Problems We Solve
As you get closer to retirement, it can be easy to turn a blind eye to your financial status. You might assume you won’t have enough to cover all of your expenses and that you’ll never have the chance to make up for lost time. Or you might assume that you have more than enough, even if you haven’t done all of the math. Neither approach is recommended if you really want to live out your golden years in peace.
Your finances are a mashup of countless decisions you’ve made over the course of your lifetime, but the right professional can help you put them in order. At the very least, they can help you sort out the take–home values behind your 401(k) or IRA, so you have a realistic idea of what to expect from your investments. At Secure Financial Strategies LLC, Keith Ingersoll can start giving you all the guidance you need to get back on track.
Boutique Retirement Firm in Boise, Idaho
A small firm may not have all of the glitz of a larger firm, but consider how much more
personalized the attention will be. Instead of being passed off to several departments,
depending on your request, you work with the same people no matter what you need.
Of all the strategies you could take to plan your retirement, the goal here is to secure your monthly income. Much like you depend on your paycheck every month to pay all of your regular bills, this retirement strategy ties together several reliable sources of income. Whether it’s Social Security benefit checks or property rentals, you won’t have to worry about how to cover your base expenses.
From there, it’s a matter of fulfilling the rest of your retirement dreams. If it ever starts feeling
confusing, just remember a few things:
1. Decide what you can save every month.
2. Turn over a portion of your wealth so an advisor can build on it through careful investment.
3. Sit back and start planning for a life you’ve always wanted to lead.
Retirement Income Planning
Retirement income planning isn’t all that different from income planning during your working years. Just as you would negotiate for a higher salary or take advantage of passive income opportunities through investments, your goal is to bring in as much money as possible every month, so you can cover daily necessities and luxuries alike. If you want to know how you can do this without the benefit of your standard paycheck, a financial advisor can fill in all the blanks for you.
Retirement Income in Boise, Idaho
How much do I need to retire? A question like that, of course, depends on how you want to live your life. You might picture yourself taking a part–time job in a winery as a pourer on weekends. Or you might see yourself winding your way through every travel destination you missed throughout your working years. You might even want to build your own home and grow or hunt for your own food.
No matter what you’re looking for, though, you will need a certain amount of money to cover regular expenses plus unexpected emergencies or events. For instance, if you decide you want to cover a descendant’s education or you have a chronic illness that requires extended professional care, the right financial advisor can help you determine when the best retirement age for you will be, and how to plan your retirement income from there.
For the best results, the sources of your revenue should be tailor–made to fit your expectations and needs. At Secure Financial Strategies LLC, you’ll learn more about how Social Security, pensions, rental properties, and stocks can all be leveraged to bring in monthly revenue. Once you understand the basics, the possibilities are nearly infinite. Whether you want to be a landlord or you’d prefer more hands–off forms of income, the right advisor can create a list of options. Then, as you work through the pros and cons of each one, you’ll settle on retirement income that will set you up for success — no matter what lies ahead.
Maximizing Social Security
For the original writers of the Social Security program, today’s version might be unrecognizable. Since the 1930s, when the program was introduced, it’s undergone numerous changes. From year to year, people interpret the purpose of the system differently, which can have a very big effect on take–home pay. While you don’t have very much control over what government officials do to the fine print of the program, the good news is that maximizing Social Security is still very much something that you have power over.
How to Maximize Social Security
For some people in Boise, Idaho, getting the most from Social Security may seem like it’s not worth your time. When the average person gets around $2,500 a month, the idea of putting in hours of effort for a few extra dollars a month may not appeal. However, Social Security is specific to how you worked, what you did, how much you paid, and how long you were on the job.
Plus, even small increases per month can end up having a far bigger impact on your portfolio than you realize — particularly if you have the right financial advisor by your side. At Secure Financial Strategies LLC, you can talk to Keith Ingersoll about how to use Social Security to your advantage. This reliable source of revenue can easily become a monthly foundation for you. Use it for daily expenses, so your other sources of income can be used to save or splash out on luxuries like travel or remodeling projects.
At a boutique retirement firm, you’ll learn how the program fits with the rest of your income planning during your golden years. When you file, you can be confident that you’re getting everything you deserve from it. After all, you’ve certainly paid your fair share into the system, so it makes sense to take some back once you’re no longer receiving a steady income. Secure Financial Strategies can help ensure that you don’t have to correct a mistake down the road.
Health Care
Health care is a jungle these days, made more complex by ever–changing services, billing codes, providers, and schools of thought. The idea of trying to fight your way through the noise to the best path can be daunting even under the best of circumstances. If you’re wondering how a financial advisor can help, Secure Financial Strategies LLC can tell you more about how it all works.
Health Care in Boise, Idaho
Health care can mean so many things to different people in the Boise area. One person might visit a holistic doctor every week, while another might visit their primary care provider once every few years. Some people are steadfast about eating well, exercising, and keeping their stress levels down. Others may have a demanding job that makes it difficult (or even impossible) to find time for relaxation.
No matter where you’re coming from, the goal of health care planning is to lower your overall costs without compromising your portfolio. A major illness or injury can end up wiping out all the savings you worked so hard for. A financial advisor will tell you more about how to find coverage — based on everything from your medical history to your personal habits. It may seem strange to put them in the driver’s seat, but consider how every dollar spent on health care affects your assets. When your advisor can look at the bigger picture, they can show you how to fill in any gaps in coverage.
If you talk to 10 different people about health care, you’ll get 10 different answers about how to manage the financial aspect. Instead of ignoring the many questions that go into optimizing your health (and portfolio), why not talk to someone who can take action about it all? The best part is that you’ll leave feeling more confident about how to handle health hiccups in the future. This benefit is certain to give your blood pressure a break, so you can at least scratch that anxiety off your list.
Efficient Tax Planning
Filing your taxes can start to become routine after a while. Whether you dread it or not, it’s normal to stick to the same strategy. This approach, while familiar and comfortable, can potentially cost you untold thousands of dollars over the years. Efficient tax planning is a financial concept that goes a step beyond hiring an accountant (and several steps beyond doing the work on your own). Keith Ingersoll at Secure Financial Strategies LLC can help you piece it all together.
How Efficient Tax Planning Works
In a nutshell, efficient planning opens the door to restructuring how you file. For instance, you might be able to leverage a 1031 exchange so you can avoid paying capital gains. So, while you might know the basics of how this works, a financial advisor can show you exactly how it will fit in with the rest of your portfolio. Plus, they’ll show you how to fill out all the forms, so you’re not leaving any money on the table.
Federal, state, and local tax codes are all like different notes in the same symphony. Unless you have plenty of time and energy available, it’s difficult to tease out which regulations are on your side and which ones are costing you money. Plus, if and when those tax codes change (particularly at the state and local levels), it can be difficult to put those changes into context as you move forward.
The right advisor in Boise, Idaho can explain both how you can take advantage of current laws and what you can do to prepare for inevitable adjustments down the road. They can give you the confidence you need to file without worrying about whether you’re leaving the government an extra tip.
No matter what your assets are, Ingersoll is adept at organizing it all before he can assess which opportunities are right for you. Unlike an accountant, who’s usually working with you once a year, a financial advisor knows the much bigger financial strategy that will help you reach your retirement goals.
Life Insurance
Life insurance is one of those purchases that you might not hear people talk about very often. While it’s easy to share details about your new car, watch, or TV, life insurance forces everyone in the discussion to think about a number of things they would likely prefer not to consider.
This partly explains why people often choose the wrong plan for themselves, but it’s important to point out that there’s more to the story than meets the eye. Another major reason why people buy the wrong plan is that they don’t have a financial advisor who can help them see how the plan helps or hurts their long–term financial goals (and retirement plans).
Life Insurance in Boise, Idaho
At Secure Financial Strategies LLC, you’ll get to work with a staff that understands more than just the numbers on a page. Different people approach life insurance with very different goals. There’s no right or wrong; there’s only what the policyholder is comfortable with.
For instance, one client might be interested in term life insurance, essentially a policy with a set expiration date. Unlike most forms of insurance, you can pick when you want your coverage to end. For most people, the dates align with a major milestone, such as a youngest child’s 18th birthday or their college graduation day. Other clients might be interested in how permanent life insurance (a policy that never expires) can help them protect their beneficiaries when the time comes.
A permanent life insurance policy, while more expensive than its term counterpart, can also add a savings component to the mix. This perk can be used for unexpected emergencies, which can end up being a financial lifesaver for the policyholder. It all comes down to what kind of flexibility you want and how the terms will impact your bottom line. Whatever you choose, a financial advisor will show you how your premium and plan can mesh with your retirement goals. Before you settle on an option, particularly if you’re getting locked into a certain rate, it’s important to do your homework first.
Long-Term Care
The question of long–term health care costs is not just a hot topic, it’s also somewhat of a mystery. People know that it can be expensive if and when long–term care is needed, but they may not delve very far into the details. As a result, most of the public relies on anecdotes, either in the news or in real life, to understand more about what everything costs.
This imperfect system has ended up in untold bankruptcies. If you don’t want to leave anything to chance, you can talk to a financial advisor who will tell you more about how to protect your finances (and your health) from the worst–case scenario.
What Is a Long–Term Care Policy in Boise, Idaho?
Long–Term Care (LTC) is a type of insurance that covers health care costs that a health care plan typically doesn’t. For instance, if you were in a major car accident and needed to hire a home aide for several months after surgery, this is the kind of charge that you could claim. While statistics vary, one study found that people with this insurance spent about six times less overall than those without it. It’s a sobering fact to learn, but it’s not the only part of the story.
Long–Term Care can be an effective way to protect your savings and revenue from endless medical bills. However, it’s not the right choice for everyone. Between the expense of the premium and the variance of coverage from one provider to another, the answer will depend on everything from your ideal retirement lifestyle to your family’s medical history.
If you have questions about the conditions, exceptions, and restrictions of each plan, Keith Ingersoll at Secure Financial Strategies LLC can help. This boutique retirement firm is distinguished by its personal service and recommendations. There’s a lot of information to navigate if you’re interested in adding this asset to your portfolio. Ingersoll can go over everything from the carrier’s reputation to the potential financial returns of the policy in case you don’t end up using it.