Retirement Readiness Review Course

Studies show that when you write your goals down, you’re more likely to achieve them. You’ll get clear on important retirement objectives like: How do you wish to spend your time? What do you want to accomplish? Where will you travel? Who will you spend time with? What hobbies will you enjoy? You’ll begin with some brief exercises to get you thinking (and dreaming).

Your retirement planning foundation: Knowing exactly how much money you’ll need to save to cover your monthly expenses. Most people don’t take the time to do this. Learn how to determine your costs, examine potential retirement income sources, how much you’ll need to save, and, importantly — when you can retire.

Your income is taxed differently before and during retirement. You’ll discover ways to lower your taxes before and even during retirement. We’ll also explore some available deductions and which ones may work best. By reducing your taxes, you can save more for retirement and create more income.

You’ll uncover potential sources of retirement income. We’ll also review IRAs, Roth IRAs, and social security and show you some rules and strategies to maximize your benefits.

When you’re retired, you’ll make regular withdrawals. Here, you’ll learn the best way to access these plans and the critical mistakes to avoid. How to handle company stock in your retirement plan and required minimum distribution rules. These decisions are often irreversible and can carry penalties if not done properly. If you have a pension plan, we’ll cover how you can get the most out of them.

You’ll get an introduction to cash accounts, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and annuities. You’ll understand the advantages and disadvantages of the different investment options. We’ll discuss establishing investment objectives for your portfolio and developing an investment policy statement. We’ll also cover how investments are taxed and how you can minimize the taxation of your portfolio.

You’ll discover the various insurance coverages you should maintain before and during retirement — including for long-term care. You’ll also learn how to maintain adequate health insurance coverage, covering Medicare, its costs, Medicare Advantage, Medigap, and Medicare prescription drug plans. Lastly, we’ll demystify the different types of life insurance so you can identify the best policy for you.

What do Howard Hughes and Pablo Picasso have in common? They both died without a will and left their estates in turmoil for years. You’ll learn about wills, whether it’s enough, types of trusts and if you’ll need one.