Husbands, Wives, and Retirement

Retirement — The Dream: After a lifetime of hard work — raising the kids, sweating out the bills, and building a stable and secure life — you and your spouse will be able to enjoy your golden years doing the things you’ve always dreamed about.

Retirement — The Reality: It might be years of fun and leisure, but retirement can also be a time of financial difficulties, compounded by illness and loneliness.

An overly harsh view? Perhaps, but it’s prudent to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. That’s why married couples need to arrange for their own (and each other’s) retirement security as early as possible. Much of this preparation has to do with recognizing the need to “send money ahead” to fund a comfortable retirement. But there’s more. Couples of all ages need to map out an understanding of the three possible stages of retirement.

Three Stages of Retirement
Stage 1 — Life as a healthy, retired couple. This is the ideal, the retirement dream that most couples envision. If they’ve planned well, they’ll have the money to do everything they’ve dreamed about doing. Unfortunately, “dreaming” is about as far as retirement planning goes for too many people.

Stage 2 — Living with a prolonged illness — possibly a series of them, as health deteriorates in later years. When one partner’s health begins to fail, the other becomes the caregiver. Worse, medical bills begin to soar. Without adequate medical insurance, the financial strain can be devastating.

Stage 3 — One partner dies, possibly leaving the survivor in a financially threatened position, unless proper plans have been made.

Planning Is the Key
The key to coping with the potential financial difficulties of retirement is early planning. If you and your spouse are aware of and prepared for these three stages of retirement, you shouldn’t run the risk of outliving your retirement funds. When the two of you consider retirement, also consider the financial aspects. Whether you’re just starting out on a life together or shopping for that perfect condo on the Gulf of Mexico, you’ll want to consider the following:

• Draft a will with your attorney and keep it current. It’s the starting point for all retirement planning.
• Take time to map out a retirement game plan together. Identify common goals and determine the methods for achieving them. The closer you are to retirement, the more specific your plans should be.
• Share information and responsibilities. Make sure both of you know where all the financial records are and how to access them.
• Send dollars ahead. Know the benefits of your pension and retirement plans, and Social Security. Then begin to build up a supplemental fund of your own. Take charge of your own retirement — a large portion of retirement funds may need to come from personal savings.
• Plan to properly conserve your estate. A will can only go so far. Estate taxes may erode a substantial part of your lifetime legacy — plan ahead to make sure your heirs receive what they deserve.
• Prepare for all possibilities. Life insurance, long-term care insurance and disability insurance (during working years) can be excellent ways to protect the retirement dreams you have.
• Have trusted professionals. It’s important to develop relationships with experts in several areas — legal, tax, insurance, and financial professionals are the people who can help you map out and fund your retirement plan.

For information on how insurance and other financial products can be used to protect your retirement dreams, please contact Troy Barrow, Arlington Insurance Planning Services, at (646) 580-5189 or tbarrow@aipsny.com.

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Small Business Owner/ Risk Officer – One of the Same! Part 2

In Part 1 we spoke about the importance of planning for the loss of a key employee from the business, making certain the employee/s responsible for profitability can be replaced due to unexpected loss due to death or disability.

In Part 2 we are going to look into what happens with a partnership if there’s an unexpected loss of one of the partners, how is he operation going to continue? Enter The Buy Sell Agreement.

A buy–sell agreement, also known as a buyout agreement, is a legally binding agreement between co-owners of a business that governs the situation if a co-owner dies or is otherwise forced to leave the business, or chooses to leave the business.

Business owners operating as a partnership and are concerned about how the death or disability of a co-owner might affect its operation, a funded buy-sell agreement can help by ensuring that you will be able to purchase your partner’s share, eliminating any doubts about the continuation of the business. You can also avoid the dilemma of being in business with your partner’s survivors, whom may not have the same goals for the future of the business or may not be willing or capable to be productive towards profitability, but always happy to access the business acccount. The funds provided as a result of the proactive planning in a buy–sell agreement, between co-owners of a business can provide a benefit for the deceased partner’s family. The benefit from their point of view, is that of course they may be able to be qiuckly compensated with much needed cash to pay off debt, or to ensure the continuation of the family’s standard of living.

There are also costs and possible disadvantages involved in establishing a buy-sell agreement. One such disadvantage is that the agreement typically limits your freedom to sell the business to outside parties. If you think that a buy-sell agreement might benefit you and your business, consult your attorney and financial professional about the pros and cons of setting one up.

Information provided has been prepared from sources and data we believe to be accurate, but we make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness. Data and information is provided for informational purposes only, and is not intended for solicitation or trading purposes. Please consult your tax and legal advisors regarding your individual situation.

Starting a practice 7-8 months out: Benefits and insurance

Choosing insurance coverage and practice perks can be daunting. This third installment of our series will help you snare the right ones.
You’ve been busy scouting a location for your practice, lining up experts to facilitate things, drawing up a budget, projecting your cash flow, and securing financing. You’ve also filed the paperwork for the certificates and licenses you’ll need to begining patients.
The next step—and it’s a big one—is to begin fleshing out the fringe benefit plan you can offer your staff and arranging for personal and business insurance coverage.
There’s a lot to digest, but don’t get discouraged. Your advisers can help, so lean hard on these people. Whenever possible, we’ll also suggest places for you to get more information.

Read more here: http://medicaleconomics.modernmedicine.com/news/starting-practice7-8-months-out-benefits-and-insurance