Retirement Strategies for 2018
Plan ahead for the year with STRATA
Now that you’ve put your taxes to rest for 2017, it’s time to reevaluate your 2018 retirement strategies and determine if there are some tweaks that can be made. Below is a partial list of strategies that may apply to your retirement situation:
Diversify your income stream
Retirement is all about making sure you have enough income to survive on. To do that, it’s best to have a retirement strategy that diversifies your income streams into three separate buckets:
- Guaranteed income (Social Security, pensions, fixed life insurance, annuities, etc.).
- Withdrawals from retirement plans (401k, IRA, alternative investment IRA, cash plans, variable annuities that have yet been turned into fixed income streams).
- Work (part-time work, board participation, passive income, etc.).
Move some investments into an IRA
Now may be a good time to put some of your investments into an alternative investment IRA, which can earn tax-deferred income until you’re ready to start withdrawing funds for retirement. Some examples of the types of investments you can put into an alternative investment IRA include: gold and precious metals, real estate, crowdfunding, private equity, private debt and structured settlements.
A self-directed IRA allows you to structure investments in the way that you choose, whether it’s within a Traditional, Roth, SEP or SIMPLE. Each plan offers distinct advantages when it comes to taxation, required distributions and payouts, penalty structures and exceptions, age requirements and more. See which type of self-directed IRA is right for you and discuss with your financial advisor.
Have a clear idea which tax bracket you’ll be in once you retire
Most people assume that they will be in a lower tax bracket once they retire. That’s not necessarily so, and a lot of people are surprised when they see a tax bill that hasn’t changed at all. True, you won’t have a job so that shouldn’t affect your tax bill, but you may have to pay taxes on your 401(k) or IRA or on your taxable investments and in some cases on part of your social security.
If you were planning on maintaining a comfortable lifestyle when you retire, you may want to take taxes into account first. Shifting more or less out of or into your alternative investment IRA could make the difference on getting you into a lower tax bracket in retirement years.
Know what your expenses will be in retirement
Generally, investment experts say that you should expect to need between 65% and 85% of your pre-retirement income each year during retirement, but that will depend on your own lifestyle. If you expect to have large health care costs as well, which could amount to $200,000 or more, then those expenses could escalate.
It’s best to sit down with a financial advisor several years before you retire to make sure you’re covering all the bases.
Retirement savings plan every 5 years
Source: The Motley Fool. Data as of 05/27/18.
Manage your withdrawals
Most research suggests taking between 4% and 5% of your retirement savings, adjusted each year for inflation, during at least the first 10 years of retirement. You can ramp up slowly as you get older to a level that you are comfortable with, making sure not to draw down too much. Your withdrawal rate will likely depend on a variety of factors, including your investment mix, risk tolerance, your life span, market performance and whether or not you will start withdrawing funds from your alternative investment IRA sooner or later.
Re-evaluate your risk in retirement
One retirement strategy which is frequently left off the retirement “to-do list” is re-evaluating your risk profile. Retirement not only impacts your income but it can also cause an increase or decrease in your risk level. For example, your financial advisor probably places you in one of four categories of investor profiles: conservative, moderate, moderately aggressive, aggressive.
Now that you are approaching retirement, you are probably willing to take on less risk than when you were in your 40s or 50s. In any case, re-evaluating your risk is a wise idea and may cause you to change your estimated expenses, income level or your lifestyle in retirement.
NOT ALL SELF-DIRECTED IRA CUSTODIANS ARE CREATED EQUAL
ABOUT STRATA TRUST COMPANY
When alternative IRA custody is this easy, the possibilities are endless.
Founded in 2008, STRATA Trust Company has built a reputation delivering streamlined and straightforward custody. Our service-driven team has helped thousands of investors and investment professionals unlock opportunities in self-directed retirement accounts across a wide range of alternative investments. Formerly known as Self Directed IRA Services, Inc., STRATA has strategically realigned to support a broad range of investment professional partners in growing their IRA asset base – always with an eye on the future.
With offices in Austin and Waco, Texas, STRATA operates as a Texas-chartered trust company with direct oversight by the Texas Department of Banking. Led by a seasoned management team with over 150 years of collective experience, 33,000+ investors empowered and over $1.8 billion in assets under custody, our customers experience a clear difference in our approach to IRA custody.
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