Retirement planning
Our Goal
To help you Retire Comfortably With All The Money You Need Without Having To Sacrifice Your Current Lifestyle.
What We Offer
Forthright Finances offers clients in and near retirement financial planning advice, investment management, and tax mitigation strategies so that they can live their best life in retirement, knowing that we are taking care of all the details.
Our Services Can Help You Answer The Following Questions (And More)
• When do I want to retire?
• When can I retire?
• Will my money outlive me?
• What can I do so I don’t have a drop in lifestyle in retirement?
• How do I keep my taxes low in retirement?
• Are my investments properly structured for 40+ years of income generation, as opposed to the 30+ years of accumulation I am used to?
• Are they being reviewed regularly for any changes in my life?
• Am I making the most of the benefits I’ve earned at work?
• Is there anything I should take advantage of before I call it quits?
• Are I prepared for some kind of long term disability or illness?
Getting Started
The starting point in our work will be creating your overall retirement plan, or what we call our Retirement Clarity Blueprint. This Blueprint will be the guide for all other decisions that we make. However, as your life changes, as tax laws change, as the financial markets change, it is inevitable that your financial plan will change as well. Our services are designed so that we are your trusted advisor to work with you through any and all changes in your financial life.
Here is how we would get started:
Get Organized
Gather all your financial information into one folder – your taxes, insurance, investments – everything. Let’s figure out what you’ve got and where you need to go.
GET clarity on goals
We will meet together to discuss your life, financial and retirement goals so that we know exactly what we are working to achieve.
GET a plan
At this stage, we will present to you a one page plan outlining everything you should do to secure your retirement plan. With your plan in place, we will then start taking action so that you can have the retirement that you desire.
Getting Ahead
Now that we have your Retirement Blueprint in place, in our first year of working together, we will go through our Retirement Navigation Process, which allows us to go into more depth on the most essential topics related to your retirement:
INVESTMENTS + INCOME: We will go over your projected income sources in retirement, including investment distributions, Social Security, and anything else. We will clearly explain what you can expect in terms of a “retirement paycheck” from your investment accounts.
RISK MANAGEMENT: We will review any life or disability policies that you have, and if there is a need for them in retirement. In addition, we will work to create a long term care plan so that you will be cared for if you cannot care for yourself in your later years.
ESTATE PLANNING: We will review your current Estate Plan to ensure everything is in place so that if something happens, your wishes are met. For those without an Estate Plan, we partner with a national Estate Planning firm to create important documents for you.
TAX ANALYSIS + PLANNING: We will review how you can pay less taxes over the entirety of your retirement, not just in the current year. This is sorely needed for many people, who do not have enough “tax diversification” and are at risk of paying higher taxes in the future.
ongoing retirement planning + income generation
After we have completed the work described above, we regularly update and monitor your retirement plan. We do this with a carefully structured process, which includes:
After our first year of working together, we will transition to annual meetings to discuss any plan updates and recommendations.
We typically have these meetings from October to early December, so we can discuss any type of open enrollment you may have, as well as tax planning strategies that need to be implemented before the end of the calendar year.
In order to be of most value to our clients, every quarter we proactively monitor and update different aspects of their financial life. Here is a sample schedule of what that includes:
• January: Create a 1099 Tax Letter To Assist In Tax Filing Process
• April: Analyze Tax Return To Review + Assess Tax Saving Opportunities
• July (Every Two Years): Review Estate Plan To Ensure Assets Are Directed Where Intended.
• July (Every Two Years): Review Long Term Care Plan And Discuss Any Potential Adjustments
• October (If Still Working): Create 1 Page Employee Benefits Summary To Determine Any Potential Benefits To Claim
• October (If Over 65): Review Medicare Enrollment Options And Discuss Potential Changes
While we offer the meetings and plan updates listed above, we are more than happy to help if you need anything along the way. We want to be a trusted advisor that you turn to when you have questions we can assist with.
We review our clients income strategy to ensure that even if the markets go down for a period of time, they are still able to generate income from them, while also ensuring that their money will last as long as they do.
Every year, we review our clients tax return to identify areas we could save money in the current year.
In addition (and more importantly), we also plan for how to pay less in taxes over our clients lifetime. While we want to pay all the taxes we owe, we don’t want to leave a tip.
We will ensure that you are using the best investment vehicles that will help you achieve your financial goals as well as incur lower taxes and lower expenses.
Your Investment For financial peace of mind
The cost of my services is between $3,000 and $10,000* per year, which includes comprehensive financial planning, retirement planning and investment management.
* The fee may be higher if your financial life has added complexity (like a complex estate, business, or something else). For most people, that is not the case. We will quote you the final fee after getting to know you in our discovery call.
Please Note: I do not offer any hourly, or one time plan services.
The value of working with a great financial planner can far exceed the cost that you pay, which I’ve written about here: FORTHRIGHTFINANCES.COM/VALUE/
If you are interested in working with me, the first step is to go through my Start My Retirement Process. It is a free, simple three step process where I will create a one page Retirement Plan for you and your family. You can read more about that process at StartMyRetirement.US, and when you are ready, you can schedule a complementary meeting with me below:
What to Expect from Scott:
EXPERTISE:
I am a proud Certified Financial Planner™, author of 3 books on Retirement Planning, and former college professor of financial planning.
FEE-ONLY: I only earn compensation from my clients directly. I don’t earn any commissions of any kind.FIDUCIARY OATH:
Every single recommendation I make will be based on what is in your best interest, not mine.
CLEAR ANSWERS:
I strive to make all of my planning advice clear, concise and free of financial jargon.
ACTION:
Your plan will include easy to follow steps to help you implement and stick with your plan.
What I Expect from You:
QUESTIONS:
Your questions are my guide to helping smooth out the transition you are facing.
ANSWERS:
Telling me about your hopes and dreams will guide how I can best help you get to where you want to go.
TEAMWORK:
Any great working relationship depends on timely communication and mutual trust. I’ll work hard to keep yours and I hope you will too.
WHAT’S IN COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING?
GOAL SETTING & MONITORING
CASH FLOW &
BUDGETING
NET WORTH TRACKING
GOAL SETTING & MONITORING
DEBT PLANNING
INVESTMENT
MANAGEMENT
INSURANCE REVIEW
TAX PLANNING
EDUCATION SAVINGS
PLAN
ESTATE PLANNING
Confidence comes with clarity.
Every Forthright Finances plan is tuned to your goals and your family. When we meet to assess your needs I will detail the specific parts of the plan I recommend for you. They may include:
RETIREMENT PLANNING:
When do you want to retire? When can you retire? Will your money outlive you? What can we do so you don’t have a drop in lifestyle in retirement?
TAX PLANNING:
Most Financial Advisors don’t go deep on this subject, unfortunately. We will review how you can pay less taxes over your lifetime, not just in the current year.
INVESTMENT ANALYSIS & MANAGEMENT:
Do your investments match with your goals? Are they being reviewed regularly for any changes in your life?
EMPLOYEE BENEFIT OPTIMIZATION:
Are you making the most of the benefits you’ve earned at work? Is there anything we should take advantage of before you call it quits?
RISK MANAGEMENT REVIEW:
Will your loved ones be secure financially if you couldn’t work? Or if you couldn’t physically take care of yourself?
ESTATE PLANNING:
In case of a disability, we will ensure everything is in place to take care of you. And when you pass away, we will make sure your money will go exactly where you want it to go.