Retirement

By: John P. Napolitano, CFP®, CPA, PFS, MST

 

Maybe it’s your hobby that you’ve longed to turn into a business, something that you’ve observed is in high demand in your market place or simply some consulting that you may be do for your former employer to earn a little extra money. Regardless of your reason, there are some things that all business owners need to consider before hanging out that shingle.

It’s usually a sad, tragic story, like a pre-mature and uninsured death, permanent disability, substance abuse or a nasty, financially depleting divorce. Whatever the cause, your life changes when you went from a retirement minded grandparent to the primary caregiver for grandchildren. To accommodate these changes, you may want to alter your financial plans.

No one enjoys headlines that make you shiver, except for the broadcast networks themselves. Recent market declines are based on the fear of the unknown, which translates to everyone’s own interpretation of the financial consequences of the economic slowdown due to the coronavirus. Thinking we may be in store for a prolonged decline may be overblown, but they feel pretty darn real in the short term as you are watching the values of your portfolio decline.

By: John P. Napolitano, CFP®, CPA, PFS, MST

For many of us, having too much money in a retirement plan sounds like a dream come true. But for those who have done a great job saving throughout their working career, living with more in retirement savings than you need may somehow feel like a burden. Required minimum distributions (RMD’s) and the complexities of estate planning for retirement benefits can be complicated. There are ways to minimize this burden, but not all of them are intuitive.

By: John P. Napolitano, CFP®, CPA, PFS, MST

When it comes to retirement, the big question is how much you’d like to spend and whether or not that is sustainable.  There are crazy myths or rules of thumb touted to help determine your retirement needs, but don’t believe them.  The only way to know what your retirement years will cost is to spend some time to dream and put pencil to paper or fingers to keyboard for you more technologically capable.

By: John P. Napolitano, CFP®, CPA, PFS, MST

According to a business owner who recently failed at retirement, ‘retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be’. For this individual, it wasn’t about the money, it was about the feeling of loss once he wasn’t the boss and in control. He felt as if his purpose in life had simply disappeared. 

By: John P. Napolitano, CFP®, CPA, PFS, MST

For those who saved and invested, one of the toughest decisions to make during your retirement may be which accounts to use to fund your spending. Many savers have traditional retirement accounts, possibly a Roth retirement account and after tax money from savings or investments.

By: John P. Napolitano, CFP®, CPA, PFS, MST

In today’s world of people living and working longer, the old vision of retiring and sitting on the front porch with a glass of lemonade just doesn’t cut it. Some people may continue to work because they have to, but for others it is often because they really don’t know what else they’d do with their free time.

By: John P. Napolitano, CFP®, CPA, PFS, MST