If you are approaching retirement age, there are a great many factors to take into consideration. How much money do you need to retire? This is a popular and very important question that persons approaching retirement age, or even planning for their retirement, must carefully ask themselves.
The answer can be established through a consideration of your present lifestyle, your intended lifestyle, and other factors. With the assistance of a financial planner, you can select the best investments. With the help of an estate planning attorney, you can establish the necessary protections to ensure you are able to capitalize upon your investments.
The best way to ensure that you saved enough is to have a trusted financial advisor reviewing your finances. If you do not have enough in your personal retirement accounts, you should have an attorney help you determine what benefits might be available to you to supplement your savings.
Your Retirement Benefits May be Transferable Through a Will or Trust
If you have saved sufficient money to meet your lifestyle goals in retirement, it is important to ensure that your assets are distributed as you would prefer upon passing. Retirement planning determines what assets are available to you in retirement, and estate planning determines what happens to leftover funds if you pass away.
A trust is a legal arrangement that is regulated by state law through which one party holds property for another. A trust can be established and can contain cash, other liquid assets, real property, or personal property. An elder law attorney can help you create a trust so you can best protect your assets in life and share your assets how you prefer afterward.
Understanding Your Social Security Eligibility Can Greatly Impact Your Retirement
Social security is a program funded by placing associated taxes paid into a trust that is meant to provide benefits to eligible recipients. If you have had a Social Security number, used it when applying for a job, and Social Security was deducted from your payment, you may be eligible for Social Security benefits during your retirement.
Social Security is available to those who are currently retired, to people with disabilities, and to the surviving spouses of workers who have passed away but had established Social Security benefits. To begin the process, you must open a “my Social Security” account and, from there, proceed through the application process to collect upon the benefits that you might be entitled to.
The process is complex, and often, initial applications are rejected, leading to an appeal process. Engaging an elder law attorney to help you navigate your social security benefits application when you retire can help ensure you get the most of your benefits, sooner than later.
Connect with an Elder Law Attorney Now to Discuss how to Optimize Your Retirement
Knowing how much you need to retire is a complex question with an often complex answer. Alongside a financial services professional to oversee your portfolio of retirement assets and investments, an elder law attorney with experience helping individuals transition into retirement will best support your lifestyle and comfort in retirement.
