Good Financial Reads: Planning for Retirement (Part Two)

The idea of retirement is rapidly changing. When you speak to millennials and Gen Xers, they aren’t motivated by retirement. They think of retirement is a “deferred life plan” – why wait until you’re age 65 to start living the life you always dreamed of?

The 9 to 5, work-until-you’re- 65 path is not desirable anymore. Think about it – the amount of pension plans (designed to replace your salary in retirement) have decreased over 70% since 1990, the future of social security is uncertain, and the gig economy allows virtual, flexible work that didn’t exist 20 years ago. As long as your job is not physically demanding, you are able to work longer than ever before.

Setting your child up for success in the future is one of your responsibilities as a parent or guardian. This responsibility doesn’t require you to save money for their future, but it certainly helps them to get started on the right foot.

One of the best ways you can do this is by setting up a retirement account for them that you can save in over time. A Minor Roth IRA is the investing loophole that will set your child up for retirement because compounding interest has more time to work. However, as an immigrant there are many factors to consider when determining if you are eligible to contribute to an IRA on your child’s behalf.

Your wife is entitled to benefits based on your Social Security benefits, but it will not impact or reduce how much you receive. She is entitled to 50% of your benefits or 100% of her own benefit (but not both). And you are entitled to 100% of your benefits regardless of what she does. Her '50%' benefit is known as the spousal benefit.

You’re in love, you’re in love!  And you don’t care who knows it!  

So much so that you’ve braved the hurdle of starting a business with your darling.  Once your business becomes sustainable, and dare I say it… profitable, you will want to start thinking strategically about how to save, defer taxes, and plan for the future.  In this blog, we will review retirement plan options for couple owned businesses.  

Moving across international lines is complicated in a whole variety of ways. You have to handle passports, visas, work permits, dual citizenship, and a whole manner of other issues. But, one thing you need to be prepared for is dealing with retirement accounts split between two different countries.

If you’ve spent time living or working in Canada, chances are you have a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) account. However, now that you’re in the United States, you may want to merge it with your Individual Retirement Account (IRA).

I recently had the opportunity to be a part of a panel of professionals who serve individuals and families to discuss the planning considerations of moving into a retirement living community. The webinar was sponsored by Eastmont in Lincoln, NE, which is considered a continuing care retirement community (CCRC) or life plan community. A replay of the webinar can be found here.