Helping You Work Toward Reaching Your Individual Retirement Goals
With the need for retirement planning so great, it is fortunate there are so many diverse ways to save for the future. Even so, selecting the proper retirement savings vehicles requires the skilled guidance of a financial consultant who can identify and explain a variety of retirement planning strategies and help you choose the ones that are best for you.
Retirement planning raises many questions
- How would you like to live in retirement?
- How much do you need to save to retire?
- When do you hope to retire?
- What investments are right to help you reach these goals?
- How much should you save to meet your retirement goal?
Reaching your retirement goals will require the same preparation and commitment. For over a century, life expectancy in the United States has been steadily increasing. This good news carries with it the burden of accumulating assets sufficient for an extended retirement. Of equal importance is the need to allocate assets and structure distributions to ensure they last as long as they are needed.
IRA’s – Traditional, Roth & Beneficiary
Traditional, Roth, and Rollover IRAs each have their own advantages as well as certain restrictions.
For example, although Traditional IRAs often allow tax-deductible contributions and offer tax-deferred earnings, Roth IRAs* allow earnings to be withdrawn tax-free after age 59-1/2, provided the account has been open at least five years. Both allow annual contributions of $6,000 with catch-up provisions of $1,000 for those older than age 50 and make available a broad choice of investment vehicles.
Plus, both Traditional and Roth IRAs* offer a certain degree of flexibility in case you need to interrupt your savings to fund specified expenses, such as purchasing a first home or funding a child’s education. Roth IRAs must be open at least five years prior to withdrawals being taken, and normal tax rates will apply for withdrawals from Traditional IRAs.
A more specialized option, Rollover accounts are used strictly to convert funds from qualified retirement or pension plans without assuming current tax liability. With so many choices, choosing the right IRA for your needs takes careful research and consideration.
*The Roth IRA offers tax deferral on any earnings in the account. Withdrawals from the account may be tax free, as long as they are considered qualified. Limitations and restrictions may apply. Withdrawals prior to age 59 may result in a 10% IRS penalty tax. Future tax laws can change at any time and may impact the benefits of Roth IRAs. Their tax treatment may change.
Employer-sponsored Plans
Whether it’s a SEP or SIMPLE IRA, a 401(k), or a defined benefit plan, many employers offer some sort of qualified retirement plan. Contributing to these plans can be a great way to set aside pre-tax dollars for retirement. Even if you are the sole proprietor in your own business, an Individual(k) may be a useful way to save for the future while taking advantage of tax benefits today.
Although you may not have a choice about the type of retirement plan your employer offers, you can choose whether or not and how to invest in these plans. Each plan has a range of investment options and distribution considerations you’ll want to keep in mind when choosing the right plan for you. Selecting the proper investments, wisely allocating your assets, making decisions about withdrawals and required minimum distributions, and choosing what to do with plan assets when you change jobs can all be daunting tasks that are best undertaken with professional guidance.
Additional Investment Vehicles
Your financial consultant has access to a broad array of investment products such as mutual funds, annuities, individual stocks and bonds, or separately managed accounts from independent money managers. Individually, or in conjunction with other retirement accounts, these investment solutions may offer you additional avenues to reach your retirement accumulation and distribution goals. And while the options are numerous and the choices potentially confusing, your financial consultant has the knowledge to help you sort through the benefits and limitations of each.