Are You Invested Properly for Retirement?

For anything in life, there’s a potential range of outcomes – and it’s no different with retirement. What you do early on to prepare will determine the outcome. If you’re invested properly, you will reap the reward of never having to worry about income after you stop working. Many people however stay invested for growth until after they retire and end up eating their chickens, not the eggs – cannibalizing their principal. Listen in.

Even Minor Mistakes Can Cost Big

The longer you have until you retire, the more you can afford to make mistakes. But if retirement is just around the corner for you, the margin for error is much smaller. In this show, we talk about some common mistakes I see which can turn out to be quite costly in the end, from regularly taking just a little too much money out of your portfolio to relying upon an unrealistically big return on investment. Listen in for the other 3 mistakes.

Secure Act 2.0 Implications for Retirement Plans

At the beginning of the year, Congress passed the Secure Act 2.0 which brings about some changes regarding IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans. Some of these changes are exciting, others – not so much. One of the main changes has to do with using Required Minimum Distributions to fund charitable donations, and the tax ramifications this entails. Listen in if you have an IRA or employer-sponsored retirement plan. 

Overview of Retirement Accounts

401(k), 403b, 457 and other types of retirement accounts usually have either the traditional IRA option or the Roth IRA option. What’s the difference between the two? It has to do with when you pay taxes. In a traditional retirement account, you’re going to put money into it today without paying any taxes, and you’re going to pay taxes on any amount you will withdraw from it at a later point. With a Roth account, you’re going to pay taxes today and all of the growth will be tax-free – you’ll never have to pay taxes on it again. The question is, which is better? To pay taxes now or to pay taxes later? Listen in. 

Social Security – The Spousal Benefit

I often find that the Social Security Spousal Benefit is not only a missed but also a misunderstood benefit. It is often confused with the Widow’s Benefit, but the Spousal Benefit is actually available to you while you are still living as long as you have been married for more than 10 years. Little known-fact: even if you are now divorced but you were married for over 10 years, you can still take advantage of this benefit. Listen in for more tips. 

More information about Social Security in our previous podcast: 

What You Need to Know When You Think You Know It All

Even the most successful leaders and athletes have a coach. As a matter of fact, the more successful you are, the more likely it is you didn’t get there without a coach, and you won’t move forward without one. It’s no different when it comes to retirement. Many DIY warriors may do ok during the first phase of life (the accumulation phase), but not so great when it’s time to move on to the distribution phase. Some aren’t even aware there are two phases, and that you can’t invest the same way at 60 as you did at 35.