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How to Find the Energy for Your Favorite Retirement Activities

1/27/2023

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Most people spend many years planning and looking forward to retirement. However, when retirement actually arrives, you might feel too physically exhausted to participate in any of the plans that you’ve made. 

Here are a few ways to find the energy for your favorite retirement activities. 

Get Enough Sleep

First, make sure you’re getting enough sleep each night. Sleep helps to rejuvenate and renew your physical and mental health. If you get enough sleep each night, you’ll be more energized throughout the day to participate in fun activities. 

The amount of sleep that you need changes throughout your life, so chances are that you need more hours of sleep in retirement than you used to when you were younger. Sometimes, physical conditions and illness can affect the quality of sleep that you receive. If this is the case, talk to a doctor to find treatments or medications that can help you to get better quality sleep. 

Start the Day with a Healthy Breakfast

Another way to find the energy for your favorite retirement activities is to make sure you’re starting the day with a healthy breakfast. Eating a healthy breakfast can fuel your body with the nutrients and vitamins that you need. 

This will help you to feel stronger and more energized throughout the day. Fibrous fruits like apples and kiwis can stimulate saliva production and protect your teeth. Even though you might be tempted to eat something fast, sugary, and easy for breakfast, remember how a healthy breakfast can benefit your body. 

Stay Active

Finally, staying active will help you to have more energy to enjoy your retirement. Believe it or not, becoming inactive in your day-to-day life can actually make you feel more tired and less energized. If you spend much of your time in retirement sitting around watching TV, your body won’t have the strength and energy to participate in activities that you used to love. So, staying active and exercising keeps you healthy and strong, which can help you to have more energy for your favorite retirement activities. Make sure you find a type of exercise that you enjoy, as this will keep you more motivated when it is time to be active. 

So, if you’re trying to better enjoy your retirement, remember these energizing habits. Make sure you get enough sleep, start the day with a healthy breakfast, and stay active. These habits will keep you healthier and more motivated to enjoy your retirement, even as you age and experience health issues.

Did you enjoy reading this article? Here’s more to read. HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME MORE LIVABLE IN RETIREMENT

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How to Get More Money Out of Your Home Sale

1/26/2023

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Are you planning to sell your home as part of your preparation for retirement? Selling your home can be expensive, especially when you’re wanting to save up as much money as possible for your retirement finances. Here are a few ways to get more money out of your home sale. 

Make High ROI Updates

First, you can make high ROI updates to your home to increase the property’s value. This can help you to increase your asking price, and as a result, make more money off your home. Even though renovations and updates will cost you money initially, they can increase the value of your home significantly. 

However, not all home renovations are created equally when it comes to ROI. Some renovations might look really great but they might not actually affect your home’s value that much. Make sure that you spend some time researching which home renovations and updates will have the greatest return on your investment. Making high ROI updates will help you to get more money out of your home sale.

Skip Commissions and Other Fees

Another way to get more money out of your home sale is to skip commissions and other fees. When you’re selling your home traditionally, many expenses can add up quickly and unexpectedly, especially as you’re closing on your sale. Traditional home sales require real estate commissions paid to an agent. 

Real estate commissions usually cost around 5-6% of your home sale price, which could end up being tens of thousands of dollars that you’ve lost. You can skip commissions and other fees by selling your house to a cash buyer, such as a cash home buying company. Cash buyers usually buy homes without real estate agents and will have minimal fees and expenses, helping you to save the most money possible when you’re selling your home.

Sell at the Right Time

Finally, you can get more money out of your home sale by selling at the right time. There are certain seasons of the year when homes are in higher demand, which could increase your buyer options and the money that you receive from your home sale. Selling your house in the “off-season” could cause you to have limited options for buyers and a smaller profit margin. In most areas, spring is the most popular season to sell a home. Make sure that you pay attention to your local market to know the right time to sell your home.

So, if you’re trying to get more money out of your home sale to supplement your retirement finances, remember these tips. You can get more money out of your home sale by making high ROI updates, skipping commissions and other fees, and selling at the right time. This can help you to have a profitable sale of your home as you’re headed into retirement.

Did you enjoy reading this article? Here’s more to read: Why You Need Income Apart From Your Job

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Factors That Can Make Your Home Sell Faster

1/26/2023

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Selling a home can be an overwhelming process, but there are certain factors that can help make it go smoother and faster. Knowing how to leverage these factors will give you the best chance for success in getting your home sold in a timely manner. In this article, we'll explore each of these elements and discuss why they're important when selling your home.

Location

Location is one of the most important factors when it comes to selling your home. A good location can make a home more attractive to potential buyers and can help increase the chances of a quick sale. Potential buyers are usually looking for locations that offer easy access to amenities, including shops, restaurants, public transportation, and other services. Homes located in desirable neighborhoods or close to employment centers will also be in higher demand.

Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is one of the most important factors in selling a home. It is the positive first impression that potential buyers get when they come to view your property. A well-maintained exterior can attract more attention and interest which can ultimately lead to a quicker sale of your home. Doing your landscaping can make your property look well-maintained. Updating or adding curb appeal features like paint and lighting can give your home a more attractive appearance. Making sure that the front entrance to your home is inviting with steps, railings, and a doorbell can help potential buyers feel welcome. Other small details like mowing the lawn and trimming shrubs can go a long way in making your property look its best.

An Experienced Agent

An experienced real estate agent can be a great asset to any home seller, as they possess the expertise and knowledge of the local market that is essential to selling a home quickly. Not only do they have a deep understanding of what factors influence the sale of a particular home, such as its state of repair, location and price point, but they also have an extensive network of buyers, as well as a thorough familiarity with the local market. With their combined guidance and expertise, they will be able to get the most out of your home sale, while still making sure it’s done in

While there are many factors that go into selling a home quickly, these three tips are a great place to start. By increasing your home's curb appeal, making sure it is in the right location and finding an experienced agent, you will be well on your way to a quick and successful sale.


Read more: How to Accelerate Your Path to Retirement

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Cash Balance plan

1/25/2023

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​This letter is part of a series on cash balance retirement plans, one of the best strategies to help high-earning Americans reduce taxes and accelerate their retirement savings. Since the loosening of IRS restrictions in recent years, cash balance plans have become extremely popular and only continue to grow, commanding over $1 trillion in assets. Adding a cash balance plan on top of a 401(k) profit-sharing plan can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings. We’ve come a long way with this series, from learning about the basic structures of cash balance plans to exploring the history behind their popularity. Now, here at the end, let’s stop to take a look at some actual, concrete examples of how business owners can benefit from adding a cash balance plan. We hope that you have found plenty to pique your interest in this series and that you fall into one of the groups of people most likely to benefit from adding a cash balance plan. We are happy to do a free, zero obligation case design for you and your company, providing you with an in-depth analysis of the money that you could be saving. See the end of this letter for details. Here’s a look at a few sample cases: Sample Company 1 - One owner, two employees Sample Company 2 - One owner, ten employees Sample Company 3 – Four owners, three employees After looking over these numbers, ask yourself if any of the following statements apply to you: • I am paying $20k or more in taxes, and I expect to pay as much again next year. • I expect to sell highly appreciated assets within the next five years. • I currently make gift contributions to a trust and expect to continue doing so. • I rely on a CPA for tax prep, and my CPA has not gotten together with a tax attorney, a certified financial planner, or a chartered financial consultant to plan detailed tax reduction strategies for the future. • I have a tax prep consultant and not a tax planning team. If you fall into one of these categories, then it is extremely likely that you can reap huge tax benefits from adding a cash balance plan. Don’t assume that your CPA or tax prep specialist is saving you every possible dollar. CPAs are fantastic for tax prep, but they don’t usually have much experience with tax planning. Think of it as the difference between an architect and an engineer. The engineer brings the architect’s plans to fruition, but the architect is responsible for the original design. In the same way, a CPA can apply relevant tax code when filing returns, but usually doesn’t create a comprehensive plan to reduce taxes across the board. The U.S. tax code is over 5 million words long, and it is crucially important to have a team that thoroughly understands and specializes in that code in order to significantly lower tax payments. Without this, you don’t have a tax plan; you only have tax prep, and by then it’s too late to take advantage of many valuable top-line deductions. We’re so confident in our team’s ability to reduce your tax burden that we offer a “2x savings promise”. This means that you will never pay us more than half of what we save you in taxes. If we can’t save you money, we don’t get paid. It’s as simple as that, and it gives us a great incentive to find you every available deduction. Again, our initial assessments and case design are absolutely free. If we can’t save you anything, we work for nothing. By filling out the enclosed form(s)—just the one for individuals, or both forms for businesses—and returning it/them to our office, you will take the first steps towards enormous tax savings, potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. If you’re still feeling uncertain or would like more information first, please feel free to contact us toll-free at (800)-528-0377 Remember, cash balance plans remain one of the largest top-line deductions ever approved by the IRS. If the numbers are right, this is a benefit that you should absolutely take advantage of.
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Establishing a Cash Balance Plan

1/25/2023

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​This letter is part of a series on cash balance retirement plans, one of the best strategies to help high-earning Americans reduce taxes and accelerate their retirement savings. Since the loosening of IRS restrictions in recent years, cash balance plans have become extremely popular and only continue to grow, commanding over $1 trillion in assets. Adding a cash balance plan on top of a 401(k) profit-sharing plan can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings. Throughout this series, we’ve discussed the many benefits to be gained from adding a cash balance plan on top of a 401(k) profit-sharing plan. Accelerated retirement savings, substantial increases to contribution limits, hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax savings—the list goes on and on. Cash balance plans can be complex to establish and administer though, so it is important that small business owners consult with the appropriate financial advisors to make sure that they are selecting the plan that’s right for them and maximizing their potential benefits. Most small business owners establish cash balance plans by first discussing the topic with their tax or financial advisors. Even if an advisor hasn’t worked on cash balance plans themselves, they will often know individuals or companies who specialize in cash balance plans and who can run the numbers and offer precise scenarios predicting potential tax savings. These cash balance plan specialists will receive information about a business, including the number of employees and salary information, and a plan designer will set up scenarios and run calculations to establish the potential benefit to be gained from adding a cash balance plan. They will then develop a detailed legal document that lays out the complete structure of the plan, often in close consultation with the company’s CPA or other financial professionals. Many cash balance plan specialists will complete plan designs entirely free of charge and want to work closely with the client to make sure that the proposed plan is in their best interests. If a business does not have the appropriate profit history or if the business owner does not wish to contribute a certain amount, a cash balance plan may be a wash or even a detrimental expense and hassle. That’s why having the suitable financial advisors in your corner and taking the time to see a comprehensive plan design is crucial. But those who fit into the categories of people most likely to benefit from a cash balance plan (professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers, business owners over 45, and the owners of highly profitable companies, among others) should not be put off by the complexity. The potential tax savings can be well worth the effort.
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Accelerating Retirement Savings with a Cash Balance Plan

1/25/2023

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​This letter is part of a series on cash balance retirement plans, one of the best strategies to help high-earning Americans reduce taxes and accelerate their retirement savings. Since the loosening of IRS restrictions in recent years, cash balance plans have become extremely popular and only continue to grow, commanding over $1 trillion in assets. Adding a cash balance plan on top of a 401(k) profit-sharing plan can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings. Preparing for retirement is a problem that even wealthy Americans struggle with. It can be difficult to accurately predict how much you will need to save, and even harder to save consistently over the years. Business owners in particular, tend to reinvest their money in order to successfully grow their companies, neglecting their retirement savings in the process. Professionals in fields like medicine or law that require an advanced degree also get a late start on retirement savings and find themselves having to play catch-up later on. For most people, saving for retirement is simply not a top priority until later in life. By then, annual limits on 401(k) profit-sharing plans and other traditional retirement plan contributions make catching up on savings extremely difficult. For those who need to accelerate their retirement savings, the contribution limits on traditional retirement plans pose a difficulty. An American under the age of 50 may contribute up to $18,000 per year to a traditional 401(k) and up to $5,500 to an IRA. These numbers put a firm limit on tax-advantaged retirement savings and make it difficult to accelerate savings later in life. The numbers increase slightly for those 50 or older ($24,000 to a 401(k) and $6,500 to an IRA) and can be further raised with a 401(k) profit-sharing plan, but still not enough for a significant boost. Fortunately, cash balance plans provide an efficient and tax-favorable way to quickly grow retirement savings. They have significantly higher contribution limits, often in the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars, making them an excellent option for catching up on savings. This is a staggering difference from traditional retirement plans and opens a whole new world of possibilities for those who want to give their retirement accounts an extra boost while reeling in substantial tax savings. 
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The 2014 Final Regulations: A New Era of Flexibility for Cash Balance Plans

1/25/2023

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​This letter is part of a series on cash balance retirement plans, one of the best strategies to help high-earning Americans reduce taxes and accelerate their retirement savings. Since the loosening of IRS restrictions in recent years, cash balance plans have become extremely popular and only continue to grow, commanding over $1 trillion in assets. Adding a cash balance plan on top of a 401(k) profit-sharing plan can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings. We’ve already reviewed the exciting changes to cash balance plans that took place in 2006 and 2010. Now it’s time to look at the most recent significant cash balance plan regulations, released by the IRS in 2014. These “final regulations” opened the way for even more flexibility, including multiple investment strategies within a single plan and more diverse options for interest rates. The most important feature of the 2014 regulations is that, for the first time, multiple investment strategies were allowed within a single cash balance plan. This means that a business owner can divide his or her employees into subsets with different levels of investment risk for each one. For example, the owner of a consulting firm may wish to place a portion of the plan’s assets in conservative investments on behalf of the firm’s senior partners, while making more aggressive investments on behalf of junior partners. This provides for excellent flexibility when compared to the old rules, which required that all investments remain in a single pool. Prior to 2010, cash balance plans had to use a fixed interest rate to measure the growth of a participant’s account. To avoid any potential problems with the IRS, most businesses used the 30-year Treasury rate. This strategy, while safe, severely limited options for plan administrators and weakened the effectiveness of cash balance plans. In 2010, IRS regulations permitted additional fixed rate and combined rate options and, most importantly, allowed for the calculation of interest based on the Actual Rate of Return. The 2014 regulations specify higher limits and new choices for fixed and combined rate options. They also allow administrators to combine Actual Rate of Return interest computing with the power of multiple investment strategies within a single plan to custom-tailor plans to fit the needs of many more businesses. The result of these 2014 regulations was to make cash balance plans a better and more popular option than ever. In 2016, cash balance plans made up 29% of all defined benefits plans, up from only 2.9% in 2001 (Kravitz 2016 National Cash Balance Research Report). Many small and midsize companies, particularly those that employ high-earners, began adding cash balance plans to supplement 401(k)s, attracted by the flexibility and excellent tax benefits. While previous legal uncertainty and administrative difficulty had stunted the growth of cash balance plans, 2014 opened the way for a new wave of participants
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Hitting the Highlights: 2010 Cash Balance Plan Regulations

1/25/2023

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​This letter is part of a series on cash balance retirement plans, one of the best strategies to help high-earning Americans reduce taxes and accelerate their retirement savings. Since the loosening of IRS restrictions in recent years, cash balance plans have become extremely popular and only continue to grow, commanding over $1 trillion in assets. Adding a cash balance plan on top of a 401(k) profit-sharing plan can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings. We’ve already looked at the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which clarified the legal status of cash balance plans and increased their popularity. Today, we’ll give a brief overview of the 2010 IRS regulations that further defined the status of cash balance plans and sent their popularity soaring. Major points from the 2010 legislation include: Increased flexibility regarding rate of return: When crediting interest to employees’ hypothetical accounts, the Pension Protection Act permitted the use of any interest crediting rate not greater than the market rate of return. This meant that most plans relied on the 30-year Treasury bond rate, which didn’t allow for much flexibility and often led to funding issues. The 2010 regulations increased flexibility and added more interest rate options for plan administrators, including fixed rates and the option to use the investment’s Actual Rate of Return. Clarification of wear-away protection for employees: Some employees expressed concern that converting to a cash balance plan would decrease their earned benefits, but protection against this is written into the legislation. When employers add a cash balance plan on top of a profit-sharing 401(k) plan, this becomes a non-issue. Vesting: This requirement was first introduced in 2006 but, again, was further developed in 2010. It declares that participants must be 100% vested in the cash balance plan after three years of service, as a form of employee protection. On the whole, these regulations clarified certain parts of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 while adding increased flexibility and options for cash balance plan administrators. This flexibility made adding a cash balance plan an even more appealing option for thousands of businesses and accelerated the growth of the cash balance plan as a retirement savings option.
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What are the advantages of a cash balance plan?

1/25/2023

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​This letter is part of a series on cash balance retirement plans, one of the best strategies to help high-earning Americans reduce taxes and accelerate their retirement savings. Since the loosening of IRS restrictions in recent years, cash balance plans have become extremely popular and only continue to grow, commanding over $1 trillion in assets. Adding a cash balance plan on top of a 401(k) profit-sharing plan can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings. Last week, we discussed the features of a cash balance plan. Now let’s move beyond the technical definitions to some of the more specific advantages of adding a cash balance plan. When added on top of an existing 401(k) profit-sharing plan, a cash balance plan can increase annual contribution limits by over $200,000 per year. This is a huge boost for Americans who want to increase their above-the-line deductions or boost their retirement savings. Contributions to cash balance plans are counted as above-the-line deductions (or adjustments to income), which are among the most coveted of tax savings. These deductions occur before the calculation of income bracket and allow the taxpayer to subtract from their gross income, dollar for dollar, before arriving at their adjusted gross income (AGI). These deductions are particularly beneficial for high earners because they allow taxpayers to actually move into a lower tax bracket if they qualify for sufficient deductions. This can be helpful because when an individual reaches a certain income level, the number of itemized deductions that they can claim decreases. Lowering the adjusted gross income, therefore, gives the taxpayer the opportunity to save money (not only by potentially lowering their tax bracket, but also by allowing them to claim more deductions elsewhere). Cash balance plans are also extremely helpful for older business owners who need to catch up on years of retirement savings. These individuals have often spent their lives funneling their money back into their companies and neglecting their 401(k)s and IRAs. Saving for retirement is simply not a top priority until later in life. By then, annual limits on 401(k) profit-sharing plans and other traditional retirement plan contributions make catching up on savings extremely difficult. By substantially increasing annual contribution limits, cash balance plans allow individuals to catch up on decades of retirement savings in just a few years. Substantial tax savings and rapidly growing retirement funds are just two of the many advantages of cash balance plans. We’ll discuss others—including portability, flexibility, and appeal to employees—in upcoming articles. 
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Why Haven’t I Heard About Cash Balance Plans Before?

1/25/2023

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​This letter is part of a series on cash balance retirement plans, one of the best strategies to help high-earning Americans reduce taxes and accelerate their retirement savings. Since the loosening of IRS restrictions in recent years, cash balance plans have become extremely popular and only continue to grow, commanding over $1 trillion in assets. Adding a cash balance plan on top of a 401(k) profit-sharing plan can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings. People learning about cash balance plans for the first time commonly ask something along the lines of “If cash balance plans are so great, why haven’t I heard about them before?” It’s a great question, since the relative anonymity of cash balance plans seems strange when compared to their amazing benefits. This question has a few different answers. First, in the past, the legal status of cash balance plans was relatively uncertain. Before 2006, financial advisors weren’t sure if cash balance plans would be legally recognized and were leery about recommending them. But the Pension Protection Act of 2006, accompanied by later IRS regulations in 2010 and 2014 (which we’ll discuss in later articles), confirmed and clarified the legal status of cash balance plans. Second, many potential adopters of cash balance plans tend to be intimidated by the set-up process. Setting up a 401(k) or an IRA can be as simple as a quick appointment with a financial advisor or HR rep. Setting up a cash balance plan, though, takes more coordination and has to follow specific rules. Some Americans earning less than $300,000 per year think that the steps involved with set-up just aren’t worth it—and they may sometimes be right. For Americans earning over $400,000 annually though, looking into setting up a cash balance plan should be a definite priority. The immense potential tax savings are well worth the extra set-up. Companies that specialize in cash balance plans will even take care of all of the hassle, developing cash balance plan proposals and funding options free of charge. The bottom line: cash balance plans are one of the best tax-crushing options in America, and they are becoming better known every day as more and more people take advantage of the benefits they have to offer. For wealthy Americans, cash balance plans are well-worth a closer look.  
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    My name is Dan Hopwood and I first started my career in the insurance business back in 1988.  2023 will be the start of my 35th year in the business. 

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