Our Services

To develop a financial strategy for your future, it's important for your financial professional to see a complete, 360-degree view of your financial picture, including how your retirement assets are integrated and work with one another. In addition to the services we offer below we can refer you, if needed to tax professionals or attorneys in our network to advise you on specific aspects of your financial plan such as estate planning, trusts, probate and charitable giving.

 

Retirement Income Planning

Retirement income plans are not just for the wealthy. As you near retirement, the traditional strategy has been to move growth-seeking products to more conservative fixed-income products. This may have worked fine back when retirement was only expected to last five to ten years.

These days, however, people are living longer. It’s not unusual for someone retiring at age 65 to live to age 90 or longer. Consider that you may need to plan for your nest egg to last potentially 25 to 30 years.

A significant investment loss in the years just prior to and/or just after you retire can have a devastating impact on the level of income you receive over the course of your life. In fact, the earlier a loss occurs, the greater the chance of depleting your retirement savings. 

We can help you design an income plan incorporating insurance and investment vehicles to create opportunities for long-term growth as well as guarantee income throughout your retirement.

IRA & 401(k) Rollovers

When you change jobs or retire, there are four things you can generally do with the assets in any employer-sponsored retirement plan:

• Leave the money where it is
• Take the cash (and pay income taxes and perhaps a 10 percent additional federal tax if you are younger than age 59½)
• Transfer the money to another employer plan (if the new plan allows)
• Roll the money over into an IRA

Rolling over from one qualified plan to another qualified plan allows your money to continue growing tax deferred until you receive distributions in retirement. We can help you determine if a rollover is the right move for you, and the best vehicle to help conserve and grow your rollover assets.

 

Wealth Accumulation

Time doesn’t stand still, and neither does money. That’s why you can use time to your advantage when investing for wealth accumulation.

The longer you invest, the more time your money has to compound interest. If your portfolio has not fully recovered from losses in recent years, you may wish to consider a more aggressive allocation to make up for lost ground and get back on track to accumulating wealth.

However, given recent lessons learned in stock market investing, it is important to remember that more conservative retirement plans typically have only a portion of the assets invested in the stock market. Other allocations should be set aside for more conservative investments and/or secured income contracts. After all, the last thing you want to do is lose wealth during the next market correction.

 

Asset Protection

In recent years, we’ve seen that aggressive and conservative products, both domestic and global, can move in tandem with one another. In other words, we have experienced market scenarios in which there is very little safety anywhere—even for diversified portfolios.

Twenty-first century asset protection calls for more than just strategic asset allocation. Product allocation—buying instruments that can protect your portfolio from negative returns early in retirement—is generally considered a more effective means of protecting assets.

Diversifying your retirement assets among a variety of vehicles—both insurance and investment oriented, depending on what is appropriate for your situation—may offer you the best chance of meeting your retirement income goals throughout your lifespan.

 

IRA Legacy Planning

IRA accounts have become one of the largest types of assets inherited by beneficiaries. If you don’t anticipate needing your IRA money in retirement, you may wish to consider a legacy planning strategy to reduce taxes and increase the payout your beneficiaries will inherit upon your death.

A properly structured IRA may provide your beneficiary(ies) a regular stream of income while leaving the balance of IRA assets invested for tax-deferred growth. The result may yield substantially more money paid out over the course of your beneficiary’s lifetime. We can help you evaluate your financial scenario to determine if IRA legacy planning may be the best means for ensuring a long-lasting inheritance for your heirs.

Life Insurance

Life insurance isn't for those who have died—it's for those who are left behind. When shopping for life insurance, consider needs such as replacing income so your family can maintain its standard of living, as well as paying for your funeral and estate costs. As a rule of thumb, you should seek coverage between five and seven times your gross annual income. As far as the various types of policies go, they can generally be placed into one of two categories: Term and Permanent.

Term insurance generally provides coverage for a specified period of time, and pays out a specified amount of coverage to your beneficiary only if you die within that time period. You pay the same amount of premium from the first day of the policy until the term ends. Permanent insurance, on the other hand, does not need to be renewed. A permanent insurance policy will stay permanently in effect for the rest of your life so long as premiums continue to be paid.
 

Long-Term Care Strategies

Thanks to new prescription drugs and medical technology, people are living longer than ever before. However, one drawback to a longer life is the greater possibility of outliving your savings – creating all the more reason to develop a retirement income plan designed to last a longer lifetime.

A significant investment loss in the years just prior to and/or just after you retire can have a devastating impact on the level of income you receive over the course of your life. In fact, the earlier a loss occurs, the greater the chance of depleting your retirement savings. 

We can help you design an income plan incorporating insurance and investment vehicles to create opportunities for long-term growth as well as guarantee income throughout your retirement.

Estate Planning

Estate planning is simply determining (while you’re still alive) where your assets should go after you die. Without a properly structured estate plan, your wishes may not be fulfilled, and there may be unintended consequences for your loved ones.

While the concept is simple, the vehicles, planning and implementation process can be rather complex. Because of the estate tax laws and the emerging vehicles to help you protect and transfer your assets effectively, it’s important to work with experienced estate planning professionals who stay current in this field and advise clients on a day-to-day basis. We will be happy to refer you to a qualified estate planning attorney who can assist you with these issues.

Trusts

There are many different types of trusts, and they can be complex to set up and execute. However, a trust can be a very flexible and advantageous means to transfer your assets in the future. Most trusts can also provide current benefits, such as tax deferral and deductions. Unlike a will, a trust may help avoid probate upon your death. To learn more about trusts and how they may benefit you, we can refer you to a qualified estate planning attorney who can assist you with these issues.

 

Probate

Probate is the potentially lengthy and costly legal process that oversees the transfer of your assets upon your death. If you do not create a will or set up a trust to transfer your property when you die, state law will determine what happens to your estate. This is called intestate. Without a will or some other form of legal estate planning, there is the chance that more of your property may not go where you want it to. We can refer you to a qualified estate planning attorney who can assist you in these matters.

Charitable Giving

Creating a charitable gift-giving plan may provide you with multiple tax breaks: an income tax deduction, the avoidance of capital gains on highly appreciated assets and the reduction or elimination of estate taxes on the charitable contribution upon your death.

With changes in the tax environment, there may be compelling reasons to integrate philanthropy into your financial and estate planning. We can refer you to a qualified tax professional to help you decide if this is a good option for you. 

 

We invite you to come visit us in our office.

To schedule a time to discuss your financial future, contact us at info@bennettwealthadvisors.com or call us at (817) 472-8086 today!