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Taking Groundhog Day Out of Retirement Planning
NewsJanuary 26, 2022
Is your retirement plan stuck in a time-loop? The better you plan for retirement, the more likely you’ll be to enjoy your senior years to the fullest. That’s why it’s imperative that you don’t repeat any of these glaring mistakes when it comes to your retirement outlook.
If you wake up every morning thinking that you need to get your retirement plan updated, or worse, started, you might feel like Bill Murray in the classic movie “Groundhog Day.” Truth be told, a lot of days in 2021 felt like Groundhog Day: a never-ending time loop of new variants, working from home, eating at home, exercising at home, visiting with friends and family in small groups, etc. But did you know there’s a way to get out of an retirement plan time loop, and it won’t require you to go through endless mornings with a clock radio playing The Beatles’ “Tax Man” song?
A common mistake that people make when planning for retirement is that they focus on their present financial situation or the few years that lie ahead. They don’t look beyond the horizon of retirement. By making these mistakes they fall into the mindset of “I’ll get to it later” or creating a highly flawed plan.
Money is important, but time is of the essence. A lot of time has been lost due to the pandemic, and the need for getting back on track must be acknowledged. The sooner you can start your quest for retiring at your preferred age, the better. Here’s a couple tips on how to not fall victim to this mindset and how to constantly evaluate and update your retirement plan for years to come.
Having No Plan in Place
Too often there are retirees who don’t have their goals and needs laid out. The importance of having these goals and needs in place for when retirement approaches is crucial. Many people forget to update those goals and needs as they change. It’s the people who establish a good plan early on who have the most success.
You shouldn’t wait until your next life stage begins because there is always another life stage inviting you to postpone taking action until tomorrow (more on this below). If people wait to postpone saving and investing until their forties, they may have to save at double the annual rate of people who start investing in their twenties.
As a general rule of thumb, if you save 10–12% of your salary between the ages of 22 and 65, you will have roughly the same ability to cover retirement expenses as an individual who saves 25 percent between 40 and 65. Establishing good habits early pays off. Make a plan and stick to it.
The Imperfect Plan
The second kind of mistake happens when people have a plan but it’s flawed. You think you’re looking ahead but you’re not looking clearly or far enough. Here are the most common investment mistakes we see and the most important ones you should avoid:
To combat these imperfections in your plan, try the following:
Revsiting Your Retirement Plan with Agemy Financial Strategies
There’s a tendency to see your retirement plan as a static document — a map that you follow throughout your working life leading you toward the finish line. Even if you presume your retirement plan is up to date, do you really know if that plan still works for you? Will it truly create a lifestyle that will stir your soul in the next chapter? You have to update it periodically to ensure that it’s still in alignment with your shifting goals, savings, and priorities. Here are six times you should review it and consider updates with your trusted Fiduciary at Agemy:
Do you fall into any of the above categories? If so, Agemy Financial Strategies is here for you every step of the way to ensure you create healthy retirement planning habits for years to come.
The Bottom Line
Everyone should have a retirement plan. Nobody wants to keep working into their golden years and nobody wants to struggle with financial hardship during that period of time in your life. The sooner you put a plan in place, the higher your chances of succeeding.
If your retirement plan is stuck in Groundhog Day, call our office at 800.725.7616 and make an appointment to meet with us by phone, video conferencing or in the offices in both Guilford, CT and Denver, CO. We can get your current plan updated, and get you out of the time loop. Eventually, Bill Murray got to tomorrow in “Groundhog Day, and the same can happen for your retirement years.
For more information on money management and retirement planning, talk to one of our financial advisors here today.
Helping Adult Children Without Sabotaging Your Retirement
NewsJanuary 19, 2022
If you have an older child or children, there’s probably a question on your mind: How can I help them financially without going broke myself? As your adult children face financial challenges, your first thought may be to help them out. But this may not be the best plan of attack for setting them – or you – up for a secure financial future.
A large portion of the millennial generation are finding it extremely tough to pay their rent and utility bills, afford groceries and car payments. This leaves parents wanting to help their struggling adult children make ends meet. For baby boomers in or near retirement, this is a big consideration as providing financial support to a family member can affect their own retirement plans. How can you help them without breaking your bank?
Tables Are Turning
As the elderly population grows and a new crop of young adults are financially struggling to attain a solid financial foothold in trying economic times, individuals ‘sandwiched’ between aging parents and adult children are adequately referred to as ‘the sandwich generation’. Over the past decade, studies on sandwich generation caregivers have become more popular, with the Pew Research Center and National Caregiving Alliance (NCA) performing regular surveys on caregiving habits. Several striking statistics show what makes this hard-working group unique:
Some adults spend years as a sandwich generation caregiver, while others experience only a brief overlap. However, a new (and worrying) generational shift is happening: According to a recent study, 1 in 3 parents say they have delayed or are willing to delay their retirement to help pay for their children’s college education.
Modern Day Money Management
Parents need to learn to set expectations and limits … for their children and for themselves.
While financially caring for an adult child, it’s important to work together to find a solution. Teach children the concept of earning, budgeting and investing as early as possible. This may be done by giving them an allowance when they are younger or encouraging them to get a job when they are older. Teach them the important financial lesson of appropriately managing the money they earn, and consider allowing them to make small-scale mistakes along the way to help them learn.
If debt is an ongoing issue, you may want to get professional advice on debt management and payment strategies. Having too much credit card debt is not a good way to start off life. It can ruin your credit and force you to pay higher interest rates on new debt, which can cripple you financially. Instilling good financial habits in your children can set a positive foundation for their relationship with money in adulthood — and lessen the odds of them having to rely on “The Bank of Mom and Dad” as they grow up.
Figure Out How Much Help You Can Realistically Afford to Offer
You may need to have a candid talk about what you can and can’t do. Communicate with your children how much financial support you plan to give them, if any, during their adulthood. It’s a simple task but you’d be surprised at how many parents don’t prioritize their own finances.
There are many ways to go about helping your adult child without opening your checkbook. For example, you could offer to watch your child’s kids to reduce her daycare costs, or pick them up from school so it’s one less thing for them to stress about. If you’re not in a position to help your adult child right now, have an open talk with them about it.
Be honest and explain that there are certain things you as a parent are willing to do for your kids and certain things you won’t. Don’t be afraid to say “no” if you’re not in a position to help your grown kids financially.
Consider a Loan Instead of a Gift
It’s important to specify whether your financial help to your adult child is a loan or a gift.
If you decide on a loan, begin by writing a contract with a set timeline. How long it will take to be paid back and how frequent the payments will be. The payments can start out small and later increase, as your adult children find their footing. They write you a check every month, no matter how small it is, so there is some feeling of gratitude and payback. You should never feel guilty about making your child pay you back. This is a great way to hold them accountable which in turn would help them become more accountable later in life.
Get Professional Help
Giving your adult children money may help them in the short-term but may not give them the skills and tools they need to be financially successful. If providing financial assistance to your adult children is a priority for you, incorporate it into your own financial planning process. Sit down with your children and help them create a budget they can stick to. Look at what money is coming in every month and what is going out. See what can be completely cut out or reduced in the expenses column. If they are outspending what they make, devise a budget that is going to work within their parameters.
You won’t be doing your kids any good, though, if you give them so much financial assistance that doing so depletes your savings. Through your years of financial experience, you may have crossed paths with many financial professionals. Whether they were an acquaintance or you hired them to help you with your finances, you may know plenty of financial professionals that could help your children move toward a successful financial future.
A financial advisor or Fiduciary can help you plan for your and your children’s future, and develop a secure financial plan which includes debt repayment, saving for college, and developing a retirement investment strategy. They help you see the big financial picture and assist you in making financial decisions that align with your goals. The sooner your children begin to work with a financial advisor or planner, the sooner they can start achieving their financial objectives.
Final Thoughts
As a parent, it’s natural to want to help your children financially, but be careful not to do it at the expense of securing your own retirement. Above all, make sure you discuss your spending needs both as a family and with your financial advisor. You’ve put time and effort into building a sustainable retirement plan. Don’t derail your hard work by giving away more than you can afford.
Do you need assistance managing your retirement expectations with your loved ones? The trusted Fiduciaries at Agemy Financial Strategies are here for you every step of the way.
For more information on money management and planning, talk to one of our financial advisors here today.
Prepare for a Financial Emergency with These 4 Tips
NewsJanuary 04, 2022
The thought of being hit with a major negative event that could affect your finances, such as a job loss, an illness, or a pandemic, can keep anyone awake at night. Emergencies won’t wait until you’re financially ready, so prepare for them now.
Noone likes or wants them – but life emergencies happen. In these stressful times, having access to personal financial, insurance, medical and other records is crucial for starting the recovery process quickly and efficiently.
The best time to prepare for a financial emergency is by preparing well in advance. If you wait until something unfortunate happens, you could find yourself scrambling to be able to find the needed funds. Here are 4 tips to help you prepare for a financial emergency.
Create A Budget
This is by far the most overlooked part in financial planning. While budgeting can be tedious, you’ll have a picture of your income and expenses and you’ll be better equipped to build a bigger savings cushion. To get started, you’ll need to track your expenses. Use an online budgeting tool or app that links to your bank, investment, credit card and other accounts and automatically tracks and categorizes expenses.
A simple budget breakdown follows the 50-20-30 rule: Up to 50% of your take-home pay is for essential expenses, such as rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, transportation to work, groceries, and insurance premiums; at least 20% goes toward saving for retirement, an emergency fund and other goals, and paying down debt; and up to 30% is designated for nonessentials, which may include restaurant meals and travel and entertainment spending.
Our free online financial calculators are a great first step. Financial calculators are a helpful tool to assist you in managing your money and estimating your loan payments. All you need is some information about your finances and these specialized online math machines will spit out the numbers or percents you need to manage your finances and make budgeting decisions. Try out our fast, easy and free online resources here.
Have More Rainy Day Funds in Place
Without savings, a financial shock—even minor—could set you back, and if it turns into debt, it can potentially have a lasting impact.
Setting up a dedicated savings or emergency fund is one essential way to protect yourself, and it’s one of the first steps you can take to start saving. Instead of maintaining one fund for large, unexpected expenses, why not create two? Your true emergency fund is meant for catastrophes that may result in a total loss of income, such as divorce, job loss, or medical or mental disability that keeps you out of work. Set aside “rainy day” funds for urgent but less-catastrophic needs, such as car and home repairs, medical and vet bills, and short-notice travel to be with an ill relative.
How much should you put in each? For the rainy-day fund, financial advisors recommend setting aside about $1,500 for young, single renters and between $3,000 and $5,000 for homeowners, depending on how much upkeep your home needs. Your secondary emergency fund, you should have enough to cover at least six months of expenses. If starting small, try to set aside at least $500, but work your way up to half a year’s worth of expenses.
Paying Down Debt
Now that you have your rainy day fund set aside, you can start paying down some of your debt. People often find that a lot of their budget goes to paying off debt, which can make it even harder to devote money to emergency savings. There are a number of different options for paying off debt that may make sense for your situation.
Whether your current debt is your car payment or a credit card bill, it’s always a good idea to pay a little more than the minimum. You’ll save the most by paying off debts in order of highest to lowest interest rate. But eliminating the debt with the smallest balance first—even if it doesn’t carry the highest rate—may give you the momentum you need to stick with the plan.
If you feel overwhelmed by debt or your efforts to pay off debt are not making progress, a money management plan could be a helpful tool to lower your interest, save money and pay off debt faster.
Re-Allocate Your Assets
Financial advisors suggest young people who have time to withstand market changes should invest their nest egg in stocks and people closer to retirement age should ramp up their holdings in bonds and cash. This offers lower potential returns than stocks – but less volatility.
The asset allocation that’s right for you depends on your capacity and tolerance for risk. The former gauges how a downturn might impact your lifestyle or derail your goals. The latter is how much of a loss you could stand before you abandon your plan. Rebalance your holdings periodically to make sure they’re in line with your target mix.
Furthermore, you may already have some amount of assets that could be channelized to your emergency fund. It could be extra cash lying around in your savings accounts, some fixed deposits that are not linked to any particular goal, among others. You can allocate some of that amount towards your emergency fund.
Final Thoughts
When the unexpected happens, it’s downright debilitating to your long-term financial health. A financial emergency plan is an exceptionally valuable tool for an unexpected situation that often happens in life.
Finding the right Fiduciary that fits your goals and lifestyle doesn’t have to be hard. The trusted team at Agemy Financial Strategies is here for your every step of the way to make some real progress on your journey to financial freedom this coming year.
For more information on money management and financial emergency planning, talk to one of our financial advisors here today.
Your Full-Service Financial Planning for the Year Ahead
NewsDecember 22, 2021
For over 31 years, Agemy Financial Strategies has helped our clients plan and prepare. This way, when the unforeseen occurs, their clients are uniquely positioned for success. As we enter the new year, here’s what you need to keep on top of for financial success in 2022.
At Agemy Financial Strategies, our firm exists for the purpose of helping people achieve their personal and financial goals. Our philosophy is to deliver quality financial programs and teach principles for successful living.
With 2022 around the corner, now is the best time to plan for the new year. An annual financial plan can determine where you are financially at that particular moment. Consider all of your assets such as—how much you get paid, what’s in your savings and checking accounts, how much is in your retirement fund—as well as your liabilities, including loans, credit cards, and other personal debts.
Here’s how Agemy Financial can assist in being your full service financial planning firm to help you plan for your year ahead.
Annual Financial Plan Check-Up
In your financial plan check up you should include things like your mortgage or rent, utility bills and other monthly expenses. This snapshot should also factor in what your goals are and what you’ll need to accomplish in order to get there. This can include things such as retirement planning, tax planning, and investment strategies.
Check off each step that you’ve considered. The idea is to make sure you’ve looked at the issue. It’s vital for you to cover every item in the above section, so that you have a full financial inventory. Here’s what your inventory should look like:
Set Financial Goals
Once you have a personal financial inventory completed, you can move on to setting goals for the remainder of the year or and for the next 12 months. Your goals will be divided into short-term, mid-term, and long-term ones.
Among your short-term goals might be to:
Your mid-term goals might include:
Then review your long-term goals, including:
Review Your Retirement Savings Plans
Saving for retirement in an individual retirement account IRA or a 401(k) is a smart way to enjoy some tax advantages. As you put together your annual financial plan, you should consider whether you need to:
Get Set For Financial Success with Agemy
The most important step in reaching any goal is to develop a plan to achieve it. That’s why it’s so important to plan ahead for your financial future. We work hard to deliver a dependable retirement income strategy, in any market, so that clients can enjoy the “best” of their lives during retirement.
Agemy Financial Strategies provides retirement planning services designed to educate clients as to their best options for meeting their current financial needs, achieving their long-term financial goals, avoiding common retirement-planning mistakes, and enjoying a lifetime of financial stability.
Our goal is to give clients confidence in a custom developed robust retirement portfolio and provided investment options designed to generate interest and dividends regardless of market conditions. This is income that can be spent or reinvested for dependable “organic” portfolio growth.
As a fiduciary and Registered Investment Advisor, you can be confident AFSi will recommend only what is in your best interest.
Five Star Professionals
There are a hundred reasons to work with Agemy Financial Strategies, but winning the Five Star Professional award for 10 consecutive years are at least ten of those reasons. Celebrating 31 years, we are dedicated to educating retirees through retirement planning, legacy planning, wealth management and more. Our goal is to help retirees achieve their personal and financial goals. Our education-driven financial advisors, Daniel Agemy in Denver, Colorado and Andrew Agemy in Guilford, Connecticut, are delighted to win the Five Star Wealth Management award for three and 10 years!
Are your most important decisions being made with the advice and guidance of a Five Star Professional?
Final Thoughts
An annual financial plan is an exceptionally valuable tool for your life (and peace of mind) today and for your future. Best-case scenario: You’ve checked off all the items on this punch list by now. If not, don’t hesitate to put time on your calendar to do so.
Finding the right financial advisor that fits your goals and lifestyle doesn’t have to be hard. The trusted team at Agemy Financial Strategies is here for your every step of the way to make some real progress on your journey to financial freedom this coming year.
When the hustle and bustle has passed and the holiday dust has settled, talk to one of our wealth management professionals so we can make sure you’re starting 2022 off on the right foot.
The entire team at Agemy Financial Strategies would like to wish you a safe, happy and healthy New Year!
Financial New Year’s Resolutions to Keep
NewsDecember 15, 2021
2021 is winding down, which means it’s time to think about resolutions for the coming year. With the rising taxes and out-of-control inflation, financial resolutions are foremost in the minds of many pre-retirees and retirees alike.
If you’re someone who likes to make New Year’s resolutions, you already know how hard it is to stick to them. One report puts the failure rate at 80%. Yet, more than 55% of U.S. adults think they’ll follow through on their resolutions this year, a recent survey by the Finder found.
This year however, why not embrace the fresh start the new year brings? 65% of Americans age 18 and older are considering a financial goal for the new year, according to this 2021 financial resolutions study. It’s a great time to commit to your money goals, budget better, pay down debt, plan your taxes, ditch bad habits and improve your financial picture to reach your goals.
Here are a couple of resolutions that could help increase your financial planning strategy and hopefully inspire you to stay committed to them throughout the new year.
Create a Budget
Saving and investing during your working years should lead to a rising net worth over time, helping you to achieve many of life’s most important goals. Creating your own budget and net worth can help you build your road map and stay on track. Here are steps that can help:
Manage Your Debt
For most people, some level of debt is a practical necessity, especially to purchase an expensive long-term asset to pay back over time, for example the purchase of your first home. However, problems arise when debt becomes more of a burden than a tool. Here’s a couple tips on how to stay in control.
Protect Your Estate
An estate plan may seem like something only for the wealthy. But there are simple steps everyone should take. Without proper beneficiary designations, and a will, the fate of your assets or minor children may be decided by attorneys and tax agencies. These fees can eat away at these assets, and delay the distribution of assets just when your heirs need them most. Here’s how to protect your estate—and your loved ones.
Put Yourself First
It’s all too easy for you to become engrossed in the day-to-day demands of life, work and family. Paying yourself first generally means “paying” your future self money. It’s important to do it first because if you pay yourself last, chances are you won’t pay yourself at all. An easy way to pay yourself first is by contributing to a 401(k), especially if your employer offers matching contributions.
Set a goal of setting aside 10% of your income each month for a future need such as retirement. If your employer matches up to 4% of your annual income, then you would only need to contribute 6% of your income to pay yourself 10% of your income for retirement.
Finally, invest in your financial future by making an appointment with your wealth management advisor. Financial advisors can be a great help in getting a handle on debt. They’re experts at helping their clients get their finances in shape for today and the future. They may provide several services, such as investment management, income tax preparation, and estate planning. When you meet with your advisor, ask them (and yourself):
Hiring a reputable financial advisor to help draft a debt reduction strategy and a financial plan going forward is an extremely beneficial way to get your debt under control.
Final Thoughts
Lastly, remember you don’t have to do everything at once. There’s a lot you can do to improve your financial health by taking one step at a time and think of these resolutions as a checklist. It’s all about taking the time (no matter how hard it may be to squeeze it in), doing some planning and keeping your eye on the prize.
There’s no one-size-fits-all financial plan. Your situation is unique, and your goals are your own. Our financial advisors can help you create a personalized plan that fits your life. Want to gain better control of your finances? The trusted team Agemy Financial Strategies is here for your every step of the way to make some real progress on your journey to financial freedom this coming year.
When the hustle and bustle has passed and the holiday dust has settled, talk to one of our wealth management professionals so we can make sure you’re starting 2022 off on the right foot.
Do You Need to Rebalance Your Portfolio?
NewsDecember 07, 2021
After a second year of a bull market in stocks, the end of the year could be a great time to rebalance your portfolio. However, be sure to manage the levels of risk in your portfolio, which is often a major concern for those in or near retirement. Here’s what you need to know.
With 2022 around the corner, now is the perfect time to tune up your stock portfolio. As we close out 2021, most people are in the midst of figuring out what they need to change as they enter the new year. As most people know, a new year calls for a fresh perspective.
When it comes to your retirement income planning, investing well requires you to get your head around some pretty unique (and sometimes counterintuitive) concepts. Common wisdom tells us that we should periodically rebalance our investment portfolio, but it might not always make sense.
Advantages of Rebalancing
Part of the purpose of an asset allocation is to dilute the impact of each asset class by limiting both the upside and downside impact of the investments. But, when a particular investment grows in value faster than the other investments, you are exposed to more risk than you originally intended. Rebalancing your portfolio returns your investments to your original risk tolerance and reduces the risk that your portfolio will drop in value.
Disadvantages of Rebalancing
Rebalancing is an uninformed strategy that assumes that high-flying investments have nowhere to go but down or, at best, have no room for further growth. But, past performance does not predict future results. Rebalancing also conflicts with other common strategies, such as buy-and-hold and harvesting losses to offset capital gains. The decision to rebalance should be forward-looking, based on expectations about where the stock and bond markets will head in the future.
Be Responsible with your Investments
Your investments should be in line with your financial goals, starting with where you are currently sitting at and where you’d like to be down the line. As long as you are on your path towards your goals, you should try not to let emotions get involved when you see the latest downward trend. When investing in the stock market, the responsibility is on you to make the most of the information available to you.
A great way to do some internal housekeeping is to tally up the total dollar value of the stocks, bonds and cash you hold in your taxable and retirement accounts. If you own a fund that invests in both stocks and bonds, such as a balanced fund or target-date fund, review the fund’s latest holdings to see how much it holds in each major asset class. To find out your current asset mix, calculate the percentage of each asset class relative to your total portfolio.
There is a lot of internal and external environment that influences equity prices. Equity prices today are linked to expectations of profits for tomorrow. Sectors like consumer technology, financial services, healthcare, technology services, infrastructure could continue to see new investments each year. But again, you must…
Do Your Research
Overall, one of the most overlooked aspects of updating your portfolio or getting into stocks in general, is doing your research. Looking at a range of factors to evaluate a stock, and then decide whether it deserves attention in your portfolio. Stocks are considered long-term investments because they carry quite a bit of risk; you need time to weather any ups and downs and benefit from long-term gains.
Key steps in evaluating any stock includes:
A majority of the population needs to understand that financial markets move in cycles. Profitability of companies influences stock markets. Fixed income markets move on the back of the inflation and interest rate trends. You need to keep yourself informed and make calculated decisions. At the end of the day, before you buy any stock, you want to build a well-informed narrative about the company and what factors make it worthy of a long-term partnership.
Tweaking and Rebalancing
If you determine you need to make some changes to your current portfolio from your research, you may want to go back to your saved portfolio and do some amendments. Conventional wisdom holds that there are two ways to rebalance–either you can rebalance on a set schedule, say, every December, or you can rebalance whenever your portfolio gets dramatically out of whack with your targets.
Rebalancing can require that you sell, so it’s important to factor in rebalancing efforts on your tax-sheltered accounts to help reduce tax costs. In some cases, the alterations you need to make might be obvious–if you’re heavy on bonds, for example, trimming your bond funds should resolve the problem. Getting to the bottom of other bets might take a little more research. This is where advice from a financial professional can help.
Hire A Trusted Financial Advisor
When planning your financial future, it’s always a good idea to seek professional guidance. A financial advisor should be the first member that you add to your team. With the right financial advisor, you can ask them any money-related issues and gain answers to your most sought-after financial questions. Your advisor is there to help you succeed on your financial journey. Some choose to delay this decision for a multitude of reasons. If you are not into finance, it is good to discuss the standards of all possible investment avenues with your financial professionals.
Another part of internal housekeeping would be to keep your personal finances in check. You should discuss your insurance needs and check if the health insurance plan you are currently enrolled in is adequate for you. The same should be done with your life insurance policy. Your life insurance should comfortably cover any liabilities. In short, these housekeeping tips must be a regular feature for all things finance. Your financial advisor will help you with all of the things mentioned above in order to organize your finances in a simple manner.
Final Thoughts
Maintaining ideal levels of risk and the correct asset allocation is a critical component of any long-term financial plan. Taking the time to rebalance your portfolio on a regular basis can help achieve both these goals. Meeting with an advisor to perform regular maintenance now may help you avoid major headaches during the next market correction.
If you’re interested in learning more about stock portfolios and financial advising strategies for 2022, contact us today!