Designing a Retirement Asset Allocation Strategy Part III: Growth

Designing a Retirement Asset Allocation Strategy Part III: Growth

How to Fill Your Second Bucket in Our ‘3 Bucket Safe Money Approach’

The following article features content adapted from the book Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success by Dan Ahmad, Jim Files, and Jack Canfield. Get your copy here!

At Peak Financial Freedom Group, we encourage you to get serious about your retirement security. We believe strongly in a comprehensive, written retirement income plan to tie everything about your money together, which we recommend doing with what we call the “3 Bucket Safe Money Approach.” If you’ve been reading our blog for a while now, you’ve seen articles about Bucket #1 and Bucket #2, where you allocate assets to retirement income and liquidity. Now, we’re going to discuss the importance of Bucket #3.

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Designing a Retirement Asset Allocation Strategy Part II: Liquidity

Designing a Retirement Asset Allocation Strategy Part II: Liquidity

How to Fill Your Second Bucket in Our ‘3 Bucket Safe Money Approach’

The following article features content adapted from the book Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success by Dan Ahmad, Jim Files, and Jack Canfield. Get your copy here!

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: You need a comprehensive, written retirement income plan if you’re serious about your retirement security. Your plan needs to tie everything about your money together, which we recommend doing with what we call the “3 Bucket Safe Money Approach.”

We wrote about Bucket #1 here in our first installment of articles on this topic, and you’ll want to read it before you continue below. Bucket #1 is the first step in your planning – the one where you determine how much income you need for the rest of your life and allocate the necessary assets to this pot of money. Bucket #2, which we’ll discuss in this article, is the second step in your planning. This is where you determine how much liquidity you need and allocate assets to this second pot of money accordingly.

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Answer These Three Questions to Know What You Really Want Out of Retirement

Answer These Three Questions to Know What You Really Want Out of Retirement

Sharpen Your Focus on What Your Golden Years Mean to You

We’ve talked before about the importance of a written retirement income plan to set you up for an enjoyable retirement free from financial stress. However, there are three baseline questions you need to answer for yourself in order to clarify and solidify your plan. After all, any retirement plan can only be effective if you truly know what you want out of your retirement, right?

Ask yourself the three questions below – and answer them honestly – to sharpen your focus on what retirement means to you. Then, use the added clarity to develop the best-written retirement income plan for you.

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Retirement Resolutions for the New Year

Resolve to Strengthen Your Financial Future Regardless of Where You Are in Your Working Life

Each new year brings with it the promise of a fresh start, a chance to reassess, and to begin again. It’s the time for resolutions, big dreams, and goal setting–and maybe even for building a new life in retirement. Whether you’re nearing that new phase of life, or you’ll be working for many more years, setting retirement resolutions can help you prepare for and strengthen your financial future. Resolutions are easy to break, but with the right amount of intention and commitment you can get on track for a fulfilling and successful retirement –and stay there. No matter where you are in your retirement planning, the retirement resolutions below can help you to strengthen your retirement plans as you step into 2022.

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Busting the Myth That “All Annuities Are the Same – And They Are All Bad”

Busting the Annuity Myth

Don’t Fall for These Untruths About a Misunderstood Retirement Income Vehicle

The following excerpt, written by Leslie Davis, is from our book, Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success. Get your copy here to read more!

It may sound silly, but I feel bad for the word “Annuity” because the poor little fella gets criticized daily! It seems like 50% of the individuals I’ve met think they hate annuities, while 50% think they love them. To me, an annuity is not just a type of financial vehicle per se, but also a collection of valuable benefits.

For example, let’s say you’re having a B-B-Q with your closest neighbors one evening. The neighbor to the right of you owns a beautiful new Tesla, it’s red add shiny, sitting on display in his driveway.  You overhear the owner of this beauty telling the neighbor on your left how much he loves cars and wants four more. It just so happens that this neighbor to the left owns a Yugo from the 1980s. The Yugo’s owner responds by saying, “I hate cars, they are the worst, I never want another car!” The word car recalls four wheels that get you from point “A” to point “B”, but you can’t put a Tesla and Yugo in the same “car” category, just like you can’t put all annuities into one “annuity” category.

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Designing a Retirement Asset Allocation for Safety, Growth & Income for Life

retirement asset allocation

An Examination of ‘Bucket #1’ and How to Fill It

The following article features an excerpt from Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success, by Dan Ahmad, Jim Files, and Jack Canfield. Get your copy here!

In our book, Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success, we discuss “The 7 Rules To Live By For Retirement Security,” some of which we have also written about on this blog and you can find linked below:

  1. Avoid Large Losses – Use the 5%-10% Rule
  2. Minimize Fees
  3. Significantly Reduce Volatility
  4. Earn a Reasonable Return Rate
  5. Manage Taxation
  6. Generate “Certain Income” from Your Assets that Will Last for as Long as You Live
  7. Have a Written Retirement Income Plan

If you are like most retirees, you probably love the idea of having a “Retirement Planning Roadmap” like this, right? It’s designed to help you plan for retirement income you can count on – for life.

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Annuities 101

annuities

Everything You Need to Know About this Polarizing Term

What would you guess is the number one reason why people decide not to purchase a fixed index annuity with an income rider as part of their overall retirement income plan? It’s not because of surrender charges, fees, or lower returns. It’s because the benefits of a fixed index annuity with an income rider simply sound too good to be true.

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What Type of Retiree Are You?

type of retiree

Everyone Approaches this New Chapter of Life with a Different Outlook

Retirements are like snowflakes; no two are going to look the same. Some people dream of a retirement that’s full of adventure and travel, while others imagine their retirement surrounded by family and good books. And just as there are many ways to envision retirement, there are multiple types of retirees, too.

Nancy K. Schlossberg, author and former counseling professor, discovered throughout her work that there are six main types of retirees. Read on to learn more about each one – and to determine which type of retiree you may be.

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Understanding the Biden Tax Plan

Biden Tax Plan

The Democrats’ Tax Plan Would Raise Capital Gains and Corporate Tax Rates

Monday saw the release of the Democrats’ full tax proposal, which details their plan to pay for expanding access to paid family leave, education, and healthcare, as well as efforts to combat climate change. The proposal is expected to provide more than $2 trillion in new revenue over the next ten years, mostly from high-income households and companies, and the House Ways and Means Committee is expected to vote on it this week.

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Use the Correct Process for Financial Success

financial process

Are You Among the 99% Following a Faulty Retirement Plan?

The following is an excerpt from Momma’s Secret Recipe for Retirement Success, by Dan Ahmad, Jim Files, and Jack Canfield. Get your copy here!

Many retirees do not have their assets allocated properly to give themselves the highest probability that they can receive a high level of consistent income, will never run out of money for as long as they live, and will never suffer a big stock market loss like 2008 again.

In a previous blog, we described in detail the differences between Stage One of Retirement Planning – Asset Accumulation, and Stage Two of Retirement Planning – Income Distribution and Asset Preservation.

When you meet with your financial advisor, even after you’ve retired, the conversation will often be focused on your portfolio. Your advisor may talk about:

  • The growth of your portfolio (even though it actually hasn’t probably grown much).
  • How the market is doing “so well” and you need to ride the wave.
  • How you are diversified by having your 20-30 mutual funds.
  • Adding bonds to the portfolio, if you are worried about risk.
  • How you are in it for the long-term and no matter what, you should “ride out all market volatility.”
  • How they have the best money managers.
  • How they will get you high rates of return.
  • Maybe they will throw in some technical terms like alpha, beta, Sharpe ratio, and standard deviation.
  • How it’s best to defer IRA distributions as long as possible, until age 70 1⁄2, to minimize income taxes.

The advisor might say you are now invested moderately, or conservatively, but they probably don’t define what this means in potential losses. So, your advisor says “moderate” or “conservative,” and you are thinking “low risk,” even though your current portfolio could lose -30%, -40%, or even -50% or more. In many situations, the risk is caused by the portfolio’s primary focus on growth.

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Peak Financial Freedom Group
2520 Douglas Boulevard, Suite 110
Roseville, CA 95661

DISCLOSURE:

All of the information presented here is provided and intended to be used for general educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a solicitation for you to buy or sell any security or financial product. The content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information. None of the information presented is intended to give you specific tax, investment, real estate, legal, estate, or financial advice but rather to serve as an educational platform to deliver information. The ideas, thoughts, and strategies presented here are those of the Management Team and provide an insight to our views on Peak Financial Freedom Group, LLC. Some of this material was developed and produced by Peak Financial to provide information on a topic that may be of interest. Every detail in this website is subject to change without notice. Seminar, radio shows, TV productions, book releases, magazine and book promotions are sponsored, promoted and paid for by Peak Financial Freedom Group, LLC.

2nd Opinion Package available to Qualified Retirees and Soon-To-Be-Retirees may include free consultations, a free retirement income plan, risk analysis, and fee analysis. In addition, a comprehensive written retirement income plan may be provided to those who complete the entire process. Qualified Retirees and Soon-To-Be-Retirees must have a minimum of $500,000 of investible assets such as IRA’s, 401K’s from past employers, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, bank accounts, money markets, CD’s, etc., but DOES NOT include real estate, businesses, limited partnerships, 401K/retirement plans that can’t be moved to another plan, and other illiquid type assets.

Past performance is no indication of future performance and such information cannot be relied upon regarding future potential gains. Investing involves risk. There is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities. Asset allocation, diversification and rebalancing do not ensure a profit or protect against loss in declining market. Advisors and agents may only conduct business with residents of the states or jurisdictions in which they are properly registered or licensed and not all of the securities, products and services mentioned are available in every state or jurisdiction.

Nothing is directly or indirectly guaranteed by this information. The planning and ideas presented herein are not suitable for all individuals or situations. Hypothetical examples are used to explain concepts and are not indicative of potential results you could receive; past performance is not a guarantee of future results; and results are not indicative of any particular investment or income tax situation; your results will be different and could be lower or higher. Please consult legal or tax professionals for specific information regarding your individual situation. Peak Financial does not offer tax or legal advice. Consult your financial professional before making any investment decision.

Insurance product features and benefits, such as guaranteed lifetime income riders, are subject to contract terms, limitations, fees, and the claims paying ability of the insurance company issuing the contract. The sale or liquidation of any stock, bond, IRA, certificate of deposit, mutual fund, annuity, or other asset to fund the purchase of any other asset including an annuity may have tax consequences, early withdrawal penalties, or other costs and penalties as a result of the sale or liquidation. Different assets can be complex and carry fees, costs, and surrender charges. If you place assets under management with Fiduciary Solutions LLC, we are paid an advisory fee from Fiduciary Solutions LLC and if you purchase an annuity through us, we are paid commissions from an insurance company.

2019(1), 2020(2), 2021(3), 2022(4), 2023 (5) and 2024 (6) Five Star Professional Wealth Manager Award - Dan Ahmad and Jim Files have been nominated for and have won the 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 Five Star Wealth Manager Awards. Wealth managers do not pay a fee to be considered or placed on the final list of Five Star Wealth Managers. Once awarded, wealth managers may purchase additional profile ad space or promotional products. Award does not evaluate quality of services provided to clients. The Five Star award is not indicative of the wealth manager’s future performance. The inclusion of a wealth manager on the Five Star Wealth Manager list should not be construed as an endorsement of the wealth manager by Five Star Professional or this publication. Working with a Five Star Wealth Manager or any wealth manager is no guarantee as to future investment success, nor is there any guarantee that the selected wealth managers will be awarded this accomplishment by Five Star Professional in the future. Award winners represent an exclusive group of wealth managers who have demonstrated excellence in their field by satisfying 10 objective selection criteria. For additional information on the Five Star award, including a complete list of the 10 objective selection criteria and their research/selection methodology, go to https://fivestarprofessional.com.

Investment advisory services are offered through Fiduciary Solutions, LLC, a California Registered Investment Advisor. Insurance products and services are offered through PFFG Insurance Agency LLC, a licensed insurance agency (CA Insurance License #0N14013). Peak Financial Freedom Group LLC is a financial planning and umbrella marketing organization, which enables the provision of multiple financial services under one brand. Peak Financial Freedom Group LLC, PFFG Insurance Agency LLC, and Fiduciary Solutions LLC are affiliated entities with common ownership and control. Jim Files is licensed as an investment adviser representative with Fiduciary Solutions LLC (CRD # 1620449) and is a licensed insurance producer with PFFG Insurance Agency LLC (CA Insurance License #0F06511). Dan Ahmad is licensed as an investment adviser representative with Fiduciary Solutions LLC (CRD # 1491561) and is a licensed insurance producer with PFFG Insurance Agency LLC (CA Insurance License #0732913).

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