Thrive Culture
RETIREMENT & LIFE SOLUTIONS
As a licensed agent in life insurance and annuities, I’m in the best position to help you find the ideal Life & Retirement solutions for you.
Our services are FREE of charge.
We are here to educate and create individualized roadmaps for financial and life solutions. I help individuals secure retirement, find the best life insurance policies and make plans for a brighter financial future.
You May Not Want to Burden Your Dependents
If you have children, you probably wouldn’t mind spending as much time with them as you possibly can. However, you probably also want that to be at your discretion. Having to live with the kids because you can't afford to live independently isn’t how most people want to spend their retirement years.
In addition to you not wanting to make lifestyle sacrifices, consider the implications it may have on your children if you need to rely on them. They may miss out on financial opportunities of their own and have extra strain put on their own family as a result of needing to provide you financial aid.
You May Miss Out on Tax Benefits
There are many immediate tax benefits for saving for your retirement. The number of investment opportunities out there is infinite, but when it comes to retirement, your initial focus should be on the ones that were created with retirement savings in mind, and that is the tax-deferred retirement account. While saving is generally a good thing, the compound effect of saving in a tax-deferred account cannot be overstated. Why?
It reduces the amount of taxes you owe on the income for each year you invest in it.
It allows you to defer or even avoid the taxes you owe on the earnings that accrue on your investments.
It produces earning on earnings! Creating a compounding effect not available in a regular savings account.
Top 4 Reasons to Save for Retirement Now
There are dozens of excuses for not saving for retirement, and they all sound good. You may have a few of your own. However, there are many reasons why the longer you wait to start saving for retirement, the more financially difficult it will be in the future. Let's consider four primary reasons to start saving now.
You Shouldn't Rely on Social Security
Social Security benefits are not guaranteed, and you may find greater financial comfort having a personal retirement account instead of relying on public policy.
Social Security wasn't designed to be anyone's sole income in retirement. According to the Social Security Administration, its payments replace about 40% of the average wage earner’s income after retiring. Most financial advisors say retirees will need about 70% of their work income to live comfortably in retirement.
Even with Social Security, you need to come up with about 60% of the income you'll need to live comfortably after you retire.
In addition to not wanting to rely on public policy as your retirement plan, saving for your own retirement affords you the opportunity to create the retirement you want..
You May Miss Out on the Effects of Compounding
The earlier you start saving for retirement, the sooner you can begin capitalizing on the effects of compounding returns. Assume you invest $50,000, and it accrues earnings at a rate of 8%. This produces earnings of $4,000. If your tax rate is 22%, that amounts to $880 that is paid to the tax authorities, leaving $53,120 to reinvest. Not only would you pay less in taxes, but the value of your investments would be even greater as a result of the compound effect of tax-deferred growth:
About $630,000 if you saved the amount in a tax-deferred account
About $580,000 if you saved the amount in an after-tax account
These numbers are compelling and get even more so if the earnings period is longer and the amount saved greater. For this reason, it is often imperative that investors begin saving for retirement as early as they can. Though it is often difficult to set aside money especially during the early phases of one's career, the compounding implications and potential benefits often far exceed the sacrifice.
4 Reasons Why Life Insurance Is Important
It Can Help to Financially Protect Your Family
Life insurance is meant to help protect your family's financial future. Even if you have savings, it's unlikely that it would be enough to cover your family's expenses for several years or even decades if something happens to you unexpectedly.
It Can Replace Lost Income
Whether you have a 9-to-5, are self-employed, or own a small business, your income might cover a portion or even all of your family's daily needs.
Housing, food, utilities, clothing, car maintenance, outstanding loans, and health care premiums are likely all part of your monthly budget. Your family will still need to cover these expenses even without your income. The life insurance death benefit can help provide income replacement your family may need to help cover these expenses. Certain types of debt don't go away when you die, which means your loved ones may have to use money from your estate or sell off other assets to cover them. This could leave less money to pay for expenses.
When considering your options, you may want to think about using a life insurance calculator to help you determine how much life insurance you need.
It Can Cover Funeral Expenses
Funerals can be expensive. Dealing with this financial stress can add to the emotional stress your family might experience. Your family could use some of the death benefit from your life insurance policy to help pay for these costs.
To do this, the policy's beneficiary could direct some of the death benefits to the funeral home for final expenses, or they can pay out-of-pocket and use the death benefit as reimbursement for these expenses.'
It Can Help to Pay for Future Education Expenses
If you have children, life insurance can help your family pay for future childcare and education expenses, especially for college tuition. Even if you've already started contributing to a 529 college savings plan, the death benefit from a life insurance policy can provide additional money to help cover your children's education if you were to die. In the case of permanent life insurance policies like out Indexed Universal Life policy, you can borrow from your death benefit for college expensive, supplemental retirement income, emergencies, etc..