Retirement Planning
Blaze a Trail to Your Dream Retirement
You’re most likely in your 50’s or 60’s and you can see a time coming to settle down on the foundations you’ve built, and prepare a legacy for those you care about.
Now is the time to strengthen those foundations to ensure your golden years retain their sparkle, and that you remain prosperous and independent throughout.
Retirement planning is all about sustaining your current lifestyle and doing the things that bring you fulfilment and joy once your working days are over.
When we sit down to talk “retirement” with many clients for the first time, we’re not surprised to find that they’re heavily mortgaged and have significant costs and repayments to meet.
When we ask them “When would you like to retire?” they answer, “Yesterday.”
We’re used to being asked questions like:
- How much am I worth?
- How long will it take to secure my family’s future before I retire?
- How can I earn enough to cover my obligations and live well in retirement?
- How do I protect my income from a crash and how long must that cushion last?
- What impact will rising health insurance costs have on my ability to retire?
- How do I protect my income from the impacts of rising inflation?
If you’re looking to answer these questions, then let’s talk about how we can help you.
WestStar Prosperity Partners’ Financial Advisors can help you answer these and many other questions, as we bring focus to the key areas of your prosperity in retirement.
Our advisors have great experience in helping pre-retirees and those in retirement to prosper in their golden years. We do so by creating and executing on a plan for dependable income regardless of what the world delivers, and by addressing issues like health insurance, tax efficiency and long-term security.
Retirement planning is about how you look at your future today
At WestStar we’ve seen many people wait until they’re nearing retirement before coming to us for advice. We’ve discovered that many are under-funded for the retirement they have in mind.
We understand why some people find it difficult to look for professional advice; if you’re one of those people, you’re not alone. Uncertainty about tomorrow is a great reason to begin planning today. It’s far easier than you’d expect, and the way to go about it is explained in our handy Financial Flightpath Blog (below).
Don’t let These 6 Assumptions Destroy Your Retirement Dreams.
Find out how to avoid becoming a victim of these commonly held false assumptions.
“Retirement should be a journey to find purpose, and not be bogged down by financial stress and pressure. I make clients feel comfortable, so we can get to the bottom of what keeps them up at night. Many fear losing the identity and security that their careers give them. I invite my clients to transfer their financial stress onto my shoulders and have one less burden to contend with.”
Mark Serafini, Financial Consultant
Our Retirement Planning Services Include:
- Retirement Income Planning
- Retirement Tax Planning
- Savings Plans
- 401(K)
- IRAs
- Roth Conversions
- Investment Management
- Social Security Benefits Planning
- Trust Accounts
- Federal Employee Benefits
- Money and Asset Management
- College Savings Plans
- Tax Planning
- Wealth Transfer
- Estate Planning
- Charitable Giving
Pursue Your Unique Dreams With WestStar’s 360° Retirement Plans
WestStar’s holistic approach to retirement planning has helped many retirees assess their preparedness, define their goals and timelines, and pursue them with confidence and clarity.
Our retirement planning advice will allow you to find the most appropriate investment, risk, and tax strategies for your long-term success.
We analyze your financial situation, including your cash flow, asset values, loan balances, job security, caring for aged parents, and factors like college educations to help your kids or grandkids achieve independence. Your age, family dynamic and life expectancy play significant roles in our modelling.
We assess your retirement income sources – like pensions, 401(k) and Social Security, and provide a deep analysis of your claiming options.
Where necessary, we work in concert with your tax advisor to deliver unified advice.
The process is mapped out on a personalized 360° Retirement Roadmap, with a dashboard that makes progress toward your goals transparent. You get the facts at your fingertips, with all routes monitored and measured.
Your 360° Retirement Roadmap shows you where you are, where to go from there, and what to anticipate on the road ahead. You’ll understand your options and projected outcomes, and why we believe one path is better than another.
Your Roadmap sets out our strategic thinking in a clear, understandable and actionable way.
The sigh of relief from our clients when we show them how all of their hard work can get them to their retirement goals is always a special moment.
Everybody wants the rewards for their long years of hard work, and the dream retirement lifestyle they hope success will bring.
Managing your journey towards retirement is among the most important things in life. We’ve boiled it down to 3 essential success predictors, without which success itself may be left to chance.
How to Achieve Your
Dream Retirement
For The Best Ways to Look After Tomorrow Today, Read our Handy Article
Beating Inflation
Inflation is another concern in retirement planning, and one we carefully consider in our modelling. We will assess the best ways to beat inflation, and these may include Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, cash, short-term bonds, stocks, real estate, commodities and gold.
Downside Protection and Risk Tolerance
We assess whether your investment portfolio has enough downside protection if the economy hits a pothole and the market drops like it did in 2008. We keep a close eye on where you’re at in relation to your milestones and financial planning objectives.
Your Retirement Tax Strategy
When many clients first come to us for retirement advice, we find that they’re paying too much in taxes. Maximizing your retirement plan savings under current tax law is an important consideration.
We design a retirement tax strategy that pinpoints the taxes you’ll face at various stages, anticipates how and when to tap your assets to cover your personal expenses, and achieves your goal to pay as low a tax rate as possible.
Most retirement plans offer a tax advantage, either during the savings phase or when you take withdrawals.
Your 401(k) or 403(b) retirement savings plans may include matching contributions from your employer, and our WestStar Advisors will make sure you’re taking full advantage of your company match if it is available.
Social Security and Medicare
By taking your Social Security in the right way, your Medicare premiums could be halved. Your WestStar Advisor will walk you through the process to find, deploy, and protect these savings.
Social Security Taxes
Up to 85% of your Social Security can be taxed and you’ll need to avoid this. Our advisors provide retirement income strategies to help you decide the best time to take benefits, and stay within tax brackets.
Long-Term Care and Disability Insurance
Building your retirement provision and a secure retirement income are two pillars of our financial planning. Protecting them against the financial impacts of disability, loss of income, and the cost of long-term care requires analysis and prioritization.
Long-term disability and long-term care Insurances are designed to return a percentage of your income lost due to disability, and cover a percentage of costs associated with care.
Protecting a significant portion of your income and safeguarding your provision will help you cover some (or all) of these costs if they are needed in your retirement.
By covering long-term care, we ensure that your provision is preserved to support your surviving spouse. In this way, your retirement provision and retirement income goals can be met, no matter what life throws at you.
“Retirement is a singular event that brings many clients much anxiety and for good reason. Some decisions ─ once made ─ cannot be reversed. I help clients make the best decisions according to their specific hopes, dreams, and concerns. My Certified Retirement Planning Counsellor designation helps me dive into the specific solutions for retirement planning.”
Michel Smith: CRPC®, Financial Consultant
Other Things We Do to Smooth Your Path to Retirement
We help you to visualize the kind of life you’d like to live in retirement, and to anticipate and budget for the necessary expenses – everything from healthcare to a cabin on the lake.
We’ll also help you balance your retirement goals with meeting your short-term expenses.
Getting your kids or grandkids through college.
Whether your children are living at home or not, you’ll still play an important role in guiding and preparing them for financial independence.
The plans we create balance any financial help your children or grandchildren may need with your own needs and security.
Legacy Planning
WestStar’s Advisors have helped their parents and many others blaze a new trail in retirement, and part of this is to plan for their legacies. Read up on how we help you create a legacy that you can be proud of.
“Our clients never feel like an account number. With regular reviews, they know we’re monitoring and tracking their progress, and providing solutions based on their results, goals, and life events. They’re certain they’re receiving well-considered advice, and feel protected and fully supported.”
Mark Serafini, Financial Consultant
Disclosure: “Distributions from traditional IRAs and employer sponsored retirement plans are taxed as ordinary income and, if taken prior to reaching age 59½, may be subject to an additional 10% IRS tax penalty.”
Relationships Built On Trust
At WestStar we believe that trust is earned. Our relationships are real, honest and candid. We say what we do, and we do what we say.
Our personal touch and care is evident in all of our relationships, many of which have served pre-retirees, retirees and their families’ best interests for decades.
If that sounds like a relationship worth pursuing, then we would be delighted to partner with you on your trailblazing retirement quest.