Retirement Planning for Executives
The approach to retirement may look different depending on when you begin planning and when you expect to retire. For high-income professions, there's a lot to consider when maximizing your retirement income with tax efficiency and thoughtful estate and legacy planning.
Planning can begin at any stage of your career. In fact, the sooner you start, the more opportunities you'll have to save, take advantage of employer benefits, and implement long-term strategies to maximize retirement income. As your financial partner, we help you build towards a secure retirement future.
How Old Peak Finance Can Help
- Identify your retirement goals and develop a plan based on your priorities.
- Assess your preparedness to retire and address any income shortfalls.
- Build a plan to meet retirement income needs by identifying sources of income and assets available to generate income.
- Create a financial strategy based on when and how you want to retire
- A phased approach that transitions to full retirement
- Transition to a lower-income career, consulting, or part-time work
- Full retirement
- Strategically claim Social Security and pension income to coordinate with your life plan and minimize taxes.
- Use retirement plan deferrals now to create future income streams.
- Plan required minimum distributions (RMDs)
- Plan legacy giving utilizing QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distributions)
- Address risks faced during retirement such as uncertain life expectancy, funding longevity needs, inflation, death of a spouse, an unpredictable stock market, and increasing health care expenses or a long-term care event
Have Questions?
Sign up for a complimentary call. We'll listen and determine together if we can help you achieve your goals.
Why Work with Old Peak Finance
Thinking of retiring - no matter what your age - can feel overwhelming. Financial planning reduces risks and protects what's most important to you.
To safeguard your future and provide for your family today and into the years to come, we help you evaluate your complete financial picture. As fiduciaries, we take an oath to put your interests first. You can trust that you receive experienced, knowledgeable advice personalized for your goals and life situation.
Our Comprehensive Financial Planning Includes:
- Evaluating your current retirement and investment plan
- Helping identify and prioritize financial goals
- Planning for health and life insurance needs
- Estate planning
- Identifying sources of retirement income and assets that can contribute to future income
- Planning for uncertainty, increasing healthcare expenses, and inflation
- Guidance to maximize Social Security benefits
- Planning for tax implications on retirement income sources, including Social Security and retirement account withdrawals
Wealth Mangement & Investment Planning
- With better health care and longer life expectancies, your retirement may need to last 30 years or more. Create a plan that provides a reliable income regardless of how long you need it.
- Your retirement income is taxable, but there are ways to minimize the impact on long-term savings and benefit distributions.
- Thoughtful planning on how best to pass wealth and assets to your children and heirs.
Insurance Planning
- Life insurance provides immediate and long-term financial benefits to your beneficiaries. We help you navigate your options:
- Term Life Insurance
- Whole Life Insurance
- Universal Life Insurance
- Retirement also means health insurance needs once covered by an employer are now your responsibility. We help you estimate your needs and options to provide the level of care you need now and in the future.
Estates, Generational Wealth and Charitable Gifts
- We begin with foundational estate planning documents: wills, financial and healthcare powers of attorney, and advanced healthcare directives.
- Create a comprehensive plan for passing wealth to your heirs.
- Create beneficiary instructions for your retirement plans, as there may be significant balances to disperse.
- Assess tax-smart ways to pass assets to family members.
- Evaluate the need for trusts.
- Update documents on a regular basis as you age.
Personal Tax Planning
- Timing when you begin receiving Social Security benefits may impact your taxable income and your lifetime benefits. We help you understand the best time to request benefits and how they affect your survivors.
- Understand how 401k and pension deferment affects your tax liability.
- Project your lifetime tax bill and strategies to minimize it
- Assess tax diversification – what percentage of your assets are in taxable accounts, tax-deferred accounts and tax-free accounts
Financial Planning Resources for Retirement Planning
We write a lot about the importance of retirement planning. Here are a few of blogs on the subject.
“Will” Power: What Your Last Will Does and Doesn’t Do
“Will” Power: What Your Last Will Does and Doesn’t Do Read More >
Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I’m 94?
Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I’m 94? Read More >
Frequently Asked Questions
Planning for retirement can begin with your first job. Your 401k, any stock compensation and life insurance can provide a foundation for your future.
The 4% rule suggests you may withdraw 4% of your savings during the first year of retirement, assumed to be around age 65, and adjust that amount annually for inflation each year thereafter, without running out of money before the end of life. Many observers now believe 4% is too high.
The answer: it depends. Factors we would consider include the mortgage rate, how your investments may perform over your life, whether you can achieve a tax deduction from mortgage interest payments, how much liquidity you have for annual expenses and your annual cash flow needs.
When we create your financial plan, we do an insurance analysis. The key questions: how much insurance do you need and over what period?
If you live longer than average – the situation for many higher income people given access to high quality medical care – it usually makes sense to defer your Social Security benefit. But if you are a married couple with different benefit levels and/or different life expectancies, the claiming strategy can be complicated to determine. Social Security is one of the few sources of income that does not run out and adjusts with inflation. So, it is worth a careful analysis to identity the optimal strategy.
Have Questions?
Sign up for a complimentary call. We'll listen and determine together if we can help you achieve your goals.