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Retirement planning
The prospect of retirement can be daunting for many, and not just because they’re nervous about unpredictable economic swings and the frustration of inevitable inflation. What it really comes down to is whether someone has made smart, long–term decisions about their finances.
If you want your money to work as hard as you do to get ahead, it might be time to work with a professional who knows what to do with it. At Bodnar Financial Group, a boutique retirement firm, you’ll get the personalized attention you need to secure your future.
Retirement Planning in South Central Pa.
Retirement accounts are an undoubtedly sound way to map out the economic demands of your golden years. With an IRA or 401(k), you can reasonably expect to receive a certain amount every month to cover your everyday and unexpected expenses alike. The bigger question is whether you’ll have enough for everything you want to do during your retirement.
When you work with Len Bodnar, RICP (R), an expert financial advisor, you can start to see how different financial concepts can influence your retirement. From tax planning to Social Security to wealth management, you can start to see the bigger picture of your portfolio rather than just a random assortment of assets. Bodnar is available to do more than answer a few piecemeal questions, he proposes an overarching strategy that is on par with your investment style. Whether you picture yourself in first–class as you see the world or you’d prefer more modest comforts at home, you’ll want to have a strong idea of how the choices you make today will impact the lifestyle you’re living tomorrow.
If it ever gets overwhelming, it helps to remember a simple formula that may help you follow through on your recommended investment strategies:
2.Team up with your financial advisor to manage your wealth for high portfolio growth.
3. Enjoy your retirement to the fullest! This is what you’ve worked so hard to build for yourself and the ones you love.
Retirement income planning
If you’re asking a friend “how much do I need to retire?”, it’s likely because there’s no definitive answer. If you’ve saved $1 million, it will give you an annual income of somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000. This may be more than enough to cover your needs, but it doesn’t always account for the worst of emergencies.
Retirement income is a way to safeguard yourself by generating more income per month than you spend. If you work with the right financial advisor, you’ll get all the advice you need to start making smart moves to get your finances on solid ground long before you officially hang up your hat at work.
Planning Your Retirement Income
The question of how to plan your retirement income comes down to what you personally want from your golden years. The goal of retirement income is to replace your annual paycheck from revenue sources like Social Security, pensions, or rental checks from properties you own. You might even want to take a part–time job in an industry you’ve always had a passion for, such as a guitar teacher at a music store or a pourer at a craft brewery.
At Bodnar Financial Group, a boutique retirement firm, Len Bodnar, RICP (R), can tell you more about what makes the most sense for your financial years. Whether you’d prefer to tie up most of your assets in real estate or the market, he can tell you more about which income strategies will have the best impact on your bottom line. For instance, you may want to rollover your retirement accounts to consolidate them, so it’s easier to see how much you’ll need to hit your target monthly income.
Regardless of your retirement age, working with an advisor can help you understand more about how you’ll manage your finances during your golden years. The right expert can also give you a comfortable enough margin to achieve other dreams you might have entertained, such as paying for your descendant’s master’s degree or traveling the world.
Most people think that they’re managing their taxes as well as they can, regardless of whether they opt for the standard deduction, hire a CPA every year, or painstakingly comb through every line item. The reality is that no matter how you file, you’re likely missing a few opportunities. When it comes to efficient tax management, it’s more than knowing every nuance of the local, state, and federal tax codes.
Why Efficient Tax Planning is Critical in Lancaster, Pa
Efficient tax management is a financial concept that shines a light on your portfolio in relationship to your larger retirement goals. A financial advisor will be able to see your taxes from every angle, which can help them make more lucrative decisions for your long–term future.
For instance, if your capital gain taxes for next year are going to eat into your investment opportunities, your advisor may recommend deferring the taxes so you can maximize your returns. Even though you will have to pay the taxes at some point, the overall margins will be improved by the financial advisor’s plans.
A financial advisor at a boutique retirement firm doesn’t just know your investment strategies. In other words, they’re aware of more than just your personal relationship with risk and if you prefer to invest in the market or in real estate. At Bodnar Financial Group, you get to work with an expert who takes the time to find smarter strategies for you.
When so much of your income goes to taxes, you have to ask yourself when you can use the tax codes to your advantage. The right professional can make a major difference to your bottom line, and this is true no matter how you envision yourself spending your golden years. Even those who have little more than a few modest demands for themselves may find that they want to support a specific charity or fund their grandchildren’s college years. At Bodnar, you get all the guidance you need to achieve your goals.
Efficient Tax planning
Maximizing social security
Social Security has gone through multiple iterations over nearly a century of its existence. In fact, the current benefits it offers retirees may be unrecognizable to the officials who planned the original program. If you’re wondering how to maximize Social Security, it starts and ends with understanding how the terms can work to your advantage. From your industry to your contributions over the years, there are numerous details that determine how much you receive.
Maximizing Social Security
It would be easy to dismiss this government perk as unreliable when you’re calculating your retirement income. (While the safety net has endured since its debut in the 1930s, it hasn’t always had the best reputation.) However, you might be surprised at how well your monthly check can bolster the rest of your retirement revenue. At Bodnar Financial Group, Len Bodnar, RICP (R), can tell you how to maximize Social Security.
When you work with an expert, the process can be a lot more lucrative than simply answering a few questions on a standard online estimator. Bodnar knows social security is not a one size fits all, which means you can’t make assumptions about your check because you happen to know the amount that a friend or family member receives every month. The average monthly check is just under $2,500, but the variance can be substantial.
A financial advisor at a boutique retirement firm will use Social Security as just one tool in your financial blueprint. The idea is to use the money as a foundation to cover everyday expenses, and then build on it with additional sources of revenue (e.g., rental checks from real estate properties, pension withdrawals, etc.).
Bodnar’s goal is to set his clients up for success by maximizing every possible income route. The more you can replace your current monthly paycheck, whether it’s through stock dividends or government funds, the more prepared you’ll be to handle the unexpected. After all you’ve given to Social Security throughout your career, it’s time you got a little back.
Wealth management can be a broad term that can be used to describe everything from capital gain deferments to clipping coupons. When used in financial circles, the term references high net–worth individuals with numerous assets to control.
When you reach a certain amount of wealth, it’s easy to let your gains and losses get away from you. Your portfolio could swing back and forth in terms of value, and it may not even register on your radar. When you team up with the right financial advisor, you ensure an expert is paying attention, so you’re not hit with any unpleasant surprises.
Managing Your Wealth is Central to Success.
How you invest your money is more than finding a high–yield savings account. Diversifying your assets means choosing different ventures and venues to ensure your money works for you and not the other way around.
A financial advisor does more than just monitor your accounts, they can tell you which ones need immediate attention, so you can make smarter choices about when to make a change. From there, you decide how to proceed. Whether you opt to cut your losses on a losing investment or you exploit the margins on another by selling, you get thorough recommendations that help you understand the long–term implications for your portfolio.
At Bodnar Financial Group, you can expect Len Bodnar, RICP (R), to not only learn about your retirement goals, but also explore what you hope to do with your wealth. For instance, some clients will want to save it to pay for their grandchildren’s higher education in addition to their everyday expenses during their golden years. Knowing these facts makes it easier to decide if it makes more sense to open a trust fund, consolidate retirement accounts, purchase another real estate property, or take out a custom insurance policy.
When you first begin your investment career, the margins on each asset can seem like the only thing in the world that matters. After you’ve been in the game for years, though, you might need someone else to help navigate the plan.
Wealth management
Life Insurance
Life insurance can end up being a smart addition to your portfolio, but you may wonder which policies will work to your advantage. With so many options out there, it can help to work with a financial advisor who understands more than just the perks of different carriers.
Bodnar Financial Group, helmed by financial advisor Len Bodnar, RICP (R), is a boutique retirement firm that carefully curates your assets so they mesh with the rest of your retirement goals. If you’re searching for a plan with a reasonable premium for the benefits it offers, it’s worth talking to an expert with some context about your loved ones and your lifestyle.
Life Insurance: What You Should Know
There are two general types of life insurance, and it’s important to know the basics behind the categories. It’s easy to choose a term life insurance policy because the premiums are extremely reasonable — even though this policy may not be what you want in the long run.
A term life insurance policy will end on a certain date. If the policy isn’t used by then, it expires. Most people will opt for this policy if they have children that they want to provide for up until a certain age. For instance, you might end your policy date when your youngest child finishes their Ph.D.
A permanent life insurance policy won’t expire, and it may even carry a savings component, in case you need it. While the premium cost will be higher, the actual benefits may work better to safeguard your portfolio from taking a bigger loss. If you have questions along the way, your advisor can tell you more about what to expect.
Bodnar can tell you about how different insurance carriers structure their policies and why certain plans may not offer any real value under the circumstances. Because a financial advisor knows both your preferences and the state of your assets, they can help you protect your beneficiaries when you’re gone while still protecting you during your retirement years.
As you amass assets during the course of a lifetime, it’s easy to forget about how much you have and what it’s worth. Art in the attic, classic cars in storage, retirement accounts across multiple employers: if you’re not aware of it all, your portfolio can lose value quickly. A financial advisor who offers assets under management services does so to protect your portfolio from the inevitable changes that your assets can undergo over time.
Assets Under Management Strategies in Lancaster, Pa.
The first asset you acquire in life, whether it’s a beat–up car or a few shares of a brand–new company, is usually a game–changing event. It’s the first step on what is hopefully a journey toward a lucrative portfolio. Leveraging your assets to build your wealth is more than just financial jargon, it’s a path that can increase your wealth over time, so you can accomplish everything on your list.
A financial advisor at a boutique retirement firm can take the time to get to know who you are and how you invest. At Bodnar Financial Group, Len Bodnar, RICP (R), is there to help his clients get a handle on their assets, so he can help you strategize them for better margins.
For instance, a failing asset may need to be either sold or converted, depending on details behind the investment. A middle–range asset may need to be adjusted to optimize its performance. Finally, your strongest assets may need to be carefully watched, so a financial advisor can capitalize during the best of times and protect your wealth if and when it bottoms out.
There’s a lot to be said for how assets change while you own them, and it’s not always easy to know when to cut and run from a property or when to stick with it. If you don’t have the time or the inclination to spend on managing it all, the right financial advisor can help mitigate the stress. It’s just one less thing to worry about as you get closer to your last day on the job.
assets under management
Let’s chat
Your income shouldn’t retire when you do. Get in touch and let us create a blueprint for your retirement.
PHONE | (717) 286-4583
ADDRESS | 1630 Manheim Pike, STE #1
Lancaster, PA 17601
FAX | (717) 492-9311