Retirement Planning

Retirement is a milestone in life that we all look forward to. It's that time when you get to sit back, relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor. But before you can do so, there are certain things that you should know about retirement planning.

You may have heard the term tossed around many times but do you know what it means? It's defined as the ongoing process of managing your assets, investments, and savings so that you'll be able to maintain a certain standard of living when you retire. The goal of such a plan is for you to be financially secure even after you've stopped working.

At Charles R. Green and Associates, Inc. our team of experienced financial planners will take the time to understand your financial situation, providing you with a comprehensive plan specific to your retirement goals and objectives.

If you're like most people, you worry about your financial future. And as much as you would like to retire eventually, it's hard to imagine how that will happen if you don't have a plan for it.

Typically, retirement planning creates a strategy for:

• Saving or investing enough money to live comfortably after leaving the workforce.
• Retirement distribution planning including asset allocation, risk management, and time horizon.
• Retirement lifestyle expectations including personal, family, social and financial goals.
• Tax-efficient investing
  

Typically, retirement planning builds on other financial planning concerns such as cash flow and consumption needs, tax considerations, among others.

The following tips may help you in your retirement planning:

1. Know Your Retirement Goals
2. Estimate Your Retirement Expenses
3. Determine Your Available Sources of Retirement Income
4. Get a Handle on Your Debt
5. Consider health insurance needs for Retirement Planning Purposes

While retirement plans vary in detail, most plans have the following components in common:

• A retirement savings plan, such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, which is subject to certain federal and state tax rules.
• A strategy for withdrawing funds from tax-deferred accounts after retirement without paying significant penalties. This may be done through systematic withdrawals or by converting the assets into a Roth IRA, which is not subject to required minimum distribution rules.
• Retirement Investment Accounts

A 401(k) plan is a company-sponsored retirement plan offered by many employers to their employees. It allows employees to contribute pre-tax or after-tax dollars from their paychecks into a retirement account, which can be invested in several ways, including stock, various mutual funds, bonds, and money market funds.

Many 401(k) plans offer matching contributions from the employer, up to a certain percentage of an employee's salary.

A 401(k) offers some nice tax benefits that make saving for retirement easier:

• The money you contribute to a pre-tax 401(k) reduces your taxable income for the year.
• Your contributions grow tax-deferred - meaning you don't pay taxes each year on the interest, dividends, and capital gains earned in the account.

A Roth IRA is an individual retirement plan that you set up in your name with an investment advisor, brokerage firm or mutual fund company. With a Roth IRA, you contribute after-tax dollars and pay no income tax on qualified withdrawals, including earnings.

Unlike the pre-tax 401(k) plan, when you participate in a Roth IRA, you pay taxes on the money before contributing it to the account; then all future earnings are tax-free as long as you follow certain requirements.

These accounts can be opened at most financial institutions such as banks, brokerages-or mutual fund companies. They can be used for a variety of purposes, including saving for retirement, but they aren't tax-advantaged like many other retirement accounts are. However, they provide greater flexibility in the management of your finances.

A professional financial advisor can help you with this process to get investments that fit your risk tolerance.