Do You Have a Realistic Retirement Plan?

Do You Have a Realistic Retirement Plan?

The unfortunate reality in America today is that after years of hard work and investing, a staggering number of retirees continue to face the ugly ordeal of outliving their savings. In fact, studies tell us that the number one fear of Americans, above everything else – even including a terrorist attack – is running out of retirement income. 

What I find even more alarming is that most pundits seem to blame this predicament squarely on the average investor – for, apparently, not saving nearly enough or failing to diversify properly. While that may be true in some instances, based on my eye-witness observations into thousands of retirement plans over the course of my career, I tend to believe the overarching reason preventing millions of folks from enjoying the financially stress-free retirements they envisioned is unrealistic and flawed financial advice. One might expect that, as is usually the case in college and professional sports, as well as almost every other enterprise, the coach (or financial counselor, in this case) would face some intense scrutiny and be held accountable for what is clearly a dismal outcome.

Here’s the bottom line: Is it realistic to leave the money earmarked for your certain-to-arrive retirement at the whim of a stock market whose exact next moves no financial expert on the planet can predict? Of course, we always hope for the best outcome. But will hope ever change the fundamental truth about how the markets work?

For the record, I’m not suggesting that you avoid the stock market. I am, however, suggesting that you have a realistic expectation of how things might turn out and resist the temptation to invest your retirement nest egg as though it were an optional luxury – unless, of course, it really is.

Did you know there is a proven investing strategy that will allow you to make gains up to a certain cap when the markets go up, with the ability to lock in your gains each year so that your retirement won’t be in jeopardy, should the market dip? Additionally, you can guarantee a specific lifetime income for you (and your spouse), regardless of what the stock market does and irrespective of how long you both end up living. What is particularly interesting here is that you may plan in such a way that if the markets outperform your guarantees, you can still benefit from the uptick, but if things don’t turn out so well, you can rest assured of a certain guaranteed lifetime income.

I can only speculate, but might the millions whose retirement lives stand devastated or those who are losing sleep over the possibility of outliving their savings have appreciated knowing about some of these options? While many so-called financial advisors are, quite frankly, in denial and will only tell their clients about the specific products offered by their firms, in the end you must do what you think is best and realistic for you.

Even if you are already retired, an objective and independent Laser Financial Group professional can review your existing plan and offer you suggestions to help ensure your secure retirement. Simply call 877.656.9111 or visit LaserFG.com to schedule your complimentary session today!

Want to Assure Savings Success in 2014? Put it on Paper!

Want to assure savings success in 2014? Put it on paper!

Happy New Year! My entire team and I wish you and your family all the best this year. I’m guessing that you probably have a few things you’d like to accomplish this year (a.k.a. resolutions). That’s good! But don’t forget what we already know about resolutions – most of them evaporate without a trace within a couple months, if not weeks.

Obviously, that’s a broad statement and probably does not apply to everyone. So let me narrow it down to my area of specialization. Here are some steps my team has used over the years to help countless folks overcome the ever-challenging task of really following through with their resolution to start saving money – toward retirement, down payment on a home, their children’s college tuition, emergency money, or any other purpose.   

Determine your discretionary surplus – on paper!

Yeah, I know! Like most folks, you probably don’t have anything left over at the end of the month, right? In the more than a decade that we’ve been coaching folks through this exercise, the thing I always find completely mind blowing is that nine of 10 people didn’t think they could afford to save anything. But in the end, they surprised themselves. Notice, though, that my point specifically says “on paper” – not just in your mind. I’m not doubting or challenging you. All I’m suggesting is to let the paper do the talking. As they say, numbers don’t lie.

What this exercise requires is writing down what you spend your money on with as much detail as possible. Ideally, I’d suggest that you work with a financial advisor who has experience in expense/cash-flow management, so they can help you capture everything. Like I mentioned earlier, in almost every case I have personally overseen, we ended up with a surplus on paper, even though these folks didn’t believe they had that much discretionary spending or could save anything.

So what causes the gap between our beliefs and the reality we can see when we write it down? Obviously there may be many causes, but here’s what I have observed in my practice. We are all impulse spenders at some level. Some folks flat-out spend on unnecessary stuff. But for the most part, the trickier issue has to do with the fact that you are probably spending way too much money on stuff you consider to be legitimate.  By penning your spending, you will get a true bird’s eye view, and the rest of the exercise will take its natural course.

At our firm, we simply review these numbers with the client, speaking each line item out loud. What happens as we go down the list is that the client reviews their own spending and makes whichever adjustments they deem necessary. On hearing the expenses read out loud, if they thought they were spending too much in a given area, they reduced it to what they believed to be reasonable.  Try this exercise. I can tell, you without a doubt, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

Commit to saving: “Automatic bank draft, please!”

Let me put it this way: the reason most folks aren’t saving what they could save isn’t because they don’t want to or don’t understand the importance of saving. It’s because they don’t have anything left at the end of the day to save. So here’s the catch! As soon as that money hits your account, it needs to go into savings – automatically – because waiting to see that surplus appear at the end of the mouth might never happen. Remember, the genesis of the problem for most of us is impulse/overspending, although we sometimes find this difficult to admit.

Another interesting observation is that most folks, once they start saving – via bank draft – are pleasantly surprised by the fact that their standards of living don’t take any hits. And if it weren’t for the debits on their bank statements, they wouldn’t even notice that they are saving.

Make yourself accountable

You need to be accountable to someone. Well, technically speaking, it’s your life and money, so you don’t have to. But I’m going to suggest that if you really want to make this resolution a reality, you call a financial advisor who has the right kind of experience in this area and is willing to take the time to work with you.  I’d be glad to refer you to the professionals on my team. Simply call 877.656.9111 or visit LaserFG.com to set up your complimentary consultation today.

_____________

Want to learn how you can KEEP more of your retirement money, even if the market crashes again? Call 877.656.9111 or visit LaserFG.com to talk with an experienced retirement professional with a proven track record TODAY!

Could Lightning Strike the Stock Market Twice?

Could lightning strike the stock market twice? 

Here’s a rather simple question for you to answer about your retirement portfolio: What happens in the worst-case scenario that the stock market takes a rather huge plunge, like it did in September 2008?

Of course, like many in the financial planning community/press would have you believe, that’s highly unlikely, right? But how unlikely is it?

In my defense, I did describe it as the worst-case scenario. More likely than not, that’s not going to happen again, but isn’t such a suggestion pure speculation on my part? The thing is, simply hoping – or even strongly believing, as many financial experts apparently do – that the stock market will only move in a certain direction isn’t a sensible retirement strategy. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that prior to the 2008 market crash, many of those whose retirement dreams were completely dismantled or seriously damaged didn’t think anything of such a magnitude could happen, especially to their hard-earned nest eggs.

Five years have passed since the infamous crash, and while many in the financial planning community seem to have forgotten or moved beyond what happened, I personally think that any retirement investor who doesn’t take a hard look at their portfolio, and simply goes with conventional wisdom flow, is making a rather unfortunate mistake. 

Please don’t take this as a caution about not investing in the stock market, because that’s not my point here. Not to mention that I couldn’t make such a recommendation without having had any consultations with you. What I’m hoping to do here is encourage you to thoroughly understand both the best and worst possible outcomes for whichever strategy you are using. And, most important of all, make sure that your assumptions and those of your financial advisor or the media money guru you’re following belong in the real world and not fantasyland.

Perhaps you have heard that the market has fully recovered and the outlook is great. But that still begs my very simple question: What might happen to your retirement livelihood if the market were to tank? Could it happen again? Since the nature of the stock market is to go up AND down, of course it could. It might be a while till we see such a severe crash again, but if lightning can strike the same spot twice, another big market crash is always possible.

By the way, ask any of those retirees (or those who were nearing retirement) whose portfolios took a beating after the 2008 crash if they have recovered – as in, earned back all of the seed money + interest that they lost – and let me know you can find anyone who has.

Here's the bottom line. Ask the hard questions before it's too late, because the price could be unbearable. Remember, it's your money and your retirement that are at stake here.

_____________

Want to learn how you can KEEP more of your retirement money, even if the market crashes again? Call 877.656.9111 or visit LaserFG.com to talk with an experienced retirement professional with a proven track record TODAY!

Pulling Back the Curtain on the Real Reason for Unsuccessful Retirements

Pulling back the curtain on the real reason for unsuccessful retirements

It’s no secret that the vast majority of Americans arrive at retirement significantly short of their intended financial dreams. In fact, the number one fear among Americans, above everything else, is the fear of running out of money in retirement. The most recent Retirement Confidence Survey numbers, published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, put the percentage of retirees who are confident about having enough money to live comfortably in retirement at around 18 percent. 

That’s extremely alarming, to say the least! But here’s what I find even more sickening. Pundits are quick to run down the list of factors responsible for this unfortunate situation and every one of those reasons has to do with something that the American investor did wrong: 

• They didn’t save enough money.
• They chose the wrong funds to invest in.
• They didn’t diversify properly. 

Of course, these may well be part of the problem, but why isn’t anyone questioning the financial advice/guidance that these Americans receive and follow?

The fact of the matter is that if the financial advice vis-à-vis retirement strategy that you follow is flawed, simply saving a whole lot of money will not magically help you retire successfully. And I’m willing to bet that most of these folks followed some kind of financial advice – strangely enough, along the exact same lines that some of these so-called money gurus are espousing.

So why don’t we take a step back and dig deeper into the real underlying issues that are driving more than 80 percent of folks to spend their retirement in financial nervousness? Are we ignoring this obvious question because we don’t really want to know the answer? Are we afraid we might discover that impractical, unhelpful, and/or unrealistic financial advice is ruining more retirements than any other thing?

_____________

Want to learn how you can KEEP more of your retirement money? Call 877.656.9111 or visit LaserFG.com to talk with an experienced retirement professional with a proven track record TODAY!

Are You Truly Maximizing Your Retirement Assets?

Are You Truly Maximizing Your Retirement Assets?

Everyone would like to believe they’re getting the absolute best bang for their investments. But the unfortunate reality is that unbeknownst to a large number of folks, and sadly enough to their so-called financial advisors, their hard-earned assets are simply not being maximized.

Ted was certain that the strategy that he had in place for protecting the inheritance he intended to leave his beloved granddaughter was second to none. He’d had enough of the stock market’s fluctuations and would like to assure that his granddaughter will receive a set amount. Ted’s long-time financial advisor recommended he buy a CD with the $100,000 he intended to leave his granddaughter. This would offer him the needed assurance, plus roughly $2,000 in interest a year.

It’s not a surprising recommendation, but is that the best way for Ted to achieve his goal? Will that move maximize his hard-earned money? Obviously, he and his advisor thought so – until after Ted’s meeting with advisors on my team. Here’s what we recommended:

Ted invests his $100,000 in a contract that guarantees him an income of $7,128 a year for life. It is important to note here that because this contract is not an annuitization of his investment, if Ted dies before depleting his original $100,000 investment (which will be in about 14 years), the remaining balance will be turned over to his beneficiary (granddaughter, in this case). His yearly $7,128 payments will continue for as long as he is alive, whether that’s for two more years or 55 more years. With those lifetime payments, Ted then purchases a no-lapse-guarantee life insurance policy with a $100,000 death benefit, naming his granddaughter as beneficiary. Despite some health challenges, we were able to secure that coverage from a highly-rated insurer for $2,772 a year.

Now let’s take a look at the two approaches. The CD strategy brings in $2,000 a year, compared to a net of $4,356, after paying for the life insurance from his $7,128 lifetime income under our recommendation. Assuming Ted dies after 10 years, the CD route would have yielded $20,000 in interest payments. In addition, his granddaughter will receive the $100,000 inheritance. Alternatively, with our approach, he would have netted $43,650 (after receiving $71,280 in lifetime payments and paying $27,720 in premiums). What’s more, not only will Ted’s granddaughter receive the $100,000 insurance benefit, but also the remaining balance from his lifetime income contract (roughly $28,000+).

The difference is clear. It’s pretty much a no-brainer at this point that Ted will be much better off with our approach, isn’t it? Of course, your situation is different. But the question remains: Could you be doing better? Although Ted could not have possibly fathomed anything better than what he already had in place, his curiosity uncovered a whole new world and changed the course of his retirement beyond his wildest imagination. What might you discover with similar research?

For a thorough review of your financial situation to ensure that you are getting the most out of your hard-earned assets, call 877.656.9111 or visit www.LaserFG.com to request your complimentary, no-obligation session today!

_____________
Want to learn how you can KEEP more of your retirement money? Call 877.656.9111 or visit LaserFG.com to talk with an experienced retirement professional with a proven track record TODAY!

How Could 401(k) Income be Toxic for Social Security Recipients?

One of the most shocking things that many retirees discover - after the fact - is how their other sources of income directly affect the taxes they must pay on their Social Security checks. While most of us are aware that we must pay income tax on tax-deferred assets (like 401(k)s, and 403(b)s), many are under the erroneous impression that that's where things end.

Here is how things REALLY work under the U.S. Tax Code and how you can legally keep more of your hard-earned money:


_____________
Want to learn how you can KEEP more of your retirement money? Call 877.656.9111 or visit LaserFG.com to talk with an experienced retirement professional with a proven track record TODAY!

Want to Learn More about How to Build Long-Lasting Retirement Wealth?

You’re in luck! I will be one of 13 experts for the awesome Your VibrantBusiness Virtual Summit. Coming up October 22, 23, and 24, the seminars in this virtual event will cover topics ranging from Building Long-Lasting Retirement Wealth  to health to relationships to finance to feng shui and more. 

Each of the presenters will help you change your life by giving you tips, tools, and techniques that can truly help you achieve work/life balance. My presentation will be Tuesday, October 22, 9:00 a.m Pacific Daylight time. This is an online presentation, so all you need is a phone and/or computer to participate. 

This is your chance to learn how to maximize your time, reduce your stress, rekindle your passion for your work, and live more authentically. Register HERE!