Category Archives: Retirement Plans

Early Retirement: Distributions Without Penalty Before Age 59½

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If you are considering retiring early and would like to use your pre-tax retirement accounts before age 59½ then you have significant planning to ensure you make the most of your retirement assets. One possibility is to use a 72(t) exception to avoid the early withdrawal penalty from pre-tax accounts. This 10% penalty is in addition to ordinary income tax.

An exception to the 10% penalty is the 72(t)(2)(A)(iv) OR “a series of substantially equal periodic payments (not less frequently than annually) made for the life (or life expectancy) of the employee or the joint lives (or joint life expectancies) of such employee and his designated beneficiary”. This exception allows for regular payments from pre-tax accounts but must be tailored to your specific situation.

In general, the 72(t) exception requires that a calculated payment be withdrawn from a pre-tax account annually for the longer of five years or at age 59½. The advantage is that the 10% penalty can be avoided but the disadvantage is that changes to withdrawals or distributions are NOT permitted, or penalties apply. When calculating the annual payment, we consider the age of the pre-tax account owner, the balance in the pre-tax account, and the current interest rate. Higher payments are obtained at later ages, with higher account balances and at higher interest rates.

To help you visualize how the 72(t) amortization works, the table below shows annual payments for a single person at different ages on an account with $100K in pre-tax savings given that the current interest rate is at 6.16%.

Those thinking to retire early should consider using pre-tax assets (with the 72(t) exception) to support their planned cash flow but only if it is the best way to deploy all available assets. When using the 72(t)-exception you need to understand the implications of the rules since large penalties apply for errors or misunderstandings. If you are considering retiring early, we would determine how to best deploy your assets throughout your retirement plan.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

Social Security Benefits Primer

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Social Security benefits were never intended to be the sole financial support during retirement but for 21% of retirees Social Security benefit is the only source of income. For most American workers, Social Security benefits are the only guaranteed retirement income that is also inflation adjusted each year.

All workers in America are entitled to pay into Social Security and based on their pay history, to receive a lifetime income each month starting from ages 62 to 70.

Ideally prior to retirement, you’ll also maximize other income sources that include taxable savings, IRAs, ROTH, Qualified plans (401K, 403b, 457b), annuities, deferred compensation, and employer pension plans.

Since your future Social Security benefit is calculated from your Social Security work history, you must ensure (and correct if necessary) that this history has been recorded correctly at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount OR the new www.ssa.gov/myaccount.

Social Security benefit calculation uses your top 35 highest earning years and projects your estimated benefit at your FULL RETIREMENT AGE (FRA).

Your FRA is based on your birth year and, as you can see on this table, it has been increasing. In fact, since 1983 when the FRA was 65, it has been increased gradually so that by 2025 (for those born in 1960 or later) the FRA will be 67. To understand Social Security, you must first determine your FRA.

When can you collect Social Security? At FRA, you can file and receive your full benefit (100%) based on the amount of Social Security tax paid to your Social Security number. The earliest you can collect Social Security benefits on your record is at age 62 (when your FRA amount is reduced ½% for each month or 6% less each year until FRA) and the latest at age 70. If you delay past your FRA, you earn Delayed Retirement Credits (DRC) and for each month it will grow two-third of a percent or 8% per year until age 70.

Example of how benefits are calculated: If you were born in 1960 and your FRA amount is $1K/month then collecting at age 62 will result in a lifetime amount of $700/month but delaying until age 70 would result in $1,240/month (plus annual COLA adjustment).

When creating your financial plan, we will consider different Social Security timing strategies based on your financial and longevity expectations. When deciding on your best timing we always request that you consider your health, your family’s longevity, and known increases in population longevity.

Compared to what you earned, what can you expect to receive?
As an example, an average earner ($58K) could receive $1,907 or $23K per year in benefits for life, starting at FRA. On the other hand, those who paid Social Security at maximum earnings for 35 years would receive $3,822/month or $45K per year if 2022 was their FRA.

What if you take early benefits while still working? It seldom makes sense to work and take Social Security benefits early because your benefits are reduced by $1 for each $2 earned above an annually set earning level (in 2024 you can only earn up to $22,320 per year ($1,860/month) before your benefits are reduced). Once you reach FRA your Social Security benefits are NOT reduced (regardless of earnings).

We encourage each of you to work with us to review your Social Security history and then use your financial plan to make the best Social Security timing decision for you.

Applying for Social Security should be started three to four months prior to your chosen Social Security benefit start date. You would apply online at www.socialsecurity.gov or call (800-772-1213) or go to the local Social Security office.
One last and very important cyber security reminder: Protect your Social Security log in information (or credentials) – make certain that you are using a secure device when you log into your account.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

SECURE Act 2.0

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The first “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement” Act (SECURE Act) was passed December 2019 eliminating the ‘stretch IRA’ for non-spouse and changing the RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) age to 72. These were changes that impacted everyone across the board. With the Secure Act 2.0, congress appears to be reversing its prior leanings and instead allowing Roth conversions. The reversal towards ‘Rothification’ (encouraging ROTH savings/conversions) appears to be with the goal of increasing tax revenues today. It is fair to say that no single provision made by the SECURE Act 2.0 appears to have the same impact across so many as the elimination of the stretch, which now requires many inherited distributions to complete within 10 years, rather than spreading distributions over the entire beneficiary’s lifetime. Even so, 2.0 has so many more detailed provisions that it will impact most in some way. It is already evident that implementation will take more effort than the first SECURE Act.

Some of the new provisions included in SECURE Act 2.0 will be implemented over the next two years and require preparation in 2023. We will explore the provisions that may be relevant to your specific situation during our meetings this year. Let us know if you have any questions.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

Differences in Finances: Pre-retirement and Retirement

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I am sometimes asked how our work differs as clients move from a period in which they are accumulating assets (pre-retirement savings) to a period in which they withdraw/distribute from their assets (retirement or financial independence). This becomes a critical question as individuals transition out of earning years and begin to implement their retirement plan. As a matter of fact, our tasks are very different in each case though our role remains the same. Our role is to provide financial guidance to help make the most of available assets given current realities and future goals.

To help you understand the various financial tasks that occur in these two distinct financial planning periods, I’ve outlined some of the major tasks that we perform in pre-retirement (accumulation phase) and in retirement (distribution phase).

During the accumulation period, our focus is to encourage you to integrate finances with all major decisions. We work with you to save as much as possible using tools or techniques that we know will likely be successful in your situation and come up with ways that work better for you. We also support you to define spending that is meaningful because we want spending to be sustainable and satisfying later in life. Annually, we help set spending and savings goals and ask you to hold yourself accountable because with accountability comes financial self-confidence. We also want you to experience the ups and downs of portfolio behavior over a significant period so that overtime you will learn to relinquish unproductive human emotions that are associated with daily monitoring and fretting over your portfolio total (which feeds fear and greed). We want you to internalize that what really matters is that the portfolio delivers as expected to meet your goals. It is therefore important that during accumulation (when you are not dependent on the portfolio), you can confirm that the returns used to create your financial plan are attainable by the average return of your own portfolio (not a model or generic return). Overall, we want you to identify how you can best work with finances and gain confidence in your own ability to make financial decisions regardless of the obstacles.

During retirement we are more involved with your cash flow management as we help you transition to financial independence by implementing your financial plan. This requires providing the needed cash flow from your accumulated portfolio. In retirement we annually setup monthly cash-flow distributions (or an annual lump sum distribution) from the portfolio and we internally estimate the tax liability so that we have the best after tax result for each distribution. We find that tax planning also helps prevent unexpected increases in future Medicare premiums, helps make Roth conversion decisions, and helps decide on the best timing for Social Security benefits. RMD (Required Minimum Distributions which begin at age 72) are also calculated and implemented based on what is best for your overall finances. We may recommend QCD (Qualified Charitable Distributions, only for those at age 70.5) or DAF (Donor Advised Funds which are available to anyone who wants to make significant or regular charitable donations) in some cases. Finally, we serve as your financial resource or partner to support you during major financial decisions.

Let us know if you have different questions or want more details on what is currently most important in your life, regardless of whether you are in pre-retirement or already enjoying your well-earned financial independence.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

How does a tax-deferred IRA differ from a Roth?

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Tax-deferred savings (to an IRA or employer pre-tax retirement plan) reduce your tax liability today BUT are fully taxable (including gains) on withdrawal. The tax-deferral accounts are an excellent way to minimize your current taxable income. The goal is to use what would have been tax dollars as part of your savings. The main rules to keep in mind are that withdrawals shouldn’t be expected before age 59.5 AND that you MUST take mandated distributions (called RMD) when you reach age 72 (according to the new tax rules). Unfortunately, these accounts are now also not inherited in the same beneficial manner as in the past (these now follow the new Secure Act of 2019 rules).

A Roth on the other hand, doesn’t provide tax deferral when saved but it does provide tax-free dollars, on withdrawal. Contributions to a Roth are limited in amounts each year and not easily available for high earners. Whereas Roth conversions require income tax payment on converting pre-tax IRA dollars, not everyone is permitted to make Roth conversions. Fortunately, Roth IRAs are not impacted by the Secure Act of 2019 and remain free of RMD. They are also still inherited tax-free to individual or trust beneficiaries and are likely to be favored for those considering leaving a legacy.

As income tax rises (likely, given our debt load), Roth accounts will become even more powerful tools in retirement for those in the higher tax brackets. Currently they help us regulate your taxable income and keep taxes and Medicare costs reasonable during retirement.

We’d like to consider Roth conversions for you in years when you expect a lower tax rate. It is particularly useful when tax-deferred accounts are undervalued and when you have accumulated large tax-deferred accounts.

The basic takeaway is that a tax-deferred account should be maximized during years with high earnings (to reduce taxes) and high tax rates. When you expect a low earning year then a Roth conversion may provide you with an ideal situation BUT ONLY IF your retirement tax rate is expected to be high enough to trigger additional taxes or Medicare costs.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

Funding Retirement Cash Flow (and RMD)

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The importance of a strategic and tax efficient portfolio withdrawal becomes very clear  to retirees or those funding their daily expenses from their portfolio (i.e., those who are financially independent).

Though we have all become pretty comfortable with deferring income to gain a tax advantage while working (through 401K, 403b, 457, Keogh, and IRAs), we delay learning about how we’ll deploy these accumulated assets until some later date. We usually include one possible distribution in retirement projections but we leave the actual details until closer to retirement. This includes ways to manage Required Minimum Distribution (or RMD).

Essentials of RMD:

Starting at age 70.5 and each year after you will be required to withdraw from your tax-deferred accounts a portion regardless of whether you need it to fund your expenses (this is the crux of RMD). This amount is fully taxable as if it were income (it is after all your prior deferred income). The required withdrawal amount is a portion that is dependent on your account balance and your age.

How is the amount of RMD determined?

Every year it is calculated on the total account balance, at prior year end, of all of your tax-deferred accounts divided by an annuity factor. This factor is based on your age and the age of your spouse (slightly different factor if the difference between you and your spouse’s age is greater than 10 years). As an example, I’m using factor 26.4 for a person age 71. If this person’s total tax-deferred portfolio on the prior December 31 had a balance of $500K then their RMD would be $18,939. If the same individual had a $3M portfolio they would have to withdraw at least $113,636.

Why not ignore this requirement and pay the penalty?

Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) has a 50% penalty. If the above RMD withdrawal is not made in the specified period, then the penalty for the $500K portfolio would be about $9.4K and $56.6K for the $3M portfolio – Yikes!

Keep in mind that RMD is the MINIMUM amount you MUST withdraw from your tax-deferred accounts each year but you can draw more if you wish. Everything you withdraw from your tax-deferred account (except for advisory fees) is fully taxable and impacts tax liability and cash flow.

When and why might RMD be a problem for retirees?

The basic problem is lack of control over timing of distributions. The strategic deployment of a portfolio is tax dependent, market dependent and most of all it is ‘needs dependent.’ If we have a choice, we only want taxable income to the level it is needed by you for that year. Sometimes we take more because we are planning for a future event.

Taking RMD can increase tax liability excessively in specific years, because you are temporarily in a higher tax bracket. This happens most often when a home or other large capital asset is sold (or may last longer if it is due to distribution from a company deferred compensation plan). In those years it would be best not to withdraw from a tax-deferred account since there is enough cash flow and tax liability from the sale. Adding RMD serves only to increase tax liability unnecessarily. It also impacts Medicare premiums (recall that Medicare is means tested – see the March 2016 Nibbles article (or online blog) for details on Medicare means testing).

An additional problem arises during years when market corrections take place or if portfolios are not fully diversified. During the 2000 and 2008 crises, equity markets were at their highest the prior year-end, but after the crisis they dropped significantly forcing a crisis for those who had not made their RMD withdrawals. We prefer not to add these potential risks to our client portfolios during retirement – we make RMD withdrawals early in the year and we ensure retirement portfolios are diversified and therefore less volatile.

What action may minimize the impact of excessive taxes caused by RMDs?

Currently there is only one solution after age 70 but several if you plan ahead.

In the years prior to age 70 you can take advantage of several strategies that effectively decrease the tax-deferred account balance and provide alternatives without RMDs. The objective is to even out the tax rates and reduce years of higher tax rates.

During retirement there is no way to avoid this increased tax liability from RMDs unless you don’t need the RMD for your personal retirement needs. If you don’t need the RMD, it can be donated to a qualified charity (there is a specific process that must be followed) and meet your RMD requirement without increasing your tax liability. Obviously this is a limited solution since to avoid the penalty and taxes you are giving away the RMD but hopefully it is going to a cause you care about.

How do we plan portfolio withdrawal given RMDs?

Like all questions regarding retirement or financial independence we need to always begin by knowing what you want to do and how much you need to spend (your burn rate). We’ve also found greater success when we have several funded pools of retirement assets with different tax natures. In planning distributions we consider cost basis, burn rate, tax brackets, social security, and RMDs, along with the current tax rules so as to create the most appropriate distribution from the portfolio. If we plan ahead, we find that spreading-out tax liability over several years (with a lower effective rate) often helps in this endeavor.

Financial plans create retirement scenarios that provide a high probability that the portfolio assets will support your planned retirement spending and provide you with confidence that your savings level today will support your chosen lifestyle in the future. It is during implementation of the retirement plan that rules and priorities (for example, how to handle RMD, taxes, cost basis) need to be applied as to further improve the probability that your portfolio will outlast you.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

Retirement Income Planning – Spend early or make it last?

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During our working years we plan for retirement or financial independence in part by saving maximally and investing in assets that are likely to appreciate.  While we are working and saving for retirement we are in the accumulation phase. As we approach retirement (within about 5 years) we continue accumulating assets and begin the process of distributing those assets to sustain our chosen lifestyle throughout retirement. When we use an income stream from our assets we have entered the distribution phase.

During the accumulation phase we all focus on portfolio returns and tolerate some volatility. We can weather market fluctuations and lack of liquidity since we are not dependent on the portfolio and have our earnings to support our lifestyle. The main objective is to pay required taxes, support our lifestyle, save, and establish a life that encourages us to flourish.

As we approach the time when our assets alone will be used to support our lives, it becomes essential that we address the nuances of how the assets will be deployed – this is termed Retirement Income Planning.

Retirement Income Planning addresses in a pro-active manner how to create a stream of income for our remaining days (using accumulated assets) once our income from work no longer fully supports our lifestyle. Since the retirement time horizon is unknown, we must marry wishes for early retirement or plans for having larger income distributions with having assets last through an unknowable lifespan.

Running out of money is never an option in retirement but leaving money behind is also not acceptable, if it limits your lifestyle. This balance becomes a challenge as lifespans extend and health preservation becomes more successful and expensive. The latest survey shows that couples aged 65 have more than half probability (56%) of at least one spouse living to age 92. Despite these findings many feel they will not live past 80 and yet, if healthy and productive, they might feel very differently once they reach 90. Planning effectively for longevity is essential and must be weighed against the benefits of early spending.

For Retirement Income Planning, we also need to manage tax liability since we want to be sure that assets last as long as possible, particularly tax-deferred assets that are taxed at ordinary tax rates on withdrawal.

A market downturn can more greatly impact a portfolio early in retirement or just before the distribution phase. In retirement, unlike in the accumulation phase, it is much more difficult for the portfolio to recover from a market downturn. A robust retirement income plan must include ways to deliver the needed income regardless of market behavior.

The new reverse mortgages are income distribution tools that retirees can use to access home equity as part of a retirement income plan. For some, they provide at least three advantages early in retirement: reduced tax liability, longer investment time for the portfolio, and enjoyment of their home until retirees are ready to downsize.

For all retirees preserving their purchasing power (not just preserving the dollar amount) is an essential part of an income plan. Failure to include inflation protection is evident when retirees hold little to no significant equity portfolio and the consequences are dire. Though annuity and pensions are useful income distribution tools they fail unless combined with a strategy that protects against inflation. Sustaining purchasing power is even more significant when considering healthcare expenses. Keep in mind that healthcare costs grow due to inflation and also as a percent of annual spending as we age.

Scenarios that use all available tools to address how to best deploy retirement income will provide each retiring person with confidence to spend early and throughout retirement without fear of outlasting their assets.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

Should you be a landlord in retirement?

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As you would expect, we often think about ways to supplement client retirement income and diversify a client’s finances beyond their market portfolio.

Owning one or more rental properties (commercial real estate) can provide a steady source of income and cash flow during retirement, with the added advantage of building owner equity (owner wealth). Once established, rental properties can also be a great resource to meet both planned and unexpected life events. And since they can be depreciated on your income tax, rental properties can provide a significant tax advantage while the asset actually gains in value. All this said, owning a rental property, let alone more than one, is not for the faint of heart. Without regular attention and constant re-appraisal, they can become a major headache and a huge liability.

The path to becoming a commercial real estate investor (a fancy way of saying “landlord”) often begins, innocently enough, with owning a single family home and then, for whatever reason, deciding to convert it to a rental. In this case, the property may need to be adapted in some fashion to accommodate renters. Others will approach a real estate agent with the deliberate intention of purchasing a rental property, in which case the property may be “turn key,” requiring little, if any, alteration. Whichever way you start out, the following are just some of the things you need to take into account before you commit to becoming a landlord in your golden years.

Commercial real estate requires at least 20%-30% down payment and an ongoing source of cash flow to fund expected and unexpected expenses. This means your equity will be locked in your property and only available through the available cash flow stream.

Real estate can be a great addition to an investment strategy, but rarely prudent as a sole investment. Unlike your portfolio, which will have fixed expenses, be liquid and globally diversified, your real estate will be impacted by local conditions with unexpected expenses and periods of poor liquidity. Expenses that are predictable include mortgage, taxes, landlord-specific insurance policies (both property and liability). Less predictable expenses are maintenance and repair costs as well as tenant related expenses. For those in control of their family cash flow, it is this difference that makes rentals a good consideration as a secondary investment and as part of their financial plan.

Like all investments it takes time and due diligence to generate a stable positive cash flow from rental properties – luck alone will not suffice. The price you set for rent is all important as are the expenses you incur. You need to be sure to cover your operating expenses which can include mortgage, property tax, insurance, maintenance, bookkeeping and accounting fees, utilities and if you use a management company you must also include their fee. In addition, the rent must provide you with a reasonable return based on cash flow, not just property appreciation, since you can’t sell the property to pay for ongoing expenses. The property must remain competitive with the local rental market and your cash flow able to cover expenses that may not be deductible in the year they are spent (a roof is an example of an expense that is depreciated and not deductible).

In addition to the financial considerations cited above, you will have legal obligations that are based on local laws and regulations pertaining to rental housing. A broken water pipe, furnace or refrigerator? Round-the-clock availability for emergencies is your responsibility. You can, of course, assign or pay for someone to take care of such things, but the legal responsibility will still be yours (always have sufficient liability and property replacement insurance). You are likely to be held liable for tenant or visitor injuries if due to unsafe conditions, especially in the common areas. Safety and habitability is paramount. On a regular basis, you must make sure structural elements are safe, the electrical, potable and wastewater infrastructure is sound, that trash containers are provided, that any known or potential toxins (such as mold or asbestos) are properly managed, that rodents or other vermin are kept clear off the premises.

However you come by your rental property, you will have to choose whether you should be your own property manager (directly overseeing and paying for maintenance yourself) or to take a more arms-length approach by contracting with a property management firm. Some clients hand these tasks to a family member who wishes to work part-time while others hand it over to a professional. A property manager can help those who wish to limit their day-to-day responsibilities, especially if you aren’t the handy sort or aren’t physically up to the task, but then you will have to cover the additional expense. Property managers, in simple terms, are hired to find tenants, maintain the property, create budgets, and collect rents. You will want to hire someone who knows about advertising, marketing, tenant relationships, collecting rent, maintenance, plus local and state laws in the location that you have the property. As the property owner, you can be held liable for the acts of your manager. It’s prudent, therefore, to hold the rental property in an entity that can provide some legal protection. Costs for contracting a property manager will usually run about 8% of rental income for management and about the same for engaging new tenants—this can eliminate your profit but if properly priced will provide you with a sustainable model well into retirement.

Finding reliable tenants is always a challenge, even if you employ a property manager. Tenants need to be able to pay their monthly rent, keep the property in good condition, and follow policies in the lease or rental agreement. You’ll find it easier to find good tenants if you select a property in an area experiencing low vacancies and high demand. Unfortunately, this means the property will also cost you more.

You should be prepared to have to deal with (or have someone deal with) evictions, wear and tear on your investment, unauthorized sub-lets, termination without proper notice, smoking, illicit drugs, pet odor and damage, parking and waste management issues, advertising, noise (including sometimes difficult neighbor relations), and other eventualities. Or, you can get lucky and find perfect long-term tenants! Realistically, as you age these tasks may become too stressful, eventually requiring you to hire a property management company or engage a (younger) interested and motivated loved one to take on this role. Either way, you must put this in writing as part of your purchase plan—including when you want this to happen, who this person should be, and finally, when the property should be sold.

During retirement some will love the ability to work part-time at managing their properties (even if only in a limited manner) whereas others will find it too complicated for their ideal retirement life. Invariably a well-managed property can generate ongoing income and create owner equity that will be a godsend in retirement or as an alternative to your market portfolio. Unfortunately for some, the process can become too complicated and stressful. So much so, that they avoid the tough decisions and derail their entire retirement plan. Being a landlord is very much an individual decision.

The bottom line is that rental property cash flow can generate a stable income during retirement, and can provide needed equity to fund contingency plans (such as disability, long-term care, health care needs, legacy) but profiting requires planning and annual review. It is a business that needs your ongoing attention or it will become a major liability. Even with the help of a property management firm, you may wonder in what way you can really consider yourself “retired” owning and managing rental properties.

Like any other financial investment, do your homework, and moreover, make sure it fits with your long-term financial goals and vision for a rewarding life.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

The skateboard champion and other stories

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As a way to put money away and save on taxes we often think of retirement accounts for the self-employed that include a simplified employee pension plan (SEP), an individual 401K-profit sharing plan (401K-PSP), or Defined Benefit (DB) plan. DB plans are the least used and yet the most powerful at reducing tax liability and quickly increasing your tax-deferred savings. To illustrate how DB plans can be used, I want to share with you how creative individuals were able to leverage their DB plan to save maximally and retire early.

  • The Skateboard Champion – A 30-year-old skateboarder plans ahead and saves $130K per year from winnings and endorsements. He will have saved $2.6M by the time he turns 50 (without considering any market growth).
  • The Lobster Fisherman – A 61-year-old fisherman from Maine pays himself $35K in payroll from his C Corporation and saves $60K per year for the last five years before retiring. His reward: an estimated $300K in accumulated additional savings for his retirement.
  • The Clothing Store Sales Rep – At 57 years of age the rep contributes $150K per year for herself and $12K for her young assistant until retirement at age 65. She accumulates another $1.2M not including growth.
  • The Lobbyist from Virginia – Beginning at age 48, the lobbyist contributes $145K/year for 7 years saving just over $1M by age 55.
  • The University Professor & Guest Speaker – Starting at age 54, the Prof contributes $42K per year from guest speaking engagements. He does this for 12 years and adds $502K in savings (excluding growth) to his already substantial university benefit plans.

DB plans provide the highest contribution amounts particularly when combined with a 401K. To take full advantage of this type of plan, a business must have sufficient profit and cash flow. DB plans, like a 401k, must be established in the same year and have specific requirements including annual tax filings. DB plans are not limited by the fixed maximum contribution found in SEP or 401K plans but instead are based on age, payroll and future benefit. This year, the maximum annual future benefit is up to $210K (this can amount to substantially more than a $210K contribution in any one year).

If you have a side business or are starting your own full time business consider the DB plan. Even though these are powerful, the best type of retirement savings plan for you is dependent on your business’ current and projected cash flow. As you can tell from the stories above, a well-designed DB Plan is not just for those over 50 or those with large earnings. It can be a very smart way to defer taxes today and provide for your lifestyle in the future.

Defined Benefit plans are not appropriate for everyone but I’ve seen them work for so many different people in unexpected situations that I thought I’d share some success stories with you.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com

When does it make sense to payoff your mortgage before retirement?

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It is relatively easy to make paying off your mortgage a goal, largely because you think it will “feel good” or because you imagine that it will be “liberating” to throw a mortgage burning party. But be careful that you are not mixing a critical financial decision with an emotional reaction. It may seem illogical, but there are many reasons why it is sometimes a better financial decision not to pay off your mortgage. That said, there are also some very good reasons for paying off your mortgage prior to retirement. The balance is often tipped by the amount the client spends on their lifestyle budget, the amount they have saved in available non-home assets, their tax liability, the source of the money used to pay off the mortgage and what they have decided to do for unexpected expenses.

For most of our clients, a mortgage on their principal residence is a low-rate loan that can be used (since 1997) to reduced tax liability (usual tax refunds drop the effective mortgage interest rate by as much as 1-3% for our clients). A mortgage repayment is stretched out (amortized) over a long period of time (15 or 30 years are common) with most of the interest paid during the first 2/3rds of the amortized period. When combined with inflation and a healthy appreciation in real estate valuations, a mortgage provides the buyer an opportunity to expense a very low cost loan while building equity in the home with money that would otherwise (at least in part) go toward rent. A mortgage loan can also be used to maximize and grow savings pre-retirement, obviously freeing clients to use these savings later while in retirement. The argument can also be made that a diversified portfolio started with assets that might have been used to pay off a mortgage (though not guaranteed) can yield a rolling average of 6-9% (with a margin of safety) and provide assets that grow above the mortgage rate and that are available for use outside of the home asset.

Many of our clients will have reduced or no earned corporate income during their retirement years, and plan to rely primarily on portfolio, pension, and social security to support them for 30-40 years. During this time they might have lower taxable income, but that is only true if their lifestyle expenses are low enough (something that is difficult to do in the Bay Area). If not, they might increase their taxable income to support their lifestyle and would benefit from available tax deductions (including mortgage interest). Most of our clients would like to remain in their homes throughout retirement, but this adds a further complication if they do not have enough non-home assets to support their annual budget. We find that home owners are surprised that they can’t tap most of their home equity (at reasonable costs) until they sell their home.

Paying off a mortgage is sometimes worth considering when the client has sufficient assets to support retirement outside of (i.e., above and beyond) their home. As an example, consider someone with a lifestyle expense in retirement of $100K annually (after social security). We can roughly estimate that they will need about $3M in portfolio assets to support their lifestyle and to ensure that they will not be forced to sell their home to support themselves. This $3M is only an estimate since it may not be sufficient if there is no supporting plan to cover unexpected expenses. But assuming there is sufficient savings and buffer, paying off the mortgage becomes a viable option which would reduce lifestyle budget (since there should be no mortgage payments) and tax liability.

Since several clients would like to hear scenarios that highlight the advantages of paying off their mortgage prior to retirement I’ve outlined two below:

1)  When a client plans to live in a mortgaged home until they need care, have low lifestyle expenses AND enough money outside of their home asset to support their lifestyle budget, including maintenance of their home. In this situation (particularly when their tax rate will not benefit greatly from remaining Schedule A deductions) the reduced expense derived from not paying a mortgage provides measurable benefit and real financial freedom. In addition, leaving a home with little or no mortgage is popular with those who wish to provide a legacy. However, clients have to be prepared for a potential increase in taxes in retirement particularly if they need to draw more from their portfolios. There is also the possibility that they may need to sell their home to unlock equity to cover unexpected expenses.

2)  Another scenario that encourages paying off the mortgage pre-retirement applies to clients with a low taxable income, sufficient non-home assets to support their lifestyle expenses and a sudden influx of cash to cover their mortgage (this cash must be more than the amount they can contribute in a tax advantageous manner and not needed to support their lifestyle).

It has been clearly demonstrated that anyone with a fully diversified portfolio benefits most from maximizing tax-advantaged savings prior to retirement. Usage of funds that could be contributed to these types of accounts to pay off a mortgage often results in too much home and not enough cash (house rich, cash poor, as the saying goes). This is particularly the case in areas where home appreciation is high and home equity grows, but can’t be accessed cost effectively. A misconception is that a large mortgage is the best way to reduce taxes because you can minimize them through Schedule A deductions. This is patently not true. The best way to minimize your taxes is through tax-deferred savings, not deductions. Do note that in retirement, neither tax deferral nor the option to obtain a mortgage at a reasonable rate may be available.

Each person needs to consider the best way to manage their mortgage payments in retirement. In this article, I have sought to help you recognize some of the key components that factor into whether it makes sense to pay off your mortgage prior to retirement. It is important that you realize that there is no single answer for everyone and that we must balance your budget, taxable income, amortization period and plan to cover contingencies during retirement before making this decision.

Edi Alvarez, CFP®
BS, BEd, MS

www.aikapa.com