Category: Epic Insights

Is Your Company’s 401(k) Plan as Good as It Could Be?

Aug 2, 2019

How often do retirement plan sponsors check up on 401(k)s?

Some small businesses may not be prepared to benchmark processes and continuously look for and reject unacceptable investments.

Do you have high-quality investment choices in your plan?

While larger plan sponsors may have more “pull” with plan providers, this does not relegate a small company sponsoring a 401(k) to a substandard investment selection. Sooner or later, employees may begin to ask questions. “Why does this 401(k) have only one bond fund?” “Where are the target-date funds?” “I went to Morningstar, and some of these funds have so-so ratings.” Questions and comments like these may seem reasonable and might surface when a plan’s roster of investments is too short. (more…)

Tags: Financial Planner Charlotte NC

Do Your Investments Match Your Risk Tolerance?

Jul 31, 2019

From time to time, it is a good idea to review how your portfolio assets are allocated – how they are divided among asset classes.

At the inception of your investment strategy, your target asset allocations reflect your tolerance for risk. Over time, though, your portfolio may need adjustments to maintain those target allocations.

Since the financial markets are dynamic, the different investments in your portfolio will gain or lose value as different asset classes have good or bad years. When stocks outperform more conservative asset classes, the portion of your portfolio invested in equities grows more than the other portions. (more…)

Tags: Investment Planning, retirement

Eight Mistakes That Can Upend Your Retirement

Jul 22, 2019

Pursuing your retirement dreams is challenging enough without making some common, and very avoidable, mistakes. Here are eight big mistakes to steer clear of, if possible.

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Tags: retirement, Retirement Planning

What the SECURE Act Could Mean for Retirement Plans

Jul 19, 2019

If you follow national news, you may have heard of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act. Although the SECURE Act has yet to clear the Senate, it saw broad, bipartisan support in the House of Representatives.

This legislation could make Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) a more attractive component of retirement strategies and create a path for more annuities to be offered in retirement plans – which could mean a lifetime income stream for retirees. However, it would also change the withdrawal rules on inherited “stretch IRAs,” which may impact retirement and estate strategies, nationwide. (more…)

Tags: charlotte NC, Retirement Planning, Secure Act

Three Key Questions to Answer Before Taking Social Security

Jul 12, 2019

Social Security will be a critical component of your financial strategy in retirement, so before you begin taking it, you should consider three important questions. The answers may affect whether you make the most of this retirement income source. (more…)

Tags: Retirement Planning, social security

The A, B, C, & D of Medicare

Jul 10, 2019

Whether your 65th birthday is on the horizon or decades away, you should understand the parts of Medicare – what they cover and where they come from.

There are two components of original Medicare, Parts A & B. Part A is hospital insurance. It provides coverage for inpatient stays at medical facilities. It can also help cover the costs of hospice care, home health care, and nursing home care – but not for long and only under certain parameters.^1,2 (more…)

Tags: Medicare

A Retirement Fact Sheet

Jul 8, 2019

Does your vision of retirement align with the facts? Here are some noteworthy financial and lifestyle facts about life after 50 that might surprise you.

1. Up to 85% of a retiree’s Social Security income can be taxed.

Some retirees are taken aback when they discover this. In addition to the Internal Revenue Service, 13 states levy taxes on some or all Social Security retirement benefits: Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia. (It is worth mentioning that the I.R.S. offers free tax advice to people 60 and older through its Tax Counseling for the Elderly program.)

2. Retirees get a slightly larger standard deduction on their federal taxes.

Actually, this is true for all taxpayers aged 65 and older, whether they are retired or not. Right now, the standard deduction for an individual taxpayer in this age bracket is $13,600, compared to $12,000 for those 64 or younger.       (more…)

Tags: financial advisor, retirement

Charitable Contribution Limits

Jul 3, 2019

Among the big changes in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) were new limits on standard and itemized deductions. These limits and restrictions created new hurdles when planning deductions with tax advantages in mind. An exception was charitable deduction, which remains an option for high-income individuals looking to create a donation for the charity of their choice.

When making a charitable donation, two avenues to consider are donor-advised funds (DAFs) and private foundations (PFs).

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Tags: Certified Financial Advisor Charlotte NC, Tax Advantages

Can an IRA Be a College Savings Vehicle?

Jun 28, 2019

An IRA is a retirement savings account, right? Indeed. IRA stands for Individual Retirement Arrangement. Even with that definition, however, there is no prohibition on using an IRA to save for other purposes, such as funding a college education.

Why would anyone choose an IRA as a college savings vehicle? At first glance it may seem strange, since there are other types of investment accounts specifically dedicated to that objective. On closer inspection, though, IRAs (especially Roth IRAs) present some features that may be quite attractive to the parent or grandparent who wants to build education savings.

Parents are urged to save for their children’s college education as soon as possible, but what if their children end up spending little or no time in college? (more…)

Helping Your Parents Manage Financial Tasks

Jun 26, 2019

Worldwide, the number of people aged 60 and older is growing.By 2050, this demographic will be more than twice as large as it was in 2015.¹

Some of these seniors could face a financial test.Will they be able to look after their investments or financial matters at age 80 or 90 with the same level of scrutiny they exercised earlier in life?

Your parents may be facing such a challenge.If you sense that they are not quite up to it, then a conversation about financial issues could be in order.

If you need to have this kind of talk with your parents, it is best to proceed gently, while acknowledging some potential risks that may heighten if the status quo persists. (more…)