Investments
The Allied Wealth process is designed to educate you on the various ways to invest and help you make an informed decision on which options best fit you, your needs, and your goals.
There are four basic ways to investment money:
Not in the market
There is an entire library of investment options and programs that are not in the stock market. These options allow you to generate returns within a range of 4%-7% and sometimes higher without taking on the risk of the stock market. Not-in-the-market options include structured products, index-linked bank C.D.s, fixed and index annuities, real estate, and many more. Most of which have no fees and provide access to money for income, spending, or reinvestment.
In the Market Passive
This is the buy and hold approach. Buy a basket of index funds that track the stock and bond market and let it ride. Rebalance the portfolio on occasion and other than that ride the highs and the lows of the markets. There are points in history where this strategy has been unbeatable. There are also points in history where this strategy would have lost more than 50%. A loss level that requires a 100% return to get back to even. When employing this strategy it is important to be committed, stay committed, and understand you are in it for the long haul.
In the Market Active
This approach is known as the fund manager versus the market. You are paying a fund manager’s fees to get better returns than you could in a cheaper buy and hold passive portfolio. The manager attempts to beat the market by selecting stocks and trends he or she thinks will outperform the market. For instance, the fund manager walks into the Apple store and sees lines out the door and products flying off the shelves. As a result, the fund manager buys Apple stock. A few months later the fund manager goes back to the Apple store only to see no one in the store and products no longer flying off the shelves. As a result, they decide it’s time to sell Apple stock. Interestingly, 80% of active fund managers have failed to beat the markets throughout history.
In the Market Tactical
This approach is the most misunderstood form of investing. Tactical investing is designed to capture 70-80% of market gains while seeking to limit losses to 20-30%. This means if the market returns 10% you will only get 7-8%. However, if the market goes down or crashes your portfolio should experience only 20-30% of the downside. In essence, you are giving up some market upside for the potential downside protection of not suffering a major loss in a down market. The goal of tactical investing is to achieve steady consistent returns over time. Tactical investing typically comes with a higher cost and some strategies can trade more than others. Endowment Funds that have a track record for achieving steady consistent returns over time have utilized tactical approaches for decades.
Tax Planning Services
The Allied Wealth financial planning team works closely with clients to develop forward-looking tax strategies which can greatly reduce the amount of taxes you pay in retirement. Lower taxes allow you to take less risk and will help your dollars last much longer.
The US National Debt is $23,000,000,000,000 dollars and climbing. The fiscal problems of the US will likely force Tax rates much higher especially considering current tax rates are at historic lows. Americans have saved the majority of the money they will use to fund retirement inside of a 401K, IRA, or Pension. Every dollar that comes out of a 401k, IRA, or Pension is 100% taxable at ordinary income tax rates. Many people find themselves paying more taxes in retirement than while they were working. Income taxes will play a central role in determining how long your money lasts.
Most of us think Tax Preparation is Tax Planning. Tax preparation is what your CPA does to record history on a tax return. Tax Planning is what you do today to create forward-looking strategies to take advantage of loopholes in advance of the year-end to reduce the amount of taxes you pay.
For instance compare Josh and Adam. They both need $8,000 per month net of taxes to maintain their lifestyle in retirement. They both have the same amount of retirement dollars. Josh did what most people do and instead of embracing tax planning, he embraced tax preparation. Now in retirement, Josh needs $8,000 a month to maintain his lifestyle. All of Josh’s money is 100% taxable when withdrawn because all of his retirement money is in a 401k. Due to the taxes, Josh has to withdraw $11,000 a month from his 401K to be able to spend $8,000 per month.
Adam on the other hand embraced tax planning. He accumulated money in his 401k equal to the company match so he could take full advantage of the free money. Beyond those dollars, he accumulated money in Roth IRAs, after-tax accounts, and accounts that generate tax-free income in retirement. When he could he would also take advantage of Roth IRA conversions. As a result of tax planning to get the $8,000 per month in income, he needs net of taxes he only has to withdraw $8,750 per month. That’s $2250 per month less than Josh to have the same income.
Who’s money is likely to last longer? Josh or Adam?
Estate Planning
A wise man once said estate planning is the art of making sure your loved ones still talk to each other after you are gone and what is left has been divided amongst your heirs. Leaving an unplanned estate can break down and divide even the strongest family units. Especially when unexpected expenses or taxes arise your survivors must pay.
For instance the musician Prince recently died. His estate was valued at more than $300,000,000. Yet his family had to borrow $50,000 from Comedian George Lopez just to pay for the funeral.
The founder of the Miami Dolphins Joe Robbie died and his family had to fire sale the Joe Robbie Stadium and the Miami Dolphins to pay estate taxes. Taxes could have been prevented with proper estate planning.
John and Barbara owned a closely held business which they sold to fund retirement. John put the proceeds of the sale into a brokerage account where he could invest in Mutual Funds. When John opened the account he did not add Barbara’s name. He fully intended to, but John died unexpectedly in January of 2008, at the start of the financial crises. The account had to be probated which took nearly six months. During that period there was nothing Barbara could do to stop the losses the account was suffering. By the time Barbara was able to gain access to the account and take action 50% of their retirement savings had been wiped out. A simple estate plan could have prevented this.
Estate plans can span from very simple to very complex. Allied Wealth works with clients to establish estate planning needs and helps ensure all necessary elements are completed to provide you with peace of mind about what will happen to your assets and family upon your passing. Whether you need are a simple will and advanced directives or a more complex plan and require FLP’s, Trust, DAF’s, Charitable LLC’s, Gifting, or philanthropy our team of experts is here to serve.
Retirement Investment Strategies
Retirement investment is solving the equation of living the next 30-40 years without a paycheck and not running out of money or income in the process. All while living as richly as possible on the resources you have to work with. The Allied Wealth financial planning team utilizes a proprietary planning process called Outcome Focused Planning to help you realize the most you can with your resources. Our unique planning process allows you to objectively explore the many investment options and income strategies that can be used to solve the retirement equation before you invest. Not after. The result is a long-term retirement and investment plan designed to see you to and through retirement.
Contact Us
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