In developing a retirement plan there are several factors to consider in addition to the amount you need or want to save.

1. Income Taxes.

The above discussion did not take into consideration income taxes. You might have to save more if you have to pay income taxes on all or part of your retirement benefit or your contributions. Distributions from qualified employer plans are always subject to retirement income tax. (more…)

There is an old adage that says “numbers don’t lie.” So when it comes to figuring out how much money do you need to retire, you need to understand basic math, a few retirement concepts, and some financial retirement concepts. This is where you may wish you had paid more attention to your high school math teacher. (more…)

Now that you have quantified your retirement objectives, identified the asset classes you should choose, and considered how this retirement account will work with existing assets, you can move to select the specific product(s) for your portfolio retirement.

If you are an experienced investor with the time, temperament, training, and money to select individual stocks and bonds, you can certainly include them in your portfolio. (more…)

One of the most important planning decisions you’ll make is how to best generate income for your retirement. Different sources of income have different characteristics and potentially different pension tax consequences. It’s very important to be wise in establishing and maintaining your post retirement cash flow. Here are the various types of income and their representative taxation: (more…)

A defined benefit plan is the granddaddy of retirement plans. Unfortunately, in the years to come, these plans will likely become the retirement equivalent of a dinosaur. In a defined benefit plan, as noted earlier, an employee’s years of loyal service are rewarded with the continuation of income post retirement based on a predetermined formula defined by the company. These formulas vary from company to company, so if you’re covered by a defined benefit plan, be certain to ask your human resources department to provide you with the information you need to review your benefits. (more…)

Once you identify your personal financial retirement profile, you can move to the next level on the financial planning for retirement. Many people accumulate different types of property for pension that can be used for retirement. The type of property one owns and its tax characteristics can be important in creating an overall retirement strategy that fits well into Level III of the financial pyramid. Let’s take a look at how to create efficiency and diversification in an integrated program. (more…)

Another old adage says that we should learn from the mistakes of others. When it comes to retirement planning, there are many legal, tax, and retirement saving mistakes you can make as a business owner, retirement plan trustee, or plan participant. (more…)

Some employee working for employers are been offered some type of pension plan. If a pension plan meets several federal government requirements, it can achieve “qualified” plan’s status. A qualified pension plan enables participating employees to save money for retirement and put it into a retirement account that is subject to the requirements of the regulatory. Money in this type of account earns tax-deferred interest, the advantages of such is you don’t have to pay income taxes on the earnings until you draw your money. On the other case, if you draw money from your retirement (more…)