Retirement Planning

Did you know that just 50% of American adults know how much they’ll need to save for retirement according to a September 2021 report by the Employee Benefits Security Administration? Even though we each spend an average of 20 years in retirement, many people just don’t think about their retirement planning ahead of time.

Even with this in mind, making these financial decisions on your own is difficult to say the least. You’ve worked hard to build your wealth, and even the most thought-out investment is never guaranteed to yield what you expect.

We founded Asset Advisory Services because we believe our professional experiences demonstrated the huge need for independent financial advisors. When you work with us as asset managers for your retirement planning needs, our fiduciary standards mean we’re laser-focused on what’s best for you — without the corporate pressure to sell you unnecessary proprietary services and products.

How Can I Determine My Retirement Income Needs?

One simple and straightforward way to determine your retirement income needs is to determine your expenses for a typical year and multiply that by 25. As we mentioned from the September 2021 report by the Employee Benefits Security Administration, the average American spends around two decades in retirement. This gives you a reasonable number with a bit of a buffer. All in all, though, no retirement calculator can give you the same information and support as a financial advisor experienced in retirement planning.

Our job as your financial planner is to alert you to anything on the horizon you might not consider. Things like inflation, market declines, healthcare costs, the increasing price of long-term care, and the legacy you leave for your heirs and/or spouse are just some of the many needs we’ll help you plan for.

When Should I Start Planning for Retirement?

You should start planning for retirement as soon as you’re able to. For many people, this looks like setting aside 10% of each month’s income early on.

The reason you should start your retirement planning ASAP comes down to the unpredictability of life overall. Dips in the market, changes to your income or expenses, and even living longer than you initially budgeted for can all wreak havoc on your investments when you start planning later in life.

What are the Best Investments for Retirement?

Honestly, the best investments for retirement depend entirely on where you are and where you want to be, but Asset Advisory Services is here to help you shed some light. The biggest thing to know is that when you choose us for your retirement planning, our first step is getting deeply familiar with your goals. Whatever they might be, we’ll discuss, assess, and evaluate every avenue available to you. Ultimately, you decide which options to pursue based on your needs and current lifestyle. With that in mind, here are four investments that often work extremely well for maximizing your financial freedom during retirement.

Qualified Employer-Sponsored Plans

Examples of qualified employer-sponsored plans include 401(k)s and 403(b)s. These offer several distinct advantages to you:

Matching employer contributions: Many employers will match your contributions to these accounts, which essentially means “free” money for you.

Tax advantages to grow your wealth: Your contributions are tax-deductible in many cases and stay tax-deferred until you eventually make a withdrawal.

Convenient, consistent, and automatic savings: Typically, contributions are automatically pulled from your paycheck, giving you a “set it and forget it” way to save for retirement.

We’ll walk you through your employer’s plan, give you options for optimizing contributions, and help ensure this investment continually aligns with your goals and needs for retirement planning.

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs)

IRAs have two primary options:

Traditional IRAs: provide you with tax-deductible contributions, and your investments potentially grow – while staying tax-deferred – until you decide to make a withdrawal.

Roth IRAs: involve making after-tax contributions, but the benefit is that your withdrawals in retirement are usually tax-free.

And we do more than simply help you decide which is right for you. We’ll also continually guide you on the appropriate investments to make based on your IRA.

Personal Savings

This can take many forms, but overall, you’ll enjoy both flexibility and liquidity for working towards many financial goals – including retirement planning. Personal savings can be a great investment because you have full control. No penalties for early withdrawals or rules about what you can use the money for.

We’ll work with you to design a savings strategy that’s mindful of short-term needs and long-term retirement goals. By allocating your assets in specific ways, you can take advantage of additional benefits and pursue your goals much sooner.

Executive Deferral Plans

If you’re a high-earning individual with an executive deferral plan, these benefits include:

Tax advantages: Like employer-sponsored plans, your contributions are typically tax-deferred, which may reduce your current tax liability.

Supplemental retirement income: You may be able to structure this plan to get additional retirement income, plus other savings.

When you choose Asset Advisory Services for your retirement planning, we’ll walk you through maximizing available benefits and minimizing tax implications. This includes looking at your other retirement accounts to build the best possible system tailored to your current situation.

How Does Retirement and Estate Planning Differ for High-Net-Worth Individuals and How Can I Ensure a Legacy for Heirs?

As a high-net-worth individual seeking to secure a legacy for heirs, your estate planning is likely to differ in these ways:

Navigating your complex asset portfolio(s)

You likely have a mix of investments, such as real estate, businesses, and even philanthropic ventures. We’ll help you account for intricacies that can cause snags in an otherwise seamless transition.

Optimizing to ensure tax efficiency

By leveraging charitable planning, gifting strategies, and trusts, we can help you maximize the benefits your wealth gives to your heirs and future generations.

Managing family dynamics

Managing family dynamics in a fair and conflict-free way is critical. Families have conflicts, plain and simple. But these often compound as wealth grows. By supporting you in creating clear guidelines and open, honest lines of communication, you can feel confident knowing your family’s unique needs are addressed.

Potential issues

Be aware of potential issues like probate difficulties, estate tax burdens, and vulnerable assets. Especially as a high-net-worth individual, failing to plan is a plan to fail. We’ll walk you through details like estate taxes, exemptions, probate proceedings, drafting your will/trust, helping to avoid asset-related vulnerabilities like lawsuits, and much more.

What are the Benefits of Working with a Financial Planner or Advisor?

We believe some of the many benefits of working with a financial planner or advisor include:

Greater financial confidence thanks to having a thorough, comprehensive plan. As extremely experienced financial advisors, we know all the little details and laws you might not be aware of. We stay on top of the shifting landscape, so you don’t miss a thing.

Support from a professional who’s always in your corner. Anytime you tackle a major life endeavor, isn’t it nice to have someone by your side who’s just as invested in your success? We get to know you as a person so we can proactively offer support whenever you need it.

An emotional guardrail for whatever life throws at you. Reacting to strong emotions can destroy even the most ironclad financial strategy. We act as a guardrail for your retirement planning, helping you stay on track no matter what happens in life.

Your Pillar of Support

We strive to be not just your financial planner when it comes to retirement planning, but also a trustworthy pillar of support you can count on. Your investments will never be just dollars and cents to us — instead, we see your finances as steppingstones toward the freedom you’ve worked so hard for. We’re focused on helping you feel confident and secure with every step you take toward that freedom, even when you hit an unexpected obstacle.

Focused on Your Bigger Picture

Asset Advisory Services helps cut through the chaos by concentrating on your family’s most meaningful goals. Let’s start today.

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