Retirement Planning - Mint Wealth Advisors
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Are your Savings and investments on a course that’s destined to lead to a retirement income shortfall? Taking these steps can help improve your long-term outlook.

 

During Your Working Years, the elements of a sound retirement income plan include:

 

Contributing to a retirement account

Your Retirement Accounts: if your employer offers a retirement account, be sure you are taking advantage of it, and if the employer offers to match any of your contribution, try to get the maximum match. This is an automatic return on your investment.

An advisor will help you review your employer plan investment choices, so that your investment suits your age and risk-tolerance. And if your employer does not have a plan, Mint Wealth Advisors help you set up your own Individual Retirement Account.

Likewise, if you leave an employer, you may have a vested balance in the retirement plan. We’ll help you shelter the funds and invest them for the future.

Reducing debt over time

Reducing Debt: you know the feeling when you make your last payment on a loan? Elation, freedom and a touch of pride. You’ll want to have that independence during your retirement years. There will be expenses that creep up in retirement, and you’ll be glad to have a nice rainy day fund working for you, rather than a credit line that you pay interest on.

Adding up your expected income and expenses in retirement

Compare Income to Expenses in Retirement: more lunches or golf with friends? More trips to AC or the theatre district? What about winters spent somewhere warm? The retirement years are ‘front-loaded’ with the joy of pursuing your favorite things. In time, we slow down a bit and have new medical and dental expenses. You’ll want to factor these in and save for them ahead of time while you’re healthier.

At least 12 months before you retire, assess your resources for generating income. Try living off your expected retirement income instead of your full salary. A Mint Wealth Advisor can help you organize your income-generating assets with the goal toward meeting your expenses.

The number one question impacting your retirement lifestyle and budget is Where Will You Live? Will you sell your home, buy a less expensive home, or rent? Will you move to a retirement community or nearer to family?

Factoring in your anticipated Social Security benefits

Navigating Social Security: create your own account with Social Security so you can check your benefits and see the projections over time. For many Americans, Social Security is their most secure retirement income. If you are married, or have been married in the past, you will want to factor in your spouse’s or former spouse’s projections as well. Mint Wealth Advisors have the financial planning programs to run various Social Security alternatives for you. If you’re not retiring at 65, you still need to sign up for Medicare, whether you use it or not.

 

When You Reach Retirement, generating income and making healthcare decisions take center stage.

Develop your retirement account withdrawal strategy.

If you participate in a workplace retirement plan, contact your employer’s human resources office to learn what withdrawal options are available to you. Once you have that information handy, you’ll need to decide whether to begin withdrawing money from your taxable accounts first or from tax-deferred accounts or a combination of the two. Your advisor will present various scenarios and their tax consequences.

Keep in mind that the IRS requires most retirement savers to begin taking withdrawals known as required minimum distributions (“RMDs”) from employer-sponsored retirement accounts and traditional IRAs after reaching age 72. If you don’t take your RMDs, you could be forced to pay substantial tax penalties. RMD rules recently became less complex, but it’s still important that you understand them and implement an appropriate distribution strategy.

Stay current in matters of medical insurance

Review your post-retirement medical insurance and long-term care arrangements. Mint Wealth Advisors can provide you with quotes on a wide range of insurance plans to address multiple objectives.

 

Your retirement security is very important. A smart first step to creating and keeping your retirement planning on track is to contact Mint Wealth Advisors.

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