The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
How do financial experts help clients achieve growth? Advisors are key to guiding individuals and businesses toward financial success. They offer personalized strategies designed to build wealth and secure a stable future. Let’s explore the key approaches used by professionals in Novi.
Continue reading What Strategies Do Financial Advisors in Novi Offer for Growth?
Retiring early is the dream of many but the truth is that the dream is unachievable unless you carefully plan for your future. It’s not easy planning for your retirement but that isn’t to say that it’s impossible. With the right guidance and knowledge, you can have your future set up for you in just a few years.
Continue reading Practical Tips That Will Help You Prepare For Your Upcoming Retirement
Rick Pendykoski is the owner of Self Directed Retirement Plans LLC
Saving for retirement is a critical part of financial planning. It helps you ensure that you will be comfortable and secure after retiring from work. But simply putting money away isn’t enough. It’s also important to understand how to maximize your savings so they last you through the golden years.
Most people use either a 401(k) or IRA to invest their retirement savings and help them grow. Let’s look at 401(k) vs IRA in more detail, so you can choose which one fits your
Continue reading Retirement Planning: Should You Put Money Into a 401k or IRA?
the staff if the Ridgewood blog
FAIRFIELD NJ, Affording retirement is the most significant financial concern of New Jersey residents. That’s the key finding from the recent Kearny Bank Personal Finances Poll, an online survey conducted recently by Fairfield-based Kearny Bank.
With 1006 responses collected, the survey indicates that more than one quarter of respondents (27.2%) consider being able to afford retirement their most pressing financial worry. Other frequently cited issues include Healthcare (17.4%), Housing (12.8%), and Daily expenses/inability to save (12.6%). Of note, “Other” – which incorporates a range of issues faced by New Jersey residents – was selected most frequently by 16.7% of those completing the survey. Rounding out the survey are Education (10.7%) and Transportation (2.7%).
Continue reading Kearny Bank Survey: Affording retirement is greatest financial concern of New Jersey residents
By Dino Flammia April 17, 2017 2:51 AM
New Jersey residents who are on their way to retirement, or are already enjoying their golden years, would be better off in 37 other states.
According to a recently released analysis from Bankrate, New Jersey is the 13th-worst state in which to retire.
“The cost of living … is very high,” Bankrate data analyst Claes Bell said of New Jersey. “High taxes in the state of New Jersey were another issue.”
New Jersey’s cost of living ranked fifth-worst among the 50 states. Only two states — Connecticut and New York — registered a higher tax burden
Read More: Retiring in New Jersey? Good luck | https://nj1015.com/retiring-in-new-jersey-good-luck/?trackback=tsmclip
April 3,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Can you imagine going on an extended vacation without making any plans?
No websites or tour guides consulted. No hotel reservations made. No itinerary mapped out.
Of course not. If you wanted your vacation to be a success, you’d budget enough money to cover your costs. You’d know when you were going, how long you could stay and at least generally what you would do while there.
But when it comes to the longest vacation most people will ever take – retirement – fewer than half of all Americans have a formal plan.
And that can spell trouble.
“There’s nothing worse than being 85 years old, full of life, and being flat broke,” says Randy Becker, a retirement planner and co-founder of the Becker Retirement Group in Bellevue, Washington (www.beckerretirement.com).
But it takes some work to avoid the many pitfalls that can ruin your golden years, Becker says. Inflation, taxes, bad health and bad investments can be devastating.
“It’s up to you to have a sound plan, so you can focus on the important aspects of a wonderful retirement life,” he says.
Becker offers these tips for getting started so you’ll know you’re ready to begin your retirement journey:
• Get everybody on board. You and your spouse need to agree on your retirement goals – and the financial decisions that will get you there. Start talking about priorities: Do you want to relocate? Stay close to the grandkids? Are you emotionally and physically ready for retirement? How long will each of you keep working, and how will that affect the income streams you’ll rely on when those paychecks stop?
• Make a budget. Most people think their expenses will go down after they retire, but usually that doesn’t happen. Your wardrobe budget might go down when you aren’t working, but other expenses might go up if you travel, enjoy new hobbies, or start going out more for dinner, movies and concerts.
• Know where your money will come from. Most financial professionals agree that income is king when it comes to retirement planning. A pile of scattered paperwork and account statements is not a plan. A good advisor can help you maximize your Social Security benefits, come up with tax-efficient distribution strategy and talk to you about other options, such as annuities, that can guarantee income in retirement. This is vital as people now live 20, 30 or even 40 years after retiring.
• Know your retirement timeline and reevaluate your risk tolerance.One of the biggest mistakes investors nearing retirement make is sticking with the same advisor and portfolio they had when they were younger. You’ll need to move to a more diversified approach, with fewer risks and more protection for that all-important income.
Although he’s a financial professional, Becker says retirement is about more than money. There’s also the adjustment retirees must make from working every day to suddenly having too much time on their hands.
“Perpetual Saturdays are exciting for about a week,” Becker says. “Maybe you’ll find ways to volunteer. Maybe you’ll learn to paint or play guitar. Maybe you’ll end up working part-time. But most people discover that they need something in retirement that will keep them engaged and excited about life.”
About Randy Becker
Randy Becker is a retirement planning professional and owner of the Becker Retirement Group in Bellevue, Washington (www.beckerretirement.com). He has 30 years of experience in the insurance industry and holds a degree in personal financial planning from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Randy is co-host with his wife and business partner, Arwen Becker, on Real Retirement Radio which airs on Newstalk AM 870 on Saturdays at 8 a.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. Real Retirement Radio is a one-hour show dedicated to all things retirement.
Location: Arcola Country Club, Paramus Rd., PAramus, NJ 07652
SPEAKERS
Craig Castner
Retirement Plan Counselor
American Funds
SPONSOR
American Funds
Cocktails and Hors d’oeuvres will be served.
ABOUT THIS WORKSHOP Would you like to know more about which type of retirement plan might be best for your business? If the answer is “yes,” you’re not alone. Unfortunately, many business owners have little time to learn how their business may benefit from a retirement plan as it gets lost among the numerous day-to-day responsibilities associated with running a business. Get answers to your questions:
Rep Scott Garrett promoting North Jersey Business
Rep Scott Garrett on Department of Labor’s Fiduciary Rule: Another roadblock between people and their financial goals
Apr 6, 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, issued the following statement after the Department of Labor (DOL) announced their finalized rule for retirement advisors—known as the “fiduciary rule”—that could turn retirement planning into an unaffordable luxury. The hyper-partisan rule was unveiled at the liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress, with a group of Democrat lawmakers.
“Saving for the future shouldn’t be a privilege for the wealthy, and Washington doesn’t need to put another roadblock between people and their financial goals. By ignoring the advice of the SEC and Congress, the DOL’s rule will increase the cost of retirement advice for lower- and middle-income Americans while creating a preferred class of rich investors. I will continue to fight for everyone’s right to get good financial advice because—unlike this administration—I believe in the people of New Jersey to make the best choices for their families and their futures.”
The DOL fiduciary rule could result in many people finding out that their accounts are too small to qualify for professional advice because providers will be forced to only service large accounts. In many cases, minimum account balances will increase substantially, effectively shutting down the ability of average investors to receive advice. It could also limit access to financial products that people are able to utilize when developing a retirement savings portfolio.
In October, Congressman Garrett voted for H.R. 1090, the Retail Investor Protection Act, which would block the DOL’s rule and ask for advice and expertise from the Securities and Exchange Commission before implementing any new rules.
Sep 10, 2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Scott Garrett (NJ-05), Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government-Sponsored Enterprises, delivered the following opening remarks at a Joint Oversight & Investigations/Capital Markets Subcommittee hearing entitled “Preserving Retirement Security and Investment Choices for All Americans”:
Congressman Scott Garrett’s opening remarks as prepared for delivery:
Every day, millions of Americans look to a broker dealer or investment adviser for guidance on what to do with their hard-earned savings and to help them achieve a secure and prosperous retirement
Once a privilege enjoyed only by the super-wealthy, personalized investment advice and access to the financial markets is now something that can be enjoyed by Americans of all income levels
The 2008 financial crisis and the current market turmoil have highlighted the importance of such advice, as numerous studies show that investors who work with a financial professional receive better and more consistent returns on their investments, while those who invest on their own often times make the mistake of “buying high and selling low”
In fact, the Department of Labor estimated in 2011 that people who invest without the benefit professional advice make errors that can cost them $114 billion every year
That makes it all the more curious that this same Department of Labor is now marching forward with a regulation that will upend the ability of Americans to receive such guidance and which threatens the retirement security of the most vulnerable within our society
When President Obama announced the rulemaking earlier this year, a release from the White House stated that the rule “…is taking a step to crack down on those…Wall Street brokers…who don’t put the best interest of working and middle class families first.”
But in looking down our panel of witnesses today and in reading through some of the 2,300 comment letters received by the DOL, it’s pretty clear that the biggest impact of this rule is going to be felt far from Wall Street – and millions of middle or lower income households may ultimately have no place to go for advice
Moreover, the SEC continues to contemplate implementation of a uniform fiduciary standard under Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank, a rulemaking that remains unsupported by empirical data and which could directly conflict with a DOL rule
So it’s clear that the time for Congress to act is now – and I want to commend Mrs. Wagner of Missouri for her continued leadership on this issue and for again putting forth a thoughtful piece of bipartisan legislation that will help preserve access to financial advice for Americans of all income levels
I thank our witnesses again and look forward to the discussion today
