Lifestyle Planning:
Making The Case
- Have you thought about how you pay yourself? Seems like a simple enough concept…. Right?
- Purposeful savings strategies account for a range of variables including:
What do your inflows look like? Do you have a salary? Are you bonus-eligible? Commission-eligible? What types of equity compensation do you have? And if you own your own business, that adds a whole new level of complexity.
What benefits are available to you through your company? What are the details of those plans? Should you be using them? How do you take advantage of the benefits offered to you? Is your paycheck being sent directly to savings? How are you automating your savings process?
……And these types of questions still apply if you are retired:
How much guaranteed income do you have? How does that compare with your expenses? How does that mean that your other assets should be invested? What sources of funds do you have? How are those treated for tax purposes? Do you have a plan in place to withdraw in a way that keeps the money in your pocket?What do you use your money for? Are there potential efficiencies that can be created by aligning different spending goals with sources of money?
How We Help
- Perform a thorough analysis of your income, expenses, goals and personality to best understand how to customize a savings approach.
Example: many of the sales executives that we work with are paid on commission. Some months will be large checks, and others small. Oftentimes, managing a fixed budget can be tough for someone in that situation. We can help create a direct deposit strategy to turn your irregular income into a fixed salary.
- Review any benefits information that you may have through an employer to determine the highest and best use of those resources.
Example: your company gives you an incentive to buy company stock every 6 months. As a reward, they will allow you to buy the stock at a discount. This discount effectively creates a pay raise that can add thousands to your bottom line annually.
- Discuss optimal withdrawal strategies while drawing down pensions, social security, and investments.
Example: You have just retired at 65 years old. You’ve heard that you “should” wait until 70 to take your social security. You are wondering how to best draw from your investments to supplement your income for the time being. Mathematically, drawing from the correct account first can make hundreds of thousands of dollars of impact over time and can significantly influence the long-run outcomes of the plan. We implement a plan to take withdrawals, in conjunction with Roth conversions, in order to take advantage of the growth offered through social security, as well as the handful of years at lower tax rates before required distributions.