FINANCIALLY FOCUSED
April 2025 Newsletter
|
Welcome to April! Springtime is here with warmer weather, longer days and everything turning green and blooming for springtime!
This month let’s talk about Retirement planning. Ask Yourself: How many times are You going to “retire”? You only have one shot to get it right and the pressure is on! You may encounter a wide range of pitfalls, obstacles and traps as you approach your golden years and while understanding common obstacles to retirement is half the battle; careful planning is the other half. Here is a list that I cover for that careful planning:
- The number one obstacle to retirement is income — or lack thereof. According to “Policy Basics: Top Ten Facts about Social Security” by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Social Security only replaces approximately 39% of needed Income. That leaves an Income gap that will need to be addressed.
- The next obstacle to retirement is the longevity risk. The longer you live, the longer your money has to last. A common Fear is running out of money during the golden years.
- The third obstacle to retirement should be a familiar one: taxes. You’ll still have to pay taxes when you retire, but there are strategies that can help you minimize the size of your Tax bill.
- Market downturns present another common obstacle to retirement. Market fluctuations are normal, so it’s likely that a market downturn will occur sometime before or during your retirement. However, there are strategies you can use to get through these troughs and increase your peace of mind.
- The next obstacle on the list is inflation. You don’t want the cost of groceries and gas to eat away at the money you’ve saved. Your financial plan should also include money that can grow and help you keep up with inflation.
- Next on the list is Medicare — or rather, the things Medicare doesn’t cover. Medicare coverage begins when you turn 65. choosing carefully among your options is important because the decisions you make will affect your level of coverage and your out-of-pocket costs, but you have options beyond signing up for Original Medicare.
- A major obstacle to retirement is long-term care, or more specifically, how you’ll pay for it. Medicare provides vital coverage for healthcare, but many people don’t realize that Medicare only provides short-term coverage for things like nursing home stays and home health services. In fact, Medicare only pays for 100 days of care in a skilled nursing facility during a single benefit period. That means some careful planning for the long term that can be expensive and deplete your money.
- The last obstacle on the list, and the toughest to talk about, is losing a spouse. The death of a spouse presents one of life’s most difficult emotional challenges, but it can also trigger financial problems. The widow’s or widower’s penalty can make it difficult for the surviving spouse to maintain his or her standard of living after the other is gone. A solid retirement strategy includes an action plan that will ensure that the surviving spouse does not need to face a lifestyle downgrade after the other passes.
It’s our goal to help you prepare for the retirement you’ve worked so hard for, carefully planning out as much as possible to avoid these obstacles and traps in retirement!
As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at any time as we are always happy to help.
Thank you!
Duane, Donna, Jessica, Cameron
|
Building a nimble strategy
No matter how squared away you think your financial strategy is, it’s probably not a bad idea to have backup you can pivot to if circumstances require it.
A Kiplinger article, You Need a Retirement Contingency Plan: Five Steps to Get It Done has some excellent insights about how you may be able to prepare your assets for future economic uncertainty and personal change.
Read More
|
Bananas are Radioactive
Bananas contain the natural isotope potassium-40, making them slightly radioactive. The human body contains roughly 16 mg of potassium-40 making you 280 times more radioactive than a banana. Not to worry, any excess potassium leaves your system within a few hours!1
|
Yes, you need an estate plan
Whether you’re a millionaire or the sum of your assets is decidedly non-millionaire-like, the fact is you likely need an estate plan — because almost everyone needs an estate plan! A Kiplinger article, Ten Common Estate Planning Mistakes has some excellent insights.
Read More
|
Apple-Maple Glazed Ham
This delicious Ham recipe is the perfect refresh for your Easter Ham! With flavors of apple, maple, and more this recipe will not disappoint.
Get Cooking!
|
1 https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/fun-facts
Advisory services are offered by Optimum Wealth LLC a Registered Investment Advisor in the State of New Hampshire. Insurance products and services are offered through Optimum Financial LLC dba Optimum Benefits, an affiliated company. Optimum Wealth LLC and Optimum Financial LLC are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any government agency, and are not engaged in the practice of law.
Outgoing and incoming emails are electronically archived and subject to review and/or disclosure to someone other than the recipient. We cannot accept requests for securities transactions or other similar instructions through email. We cannot ensure the security of information e-mailed over the Internet, so you should be careful when transmitting confidential information such as account numbers and security holdings. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to this message and deleting it from your computer.
|
|
