PLANNING FOR A RETIREMENT THAT’S BETTER THAN A VACATION

by Ronald F. Stevenson, Investment Advisor Representative and Owner & Barbara Clark Stevenson, Investment Advisor Representative and Owner
Some people spend more time planning their vacation than they spend planning for retirement. When it comes to retirement, many Americans don’t know where to begin.
It is important to have a retirement plan addressing ways to have income for life. Finding the most efficient and beneficial way to address this may impact your lifestyle and spending patterns, your asset accumulation, and your legacy planning after you retire. Satisfying that need for daily income entails first knowing how much you need and when you need it.
Knowing how much retirement income you need is different for everyone. The general rule of thumb is that a retiree will require 70 to 80 percent of their pre-retirement income to maintain their current lifestyle. Once you figure out what the amount is you need, the next step would be to find beneficial investment strategies, options and tools to help you achieve your income goals.
One of the best strategies for income planning is very similar to a portion of the vacation-planning process, which is the flight. You book your tickets, pay for the airfare and arrive at the airport. Because you have faith in the airport, you typically don’t give it much more thought. The airlines are the ones who take into consideration that not every flight goes as smoothly as planned. And, although they plan for the best, they prepare for the worst. Our income-planning process at American Financial Investments and American Financial Security takes a similar approach.
At American Financial Investments, we understand that your financial situation will change at different stages in your retirement. We project for potential health-care costs, emergencies, plans for moving or traveling, and other retirement expenses. Once we identify your various projected stages in retirement, and the associated expenses with each stage in the income planning process, we begin creating your personal income plan. Your retirement-income plan can consist of a variety of financial resources. Social Security is one of the best known ways to begin to fill a retiree’s income need, and is the foundational pillar of income planning for most anyone who is about to retire and needs a reliable source of income.
We help you determine when it is the best time for you to begin claiming your benefit in order to receive the maximum amount possible in connection with other retirement savings, 401(k)s, IRAs, pensions, etc.
Once your retirement-income plan has been completed, we then address your current financial situation in order to determine an appropriate strategy to generate specific income sources needed to help you live a happy and comfortable retirement with less financial stress.
Another part of planning for your retirement is having a well-planned tax strategy. Since we are a tax planning and preparation firm, we strategically analyze our clients’ taxes and help them form a tax strategy. The strategy is meant to help them have an understanding about what the normal tax ramifications might be of some of the investment and financial decisions that they make. A strategy might include (but is not limited to) maximizing a tax-free pillar of income, taking advantage of standard or itemized deductions, deferring your retirement plan distributions or a plan for disposition of rental assets as well as qualifying for state credits. It is important to meet with a financial team, like American Financial Security, to help you determine which strategy is right for you.
At American Financial Investments, we offer to help book your retirement flight so you can fly away from the confusion and uncertainty and help you arrive at your desired retirement destination. Call us today, and we’ll take care of your income-retirement plan to help make your retirement as enjoyable as a well-planned vacation.
For more information, call 928-771-8368, 3112 Clearwater Dr., Suite B, Prescott, AZ 86305 or visit American. Financial Investment advisory services offered through American Financial Investments, LLC a Registered Investment Advisor in the State of Arizona. Insurance products and Tax services are offered through American Financial Security, LLC. American Financial Investments, LLC and American Financial Security, LLC are affiliated companies.