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Call Us To help develop strategies designed for your future, it's important for your financial professional to see a complete, 360-degree view of your financial picture, including how your retirement assets are integrated and work with one another. Our financial strategies help you pursue your financial goals. We can work in concert with tax professionals or attorneys in your or our network to advise you on specific aspects of your financial strategy.
Investment advisory products and services made available through AE Wealth Management, LLC (AEWM), a Registered Investment Advisor. Any and all other services referenced are an outside business activity not offered through or supervised by AE Wealth Management. Investment advisory services provided by AEWM. Secure Money Strategies, LLC, AEWM [and any other entities] are all separate and not affiliated entities.
Retirement income strategies are not just for the wealthy. As retirement nears, the traditional strategy has been to move growth-seeking products to more conservative, fixed-income products. According to the Social Security Retirement & Survivors Benefits: Life Expectancy Calculator, the average 65-year-old male lives another 19.1 years and the average female lives another 21.7 years.¹ This means you may need to plan for your retirement savings to last two decades and possibly much longer.
One drawback to a longer life is the greater possibility of outliving your savings — creating all the more reason to develop a retirement income strategy designed to last a longer lifetime. According to a 2021 study from Zety, a career website, a survey of 800-plus Americans found that 40% were more afraid of retiring than they were of dying.²
A significant loss in the years just prior to and/or just after you retire could negatively impact the level of income you receive over the course of your life. In fact, if a loss occurs earlier in life, there is also the chance that you may have more time to recover (versus a loss occurring later in retirement). Why? Simply because a smaller pool of assets is left to sustain you throughout your retirement years, and your assets may not have as much time to recover.
We can help you design a guaranteed* retirement income strategy that incorporates insurance and annuity vehicles to create opportunities for long-term growth as well as guarantee* income throughout your retirement.
1 Social Security Administration. "Retirement & Survivors Benefits: Life Expectancy Calculator." https://www.ssa.gov/oact/population/longevity.html. Accessed July 31, 2022.
2 Gabrielle Olya. GoBankingRates. Aug. 7, 2021. "40% of Americans Fear Retirement More Than Death — Here's Why." Accessed July 31, 2022.
* All investments are subject to risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss in periods of declining values. Any references to guarantees or lifetime income generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investment products. Insurance and annuity product guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.
Because markets can be volatile, you may want your financial strategies to include some guaranteed* income products. For example, annuities, which are insurance products with guarantees*, can provide a source of supplemental income throughout your retirement.
Twenty-first century asset preservation calls for more than just strategic asset allocation. Including products like annuities in your retirement income strategy can help preserve your money from declines due to market losses.
Diversifying your retirement assets among a variety of vehicles — both through insurance products and investments, depending on what is appropriate for your situation — may help you in meeting your retirement income goals throughout your lifespan.
* Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal. Any references to protection benefits, safety, security, asset protection generally refer to fixed insurance products, never securities or investment products. Insurance and annuity product guarantees are backed by the financial strength and claims-paying ability of the issuing insurance company.
Rising taxes may be a concern for many individuals approaching retirement. It may be important to incorporate tax-efficient strategy planning into your financial decisions.
Investing in or purchasing a tax-deferred vehicle means your money can compound interest for years, deferring income taxes until the funds are distributed (both principal and gains are taxed), potentially allowing it to earn interest at a faster rate. Few financial vehicles avoid taxes altogether. Some insurance products allow you to defer paying them until retirement — when you may be in a lower tax bracket.
As the oldest baby boomers begin to wind through their 60s, one of the biggest concerns may not be outliving income, but outliving good health.
For retirees, home health care can cost around $60,000 or more per year¹ and nursing home care can run as high as $108,000 per year.² Does your retirement income strategy account for this kind of possibility? Would you be prepared for twice that amount as a married couple?
Considering that you could have to reduce your financial means before Medicaid will pay for long-term care and neither your employer group nor major medical insurance will cover long-term care, you may want to consider planning ahead for these potential expenses.
We can help evaluate your situation and explore options for long-term care coverage.
1,2 Genworth. "Cost of Care Survey 2021." https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care.html. Accessed July 31, 2022.
We can refer you to estate planning attorneys and CPAs, if needed, to help you with your estate planning and tax services to help meet your individual needs.
Legacy planning is simply determining (while you’re still alive) where your assets should go after you die. Without a properly structured legacy plan, your wishes may not be fulfilled, and there may be unintended consequences for your loved ones.
While the concept is simple, the vehicles, planning and implementation process can be rather complex. Because of the estate tax laws and emerging vehicles to help you preserve and transfer your assets effectively, it’s important to work with experienced estate planning professionals who stay current in this field and advise clients on a day-to-day basis.
IRA accounts have become one of the largest types of assets inherited by beneficiaries. If you don’t anticipate needing your IRA money in retirement, you may wish to consider a legacy planning strategy that potentially reduces taxes and potentially increases the payout your beneficiaries may receive upon your death.
You may want to use some of the value in your IRA to provide your beneficiary(ies) a regular stream of income while leaving the balance of IRA assets invested for tax-deferred growth. The result may yield substantially more money paid out over the course of your beneficiary’s lifetime. We can help you evaluate your financial situation to determine if IRA legacy planning could help you meet your goal of structuring a long-lasting inheritance for your beneficiaries.
There are many different types of trusts, and they can be complex to set up and execute. However, a trust can be a very flexible and advantageous means to transfer your assets in the future. Most trusts can also provide current benefits, such as tax deferral and deductions. Unlike a will, a trust may help avoid probate upon your death. To learn more about trusts and how they may benefit you, we will be happy to help you consult a qualified estate planning attorney that can assist you with these issues.
In the past, retirees could typically count on three sources of retirement income that divided roughly into thirds. The three sources of income have traditionally been government-funded Social Security, employer-sponsored defined-benefit plans (e.g.,, pensions), and now more commonly, defined-contribution plans (e.g., 401(k)s, 403(b)s, etc.) and individual savings. With this traditional scenario, both the government and employer-sponsored plans of the strategy were considered predictable — reliable income sources that may also be adjusted for inflation, like Social Security benefits. Only one-third of the plan, individual savings, was the responsibility of the individual. Today, however, due to employer-sponsored plans evolving from guaranteed pension payouts to more defined-contribution plans, which generally result in a payout in retirement based upon level of individual participation, the majority of the burden for retirement income seems to have shifted to the individual. For this reason, you may want to consider a guaranteed* lifetime income component to your retirement strategy. In short, adding an annuity may be an opportunity to help ensure a portion of your retirement income will be guaranteed*.
An annuity is a contract you purchase from an insurance company. For the premium you pay, you receive certain fixed and/or variable interest crediting options able to compound tax deferred until withdrawn. When you are ready to receive income distributions, this vehicle offers a variety of guaranteed* payout options. Most annuities have provisions that allow you to withdraw a percentage of the value of the contract each year up to a certain limit. However, withdrawals can reduce the value of the death benefit, and excess withdrawals above the restricted limit typically incur “surrender charges” within the first five to 15 years of the contract. Withdrawals may reduce the contract value and the value of any protection benefits, and because they are designed as a long-term retirement income vehicle, annuity withdrawals made before age 59½ are subject to a 10 percent penalty fee, and all withdrawals may be subject to income taxes.
Life insurance isn't for those who have died — it's for those who are left behind. When shopping for life insurance, consider needs such as replacing income so your family can maintain its standard of living, as well as paying for your funeral.
Term insurance generally provides coverage for a specified period of time and pays out a specified amount of coverage to your beneficiary only if you die within that time period. In a level premium term policy, you pay the same amount of premium from the first day of the policy until the term ends. A permanent insurance policy, on the other hand, will stay permanently in effect for the rest of your life so long as the policy does not lapse.
Probate is the potentially lengthy and costly legal process that oversees the transfer of your assets upon your death. If you do not have named beneficiaries, a will or set up a trust to transfer your property when you die, state law will determine what happens to your estate. This is called intestate. Without a will or some other form of legal estate planning, there is the chance that more of your property may not go where you want it to. We can refer you to a qualified estate planning attorney that can assist you in these matters.
When you change jobs or retire, there are four things you can generally do with the assets in any employer-sponsored retirement plan:
Rolling over from one qualified plan to another qualified plan allows your money to continue growing tax-deferred until you receive distributions in retirement.
If you determine to cash out of an IRA or convert it to a Roth IRA, we can help you find suitable vehicles to help you reach your retirement income goals.
Please remember that converting an employer plan account to a Roth IRA is a taxable event. Increased taxable income from the Roth IRA conversion may have several consequences including (but not limited to) a need for additional tax withholding or estimated tax payments, the loss of certain tax deductions and credits, and higher taxes on Social Security benefits and higher Medicare premiums. Be sure to consult with a qualified tax advisor before making any decisions regarding your IRA.
To schedule a time to discuss your financial future, contact us at securemoneystrategies@gmail.com or call us at 352-861-0952 today!
By submitting your personal information, you consent to be contacted by a financial professional regarding your financial strategy for retirement.
By submitting your personal information, you consent to be contacted by a financial professional regarding your financial strategy for retirement.
By submitting your personal information, you consent to be contacted by a financial professional regarding your financial strategy for retirement.
