5 Smart Year-End Tax-Saving Money Moves

5 Smart Year-End Tax-Saving Money Moves

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Published: October 28, 2019

Why is it, every year as fall approaches, we are shocked to find that we are hurtling towards December 31? As busy as it may get at year-end, make a promise to yourself. Find a way to steal two hours from your day to focus on something that will help you save money before heading into 2020. Sit down and estimate your 2019 taxes. Once December 31 passes, there is almost nothing you can do about your tax bill. A little planning now goes a long way. When you project what your tax return will look like BEFORE the year ends, you can

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Free Online Class – Don’t Cheat Yourself With the 4% Rule

Free Online Class – Don’t Cheat Yourself With the 4% Rule

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Published: October 18, 2019

Our next online retirement planning class, Don’t Cheat Yourself With the 4% Rule, will be Thursday, January 23, 2020. About the Class Author, MarketWatch contributor and retirement expert Dana Anspach will be presenting on the downfall of using simple rules of thumb to plan for retirement.   For example, the 4% rule says you can safely withdraw 4% of your portfolio each year, increase that withdrawal with inflation, and expect to have your income last for life.   Do such rules work?   They’re useful when you’re age 40 and planning for retirement 20 to 30 years away. But as you get closer to retirement,

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Don’t Get Pinged by the Social Security Earnings Limit

Don’t Get Pinged by the Social Security Earnings Limit

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Published: September 4, 2019

I’d like to introduce you to Peggy. Born in 1956, Peggy reached age 62 in 2018. She has worked in retail her whole life, the past twenty-five years spent in management. Peggy divorced from her husband 14 years ago, is still single and has no children. According to the Social Security Administration, Peggy’s Full Retirement Age (FRA) will be age 66 and four months which is when she will be entitled to full Social Security retirement benefits. FRA is a government set limit that varies based on your year, month and day of birth. FRA is gradually rising, and for those

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Your Pension – Take the Lump Sum or the Annuity?

Your Pension – Take the Lump Sum or the Annuity?

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Published: August 25, 2019

If your company offers a pension, consider yourself lucky! Pensions are going the way of home phones. When you retire, you’ll have several important and irreversible decision to make on how you want to take your pension. There are three key decisions the most pension earners are faced with. They are: Lump Sum or Annuity? Should you take your pension as a lump sum (you get cash up front that you can rollover to an IRA account) or as an annuity (you get monthly payments for life)? What Age to Start. When should you start your pension? Should you begin at age 55

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Inheritance Tax Checklist: Know Before You Sell

Inheritance Tax Checklist: Know Before You Sell

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Published: August 18, 2019

Inheritance taxes are complicated. Many people don’t realize that inherited assets—property, stocks, investment accounts, etc.—may be subject to taxes and that there are specific tax rules for each type of asset or account. So before you start selling off assets, make sure you know the rules. We are not talking here about estate taxes. Estate tax is assessed on the total value of everything you own; real estate, stocks, bonds, retirement accounts, businesses, farms, land, and it even includes the death benefit values of any life insurance policies owned by you. With current estate tax rules, estate taxes will only impact

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At What Age Should I Start Making 401(k) Withdrawals?

At What Age Should I Start Making 401(k) Withdrawals?

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Published: August 7, 2019

There are plenty of best practices about how money goes in and grows in a 401(k), but in this article, we tackle the rules related to the age at which you can withdraw from 401(k) plans. By withdrawal, we mean taking money out of the plan (preferably gradually), paying your taxes on the withdrawal amount, and spending it. A rollover to an IRA or a transfer to a new 401(k) plan is not the type of withdrawal we’re talking about here. The object of the withdrawal game is to minimize taxes and get the maximum after-tax income from your nest egg. This

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More Frequently Asked Questions About Our Services

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Published: August 5, 2019

Smart planning delivers an increase in retirement income when compared to an unplanned approach*. How do your services work? With each new client, we begin by developing a comprehensive, customized plan delivered over three strategy meetings each spaced about 2-3 weeks apart. We call this going through our Juicing® process – it is designed to help you “squeeze” more out of your money. Your financial plan projects how well prepared you are to meet your retirement goals. A plan is necessary in order to make the appropriate investment recommendations. Once the plan is understood, the majority of Sensible Money clients hire us for an

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When to Start Social Security for Singles, Marrieds, and Survivors

When to Start Social Security for Singles, Marrieds, and Survivors

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Published: July 10, 2019

What would you guess your Social Security benefits are worth; a few hundred thousand, maybe? Would it surprise you to know the average single person living twenty-five years could receive $500,000 or more in total Social Security benefits? Many married couples will receive over a million dollars. According to the Social Security office, in 2018 the average monthly Social Security retirement benefit was $1,413. That’s $16,956 a year. If you were a high-wage earner, the maximum monthly benefit for someone who had reached Full Retirement Age (determined by your date of birth) was $2,788 –  or $33,456 per year. And, you can get

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How Much Should I Withhold for Taxes in Retirement?

How Much Should I Withhold for Taxes in Retirement?

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Published: June 23, 2019

Many upcoming retirees aren’t quite sure how taxes in retirement are calculated. It’s not all that different than the way they are calculated while working. What is different is the way you withhold and pay those taxes. You need to have an estimate of the amount of taxes you are required to pay so you know what amount to have withheld from pensions, Social Security, or other types of income. In this article, we’ll look at a series of sample calculations so you can see how to calculate your tax withholding in retirement. We look at scenarios using the 2019 tax

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Required Minimum Distributions – Here’s How They Work

Required Minimum Distributions – Here’s How They Work

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Published: June 21, 2019

You’ve been putting money away in your IRA for much of your life. And through some mixture of discipline, good fortune and wits you find that you don’t have to use your IRA savings the moment they become available to you at age 59½. Good for you. Now, upon reaching age 70½ (or perhaps age 72 if the 2019 Secure Act passes) you must completely change your mindset because the U.S. Government requires you to start withdrawing money at that point. It’s called Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs). At first, it may feel like a tax on getting old, but it’s not. RMDs

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