How To Strategize for Your Social Security Benefits
As life expectancy has grown, your retirement now can last between 20 and 30 years. So Social Security planning is critical, no matter how much money you have. It can make a difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars. For example, if you retire at age 62 and pass away at age 86, you’ll receive…
Read MoreThe 3 Stages of Your Financial Life
What are required minimum distributions and how are they determined? Beginning at age 72 and you must begin to withdraw money from your retirement accounts every year. The amount is determined based on your life expectancy. As contained in the IRS tables, required minimum distributions are computed by dividing the account balance at year’s end…
Read MoreHow to Set and Keep Financial Goals
Written goals are your road map to financial success. Be specific, simple, and realistic and include time frames and dollar amounts. Have some big goals and some small ones. Include a savings plan and an emergency fund. Pay off high-interest debt and control the amount of your debt. Then, take action to achieve your goals.…
Read MoreHow Dollar Cost Averaging Can Help You Make Smart Investments
Dollar cost averaging is a stock market investing technique where you buy a fixed dollar amount of a particular investment on a regular schedule, regardless of the share price. More shares are purchased when prices are low and fewer shares are bought when prices are high. This can help reduce the impact of volatility or…
Read MoreAre Target Date Funds Right for You?
As we near retirement, the ability to recoup investment losses becomes critical. Therefore a strategy to reduce risk as you near retirement should be targeted. Target Date Funds, which are usually mutual funds, self-adjust their portfolio based upon a fixed date. As time passes, exposure to stocks is replaced with an increasing use of bonds.…
Read MoreDon’t Let Timing Ruin Your Retirement
Did you know that one of the greatest risks to your retirement portfolio can happen in the first years you retire? The timing of when you begin withdrawing money from your investments can dramatically impact your long-term wealth. It’s called sequence-of-return risk, and the danger is very real. When you make regular withdrawals from investments…
Read MoreWhy is Asset Allocation Important to Investing?
To keep your investment portfolio on target for financial goals, you want to balance risk and diversify your assets. That’s the purpose of asset allocation – the process of dividing your portfolio among major categories like cash, stocks and bonds. Historically, the returns of these three major asset categories have not moved up and down…
Read MoreWhat’s Your Risk Tolerance?
Risk tolerance is the level of risk, or market ups and downs, an investor is willing and able to tolerate. An aggressive investor, one with a high risk tolerance, is willing to risk greater loss to potentially maximize returns, while a conservative investor prefers investments that have a lower risk of negatively impacting the portfolio’s…
Read MoreProtect Your Portfolio With Diversification
Just like the old warning against putting all of your eggs in one basket, if you put all your money in one company stock and it dropped like a rock, you’d lose everything. Diversification can help protect your portfolio from that scenario. Diversification is the practice of spreading your money among different investments to reduce…
Read MoreAbout Wealthplan Group Retirement Plans & Foundations
Our family of companies has financial advisors with offices across the country. For 32 years, we’ve been offering unbiased financial advice and asset management as a fiduciary firm more focused on client success than company sales. As an independent national firm, we can provide a wider range of financial advisory options that can be tailored…
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