One stop. Many options.
Preparing for retirement should create excitement, not concern. Yet for many, that’s not necessarily the case.
The average retiree in the US will not be able to last through retirement on savings alone.1 Additionally, three in four Americans remain highly anxious about their overall retirement outlook.2
That’s where we come in.
We use a variety of investment products to help you build financial strategies. From tax-efficient strategies to investment advice to protecting some of your assets — we’ll cover as many bases as possible to help you create a strategy that supports your retirement lifestyle and long-term financial goals.
Once we understand your financial situation, risk tolerance and investment objectives, we can help you decide which types of products and services fit within your financial strategy.
1.Retirees Worldwide Will Outlive Their Savings by a Decade – and Women Will Fare Worse. https://www.weforum.org/press/2019/06/retirees-worldwide-will-outlive-their-savings-by-a-decade-and-women-will-fare-worse/
2.Amid Political Division, Americans United in Retirement Worry. https://www.nirsonline.org/2021/02/amid-political-division-americans-united-in-retirement-worry/
At Basildon Financial, LLC, we can offer you the following products and services:
Will I have enough?
Life expectancy in the United States continues to climb.1 While that’s great news, one drawback to a longer life is the greater possibility of outliving your savings. In fact, 49% of Americans Fear Running Out of Money in Retirement2
Figuring out the best way to make your savings stretch over the next 25 to 30 years can not only be confusing, it can also be overwhelming.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Insurance products like annuities can provide a steady and reliable income stream for the rest of your life, while investment products create opportunities for long-term growth. We can help you incorporate both in a financial strategy designed to put you on the path to the retirement lifestyle you want.
1 Living Longer: Historical and Projected Life Expectancy in the United States, 1960 to 2060: https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/
publications/2020/demo/p25-1145.pdf
2 Almost Half of Americans Fear Running Out of Money in Retirement” https://www.aarp.org/retirement/planning-for-retirement/info-2019/retirees-fear-losing-money.html
Time could be on your side when it comes to investing.
Generally speaking, the longer you invest the more potential your money has to grow. If you are still trying to recover from losses in recent years and you’re looking to get back on track to accumulating wealth, you may want to consider a more aggressive asset allocation with at least a portion of your money. However, those who’ve lost in the stock market may sometimes be a little more wary of approaches that increase their market risks.
If that sounds like you, there are more conservative investment options available that provide the potential for wealth accumulation. Using these investment options in conjunction with insurance contracts such as annuities can help you design a more conservative retirement strategy. After all, the last thing you want to do in retirement is lose more ground during another market correction.
Don’t put all your (NEST)eggs in one basket.
You’ve got plans — a lot of them. Wouldn’t it be more fun to focus on your dreams than constantly worrying about what the market’s doing?
Diversifying your retirement assets among a variety of vehicles — including a mix of both insurance products and investments, depending on what is appropriate for your situation — may offer you the best chance of meeting your retirement income goals.
Anyone who invests in the market should understand it involves potential risk of principal. So, to provide some security not found in the stock market, you may want to include some insurance products in your financial strategy. These products, such as annuities, can provide supplemental income throughout retirement and protect your money from declines due to stock market losses.
You worked hard for your assets. Now they can work for you.
Inflation, unexpected expenses, once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunities… Predicting the unpredictable is impossible. That’s why it may be prudent to have a certain amount of your nest egg in investment products.
Investing involves risk, and there are no ways to guarantee that you won’t lose money, but having a certain portion of your assets in the market gives you the opportunity to build on your existing wealth. Over time, that growth potential could help you offset the effects of inflation and other factors that erode the purchasing power of your assets — assets you may be counting on to see you to and through retirement.
From stocks and bonds to mutual funds and retirement accounts, we welcome the opportunity to help you figure out where investment products might fit in your overall financial strategy.
What’s the best way to handle old retirement plans and accounts?
When you change jobs or retire, there are four things you can generally do with the assets in any employer-sponsored retirement plan:
When you change jobs or retire, there are four things you can generally do with the assets in any employer-sponsored retirement plan:
- Leave the money where it is
- Take the cash (and pay income taxes and perhaps a 10 percent additional federal tax if you are younger than age 59½)
- Transfer the money to another employer plan (if the new plan allows)
- Roll the money over into an IRA
Rolling over from one qualified plan to another qualified plan allows your money to continue growing tax-deferred until you receive distributions in retirement. We can help you determine if a rollover is the right move for you.
Did you know there are over 2,700 rules to Social Security claiming?
Most people know of about a dozen Social Security claiming rules. Pause for a minute and see how many you can list. Now imagine you are playing a board game against someone who created the game. There are over 2,700 rules and you know less than 50 of them. How well do you think you will do? Social Security is a system you have paid into and you deserve to collect all the benefits you are entitled to. That is where we can help. By using all the rules at our disposal, we can craft a Social Security maximization plan customized to you. No more losing that board game because you didn’t know hundreds and hundreds of rules.
When it comes time to retire with a pension, making the right choice for you can make all the difference in the world.
If you are married, should you choose 100%, 75% or a 50% survivor benefit for your spouse. This will depend on many factors we can help you sort through. The obvious ones are how much income will the surviving spouse need especially given that one Social Security check will no longer be received. The not so obvious factors can include health status and longevity expectations. Often we find people don’t realize that married filing jointly comes with much friendlier tax brackets then a single filer. Not only will one Social Security check be lost but taxes likely will increase on the surviving spouse. Can you really afford to leave a 50% or even 75% survivor benefit? We can help you figure that out.
If you are single, you will possibly have an important choice of leaving a death benefit. This election could affect your income.
The of course is the big question, should I roll my lump sum or leave it and take the higher payout? This involves several factors including future and legacy tax planning and estate planning to answer.
Sometimes it’s what we don’t realize we don’t know that can be the most important knowledge of all.
Who will take care of you if you are unable to care for yourself?
As the oldest baby boomers begin to wind through their 70s, one of the biggest concerns may not be outliving income, but outliving good health. With at-home care services averaging $23.50per hour1 and assisted living facility costs averaging $4,300 per month,2 it’s understandably daunting. 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 health insurance 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 determine what kinds of products could fit into a comprehensive long-term care strategy, one that is suited to your needs and circumstances.
1 Genworth Financial. March 2015. “Genworth 2015 Cost of Care Survey.” https://www.genworth.com/dam/Americas/US/PDFs/Consumer/corporate /130568_040115_gnw.pdf Accessed Aug. 17, 2015. 2 Ibid.
If taxes rise in the future, will it cut into your retirement savings?
Rising taxes may be a concern for anyone — especially for individuals approaching retirement. Having a solid strategy in place for how you will pay taxes on your retirement income can be an important component to living on a fixed income and avoiding surprises come tax time.
Investing in or purchasing a tax-deferred vehicle means your money can compound interest for years, without paying current income taxes, potentially allowing it to earn interest at a faster rate. Tax-deferred vehicles only allow you to defer paying income taxes until the money is withdrawn — presumably during retirement when you may be in a lower tax bracket. However, few financial vehicles avoid taxes altogether.
Our firm is not permitted to offer, and no statement contained herein shall constitute, tax or legal advice. You should consult a legal or tax professional on any such matters.
What will your legacy be?
IRA accounts have become one of the largest types of assets inherited by loved ones. Recently tax laws have changed reducing your ability to stretch these assets over the lifetime of your heirs. As with most things in life, there is often more than one option or solution.
These accounts combined with your other assets should be carefully planned when leaving to loved ones or charities. We certainly do not want to harm our loved ones by leaving too much at once and we certainly don’t want to pay unnecessary taxes either.
We can help you evaluate your financial situation to determine if legacy planning could help you, and we can work with attorneys and tax professionals to help you meet your goal of structuring a long-lasting inheritance for your loved ones and charities
Life insurance isn’t for you — it’s for those you leave behind.
If helping loved ones maintain a standard of living, and avoid financial hardships after your passing is a priority for you, life insurance products can help. A general rule is that you may want to seek coverage between five and seven times your gross annual income. As far as the various types of policies go, they can generally be placed into one of two categories: term and permanent.
Term insurance generally provides coverage for a specified period of time and pays out a specified amount of coverage to your beneficiaries only if you die within that time period. A permanent insurance policy, on the other hand, will stay permanently in effect for the rest of your life, as long as premiums continue to be paid.
If you’ve ever worried about outliving your retirement savings, you’re not alone.
A recent study found that 67 percent of Americans indicated they would be willing to give up smaller pay increases in exchange for steady and reliable income in retirement. In the same study, 78 percent said the disappearance of pensions has made it harder to achieve the American dream.1
With pension offerings on the decline, you may want to consider a fixed income component to your financial strategy. In short, adding an annuity may be an opportunity to help ensure a portion of your retirement income will be guaranteed.
What is an annuity?
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 — some even for life.
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 — some even for life.
Most annuities have provisions that allow you to withdraw a percentage of the value of the contract each year up to a certain limit. Annuities are designed as a long-term retirement income vehicle and to provide lifetime income in your retirement years.
1 The National Institute on Retirement Security. “Retirement Security 2015: Roadmap for Policy Makers – Americans’ Views of the Retirement Crisis.” March 2015. https://www.aarp.org/retirement/planning-for-retirement/info-2019/retirees-fear-losing-money.html
No hype, no obligation
As an independent financial services firm, we work closely with several insurance carriers to help create customized solutions that fit your needs.
Whether you’re a new Medicare beneficiary or a longtime Medicare Supplement owner, we’re here to help you explore your plan options. As part of our commitment to creating you-focused strategies, we offer no-obligation supplemental insurance quotes; that means no hassle, and no pressure to apply.
*This is not endorsed by the U.S. government or associated with any federal Medicare program
We can also refer you to professionals who provide the following services:
What’s the best way to leave money to loved ones?
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. Trusts can also provide current benefits, such as tax deferral and deductions. Unlike a will, a trust may help avoid probate upon your death.
We are happy to work together with you and a qualified estate planning attorney to help you learn more about trusts and ensure they work in concert with your overall financial strategy.
Our firm is not permitted to offer, and no statement contained herein shall constitute, tax or legal advice. You should consult a legal or tax professional on any such matters.
A will can save your loved ones time, money and hassle.
Probate is the potentially lengthy and costly court process by which a will is proved either valid or invalid. If you do not create 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 your property may not go where you wish. We can refer you to a qualified estate planning attorney who can assist you in these matters.
Our firm is not permitted to offer, and no statement contained herein shall constitute, tax or legal advice. You should consult a legal or tax professional on any such matters.
Giving back — your way.
Creating a charitable gift-giving plan may provide you with multiple tax breaks: an income tax deduction, the avoidance of capital gains on highly appreciated assets and the reduction or elimination of estate taxes on the charitable contribution upon your death.
With changes in the tax environment, there may be compelling reasons to integrate philanthropy into your financial and estate planning.
We are happy to work with you and a qualified professional to help you decide if this is a good option for you.
Our firm is not permitted to offer, and no statement contained herein shall constitute, tax or legal advice. You should consult a legal or tax professional on any such matters
What will happen to your assets when you’re gone?
Estate planning is simply determining (while you’re still alive) where your assets should go after you die. Without a properly structured estate plan, your wishes may not be fulfilled, and there may be unintended consequences for your loved ones.
While the concept may seem simple, the vehicles, planning and implementation process can be rather complex. Because of the estate tax laws and the emerging vehicles to help you protect 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.
We are happy to work with you and a qualified estate planning attorney to help you pass on the legacy you choose.
Our firm is not permitted to offer, and no statement contained herein shall constitute, tax or legal advice. You should consult a legal or tax professional on any such matters.
Are you overpaying in taxes?
Paying taxes is part of our patriotic duty, but no one wants to pay more than their fair share. This is as important as ever as you approach retirement. Don’t watch your returns and your estate dwindle as a result of legally avoidable taxes: take action early and get ahead of next year’s tax filing.
We can partner with tax professionals who help ensure that your retirement assets are allocated and distributed as tax efficiently as possible.
Our firm is not permitted to offer, and no statement contained herein shall constitute, tax or legal advice. You should consult a legal or tax professional on any such matters.
Do you have a business and want to leave it to your children or perhaps sell it going into retirement? This could even be rental income properties that you may not view by the classical definition of “business”. Like with all planning, there are many ways to handle these choices, some will be better than others for you and your family. Often business succession planning requires advice from tax professionals, CPAs and financial professionals working together as a team.
There can be significant taxes due if not handled a certain way. In addition, you will have payout considerations and legacy choices to possibly make. You have worked so hard for so many years. This part of the planning process can make it all worthwhile or not end as expected. We can help by teaming with business succession planners, CPAs and bringing our investment advice to the table to get you a well rounded look at what your options are before making any decisions.
Complimentary Guide
Medicare Cheat Sheet: 2021 Updated Edition
