Typically speaking, the increasing cost of living in the U.S. is making it more difficult for people to prepare for a comfortable retirement life. Many people who qualify for retirement are forced to find ways to supplement their income so that they can enjoy retirement as long as possible. While financial education has improved throughout the decades, it’s getting harder to live comfortably without having to search for assets.
Start With Retirement Accounts
Some of the first things people think about when they consider assets are: properties, homes, vehicles, and retirement accounts. A good financial advisor will typically suggest first withdrawing from your retirement accounts in the following order: taxable accounts, tax-deferred accounts, and Roth accounts. The idea behind this is to allow anything you can defer your taxes on to grow over time. Another approach for seniors and retirees who rely on a relatively even income year over year is to make proportional withdrawals. A target withdrawal amount is determined each year and the accounts holder would take money from each account according to each one’s percentage of their overall savings. This results in a more stable tax bill during retirement and could lower lifetime taxes and raise after-tax income over one’s golden years.
Look Into Life Settlements
The majority of people aren’t aware of this option as a means to turn life insurance policies into cash to use for a variety of reasons. A Life Settlement is a specialized transaction where the policy owner can sell an unnecessary part of a life insurance plan and get cash for more than the policy owner would have gotten from the insurer had he or she allowed the policy to lapse or be surrendered. This area in the market is relatively new and most financial advisors are tied to selling Life Settlements to a handful of buyers. But policy owners can sell them on the aftermarket to many more buyers. Why settle for just two or three entities when policy owners can split and sell their policies to hundreds of buyers and get more cash in return? The best part of all this is that most life insurance policies qualify, including survivorship, term life, universal life, whole life, and variable life. You must speak with a financial advisor and tax attorney before taking action.
One of our most trusted legal service providers is Andrew C. Grant. Since 2001, Mr. Grant has been practicing law in the Volusia and Flagler counties area and is a trusted legal service expert in the areas concerning administering estates, business planning, drafting wills & trusts, elder law, tax disputes, and general tax planning. He is a tax law expert and is a frequent contributor of free legal articles to OurSeniors.net Online and Print Magazine.
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