US News posted an article this week that will give you all the details, but to hit the highlights:

For 2021, you can make catch-up contributions to your 401(k) for up to $6500. You can also defer paying income tax on as much as $19, 500. That gives you as much as $26,000 that gets a temporary pass on taxation.

If you’re currently contributing to your 401(k) using a percentage of your income, be sure you adjust the percentage to meet the new minimum once you turn 50.

Want to know more about the tax benefits of this or how to make these catch-up payments, check out the article on USNews.com

New Bill for “SECURE Act 2.0” Could Change Retirement System

A new effort is gaining support by some lawmakers in Washington. The House Ways and Means committee is unveiling a new bill that hopes to secure retirement for many with a new bipartisan bill.

Some of its notable features include automatic enrollment in company retirement plans if one is offered. It’s also rumored to raise the mandatory age for distributions again. This age would move (again) from 72 to 75.

Secure Act 2 hopes to also provide tax breaks if certain people start saving for retirement and would likely explore the possibility of a national retirement plan.

Read more about it here.

Go (Which Way), Young Man?

Horace Greeley has long been quoted as saying, “Go west young man…”. American pioneering spirit led adventurers and down-trodden alike to seek out a place that was best for their families or a place that gave them opportunities they desired.

Today, it looks like Go South, young man might be the trend.

According to Audrey Conklin of FoxBusiness.com, Florida is seeing record growth as nearly 1000 people move there each day during our current pandemic state.

Home sales are doubling while sales of single family homes and condos in northern states are lower than in years prior.

Why? It seems to be an issue of lower taxes and being able to get more for your money.

Read more about it at https://www.foxbusiness.com/.

RetirementView Support for Cloud Storage and Shared Network Folders

Starting with release 2020.2 we have added new support to make it easier to use cloud storage systems like:

Google Drive

Dropbox

iCloud Drive

OneDrive

Box

IDrive

Basically when you create New files, you can move the files to use your cloud storage. When you do that, RetirementView will now ask you if you want to use that location as the “default” for creating, opening, and saving your data files.

If you say “Yes” then every time you create or open a file it will default to your cloud storage location.

This Popup Will Show If you Change Where you Open or Create a Data File

The advantage is that it saves a LOT of clicks each time you are working with files.

This same update also helps if you are using a “Shared Folder” on a network in your office. You can go there once and it will ask if you want that as your default. If you say “Yes” then you won’t have to do all those clicks again!

Hope you enjoy this new enhancement…

Thanks and Happy Planning!

Living to Age 110 – Would you run out of Money?

In a recent news article, a Texas grandmother named Elizabeth Francis reached the incredible age of 110 years old!

She credits her faith in God for her long and healthy life.  You can read the full article right here.

What if you or your spouse lived to be 110?

Let’s assume you receive Social Security for some basic needs.  But that you have to supplement your Social Security with additional income in order to make ends meet in retirement.

We have selected a range of “additional” funds you would need annually.

We have then assumed a 2.5% inflation rate.

We also assume you need this extra money starting at age 65 until age 110.

The table below shows the TOTAL of all those additional funds you would need to meet the inflated annual income goal that you might need.

Some Retirement  Calculations to Review

Annual Amount Total Amount Over 45 years
$25,000 $2,037,903
$30,000 $2,445,484
$35,000 $2,853,065
$40,000 $3,260,645
$45,000 $3,668,226
$50,000 $4,075,807

 

Where are you going to get all those funds?

And how much do you really need?

Well if you download the RetirementView software, you can enter EVERYTHING you can think of that might affect your retirement finances.

Here are a few items it covers (but not an exhaustive list… you can enter way more):

  • Your expenses in retirement
  • Inflation
  • All your Investments (Qualified, Non-Qualified, Taxable and Tax Free)
  • Social Security
  • Pensions
  • Growth and Returns
  • Taxes
  • Life insurance
  • Annuities
  • Part-time Job
  • Sale of Business
  • Downsizing your Home
  • Rental Properties
  • Severance packages
  • Increased medical costs or long term care

RetirementView to the Rescue

When you enter all the info, it takes only about 15-20 minutes.

Then VOILA you can see for yourself if you are going to “run out of money”.

Check out this sample screen.  The RED means you have run out of money at that age.

Running out of Money except for Social Security

Conclusion: You Need to Run Your Own Numbers

Would you like to give this a try and see how YOUR info will play out in retirement?

There is no easier, more accurate, or secure way to run your own numbers than with RetirementView.

Our motto is “Keep It Simple” so it’s not hard to do or “confusing”.

You can start by downloading the Mac or Windows version.

Thanks and HAPPY PLANNING!

Radical New Strategy for Advisors in Asset Planning

 

Family asset planning

Have you ever considered providing asset planning for the whole family when consulting with your clients?

Forbes October magazine has an interesting article about a pilot program from an advisor with Wells Fargo.

We probably all know of situations in which a family death began a feud over what money and possessions remain. It doesn’t seem to matter if it’s great amounts of money or small. It always has the potential to get unpleasant.

The program highlighted in this article seeks to counsel families in how to plan for the inheritances – before death – so that everyone makes the best use of the assets. Parents are finding comfort through this program in discussing their financial standing openly and honestly with their children so that they can plan to make the best use of their inheritance. It also gives peace of mind to the parents that their gifts will be used appropriately and not be wasted on foolish gains and activities.

The clients noted in the article are, admittedly, dealing with massive amounts of money. Maybe you have some of those clients yourself. Maybe your clients with less money could benefit from a similar approach as well.

Take a look at the article and see what you think. This program is reporting huge success and say they have people beating down the doors to be involved. Could this work for you in your practice?

Is Retirement Possible Without $1 Million?

Retirement$1 Million Retirement

Of course entering retirement with a million dollars makes things easier, but you can absolutely live well without having met that magical goal. Preparing ahead of time and making small changes – or big ones – can pay off big in the long run.

5 Strategies

There are a few things you can try to help meet your goals like boosting your Social Security payments. Here are 5 strategies, from our friends at USNews.com that  you can employ to make your (less than $1K 401(k)) retirement a joy!

We would love to know if any of these suggestions have worked for you or if you think any of these strategies might help. We would also love to hear what else might have made your less than $1K savings work for you.

 

What if YOU lived to be 117?

Well it’s official the oldest living person on planet Earth is Emma Morano.

emma-morano-small

She lives in ITALY of all places.  What is her secret to long life?

 

She says eating 2 raw eggs every day!

Now what will happen if you live to be 117?

Can you even afford it?

Our programming gnomes put together a little spreadsheet for you to figure it out.

Click here to see if you can afford it

On this spreadsheet it will show you how much money you need to live from age 65 all the way to age 117 at two inflation rates – one at 2% and the other at 3%.

LongevityCalc-Snapshot Small v2

Click the image to go to the Spreadsheet on Google

Here is what we did.  We assume that you retire at age 65 and then live to be 117 years old.

We assumed that you need just $50,000 of income starting at age 65.  Yeah we realize that you may require much different income.

We then used a 2% inflation rate in one set of calculations and a 3% inflation rate in the other set of calculations.

The spreadsheet then TOTALS up all of the income from age 65 to 117 to give us a running total of dollars you would need over that time period.

So can you make it for 52 years in retirement?   Click here to find out.

[If you want to read the full CNN article, you can access it here.]

 

It’s National Save For Retirement Week

Are you saving for retirement – saving enough or even saving at all?

Check out this article at USA Today by John Shepherd to see if you’re part of the 52%.

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