4 Crucial Retirement Questions

Retirement planning can be an overwhelming process. With all the decisions to be made, your head may be spinning. So, where do you begin?

Start by asking yourself:

1. Do I have a written retirement income plan?

This is an important question! If the answer is no, you need to meet with a professional who can help. To stay retired, you need reliable, sustainable income. To preserve your standard of living, you need increasing income to compensate for inflation. You don’t want to be stressed out worrying whether or not you’ll outlive your money. A written retirement income plan will help you analyze where your income will come from and for how long. Plain and simple: there is no future without income.

2. Am I protected from the next big stock market crash?

One thing an investor may not know when it comes to investing into stocks and other equity strategies is that an account owner has the ability to set up a predetermined exit strategy, or “circuit breaker,” on their account to help potentially avoid major downturns in the market.

This predetermined investment plan can also be used to determine when to buy back into equities to try and capture opportunities. It’s very difficult to predict the markets short term, but when things turn negative, is your current plan to just ride it out, or is there a predetermined contingency plan in place?

3. Will I outlive my money?

We’ve seen it in our own families. An unexpected long-term health care crisis is a very scary, yet very real possibility. When you’re no longer able to care for yourself, who will be the one to care for you? And who will pay for it? If you’re paying for it, the possibility of outliving your money becomes much more likely and it can happen rapidly if you don’t plan ahead. We can show you how to leverage a small portion of your money to create a long-term care crisis fund.

4. Are my heirs exposed to the income-tax time bomb?

Since traditional retirement accounts are tax-deferred, usually not a penny in the account has ever been taxed. The IRS has been friendly enough to allow you to accumulate wealth for retirement; however, the IRS has plans for you.

Eventually, you have to pay the piper and if you don’t know the rules of retirement planning, your heirs may experience what we call a “ticking tax time bomb blowout.” This is when…KABOOM! They inherit your surplus of money and they end up paying taxes on the whole thing.

To schedule a time to discuss your financial future and the possible role of investments and insurance in your financial strategy, contact us at nolan@retirementguysnetwork.com or call us at 419-842-0550 today!