Personal Finance Archives - Holly Donaldson Financial Planning, LLC

Using A Retirement Income Buckets Approach

Post published:June 21, 2023
Post category:Behavioral Economics Fee-Only Financial Planner Organizing Finances Personal Finance Psychology of Money Retirement Readiness
Post author:Holly Donaldson

Using a retirement income buckets approach: One of the most common questions financial planners receive from soon-to-be-retirees is, “What’s the safest way to give myself a paycheck once I quit working?”

The question often stems from the knowledge that needing to withdraw funds in a down market can be both ill-advised and scary.

Those who have been around long enough probably know someone who retired close to a particularly bad market year, like 2001, 2007, 2008, or now 2022. Because that someone had to, or chose to, sell some investments at that terrible time, they ended up living off of much less than they originally thought. This can be a scary thing to watch. It makes one wonder, “How do I make sure that doesn’t happen to me?”

A Buckets Approach

Enter a buckets approach to retirement income. Below is a link to a video excerpt from the online course, “Retirement Readiness,” outlining the approach in more detail. (A link to the course can be found at the bottom of this article and here.) A description for each of the buckets follows below.

https://youtu.be/mkeqzgJfeFc

Bucket 1 – Cash and Money Market Accounts

The first bucket will provide your paycheck. Here is how it works.

Calculate any retirement income you will have (pension, Social Security, dividends, interest, rental property, for examples);
Figure your annual recurring expenses (do not include one-time expenses such as replacing a car, roof, or paying for a special trip or wedding);
Subtract 2 from 1 to come up with the difference; and
Keep 1 to 2 years of that difference in Bucket 1.

For example, Justine retires at 65. She expects to live past age 82 so she is waiting until 70 to claim Social Security. She has a pension of $800/month ($9600/year). Her recurring expenses are $70,000 annually. The annual difference is $70,000 – $9,600 = $60,400. To start retirement, she decides to keep 1.5 years of the difference in Bucket 1 so $60,400 x 1.5 = $90,600. She puts that in a high-yield money market account and sets up an automatic transfer of $5833.33 monthly to her checking account. Voila – she has a new paycheck.

When she turns 70, she will collect $45,000 in Social Security. At that time the annual difference will fall to $70,000 – ($9,600 + $45,000) = $15,400. She decides to keep 2 years of the new difference in Bucket 1, so $15,400 x 2 = $30,800. She reduces the monthly transfer from the money market to $1283.33 per month.

Bucket 2 – Bonds, CDs, and Bond Funds

The second bucket replenishes Bucket 1. As the paychecks come out, the principal in the money market account will naturally decrease. Eventually it will decrease to a level that makes you say, “Yikes! I only have xx in my checking and money market.” Everyone has a different level of “Yikes.” When the balance approaches your unique Yikes level, a transfer is made from Bucket 2 into Bucket 1.

Bucket 2 is comprised of a combination of CDs, bonds, and/or bond funds. CDs and bonds have maturity dates, so they are structured in a ladder (staggered maturity dates usually 6 to 12 months apart into the future). As each one in the ladder matures, the principal is either transferred to Bucket 1, or, if Bucket 1 is comfortably above the Yikes level, redeployed into a new CD or bond with a maturity date at the end of the ladder. If bond funds are used, they are laddered according to the duration in the fund, and funds are sold as needed to replenish Bucket 1. Using bond funds is a bit riskier due to the lack of maturity dates, so at least some portion in CD and individual bonds are recommended.

Bucket 3 – Stocks and Stock Funds

Bucket 3 replenishes Bucket 2 through harvesting gains in stocks. Here is how that works.

Review Bucket 3 on a regular but infrequent schedule (at most quarterly and at least annually).
If there are gains, transfer those to replenish Bucket 2.
If there are no gains (i.e. the market is in a correction), then do nothing until the next scheduled review.

In this way, stocks are not sold at the most inopportune time. With up to 5 years of paychecks in hand in Buckets 1 and 2, you have provided yourself a secure cushion from market corrections.

Final Notes

Whether each bucket is held in a tax-deferred account or a taxable account makes a big difference. Buckets may be spread across accounts in different combinations to minimize taxes.

You can find many varieties of Bucket approaches online. The goal of this particular Bucket approach is not to generate the best returns of any retirement portfolio ever on record, but rather to help prevent retirees from selling during downturns by providing security in Buckets 1 and 2. It works best for people who want the feeling of security from retirement income but don’ t need the high cost of an annuity to get it.

For monthly tips on retirement income, taxes, and psychology of money in retirement, subscribe to the free e-letter, “The View from the Porch, ” at https://bit.ly/3t2uwfn. And for a short online course on retirement readiness, see Simple Finance Retirement Readiness: https://bit.ly/3p3BkXE.

When She’s Better Off Than He Is

Post published:February 8, 2023
Post category:Couples and Money Fee-Only Financial Planner Personal Finance Psychology of Money
Post author:Holly Donaldson

When she’s better off than he is: Some couples find finances difficult to discuss when she makes or has more money than he does.

In the July/August 2019 issue of Psychology Today, Esther Perel, a New York psychotherapist, said that women’s liberation has freed them from dependence on men. “But it hasn’t prepared women for men’s dependence on them. Women often have a lot of resentment when they find themselves responsible in the way men have for generations.”

In his blog post, “Why Wealthy Divorced Women Don’t Remarry and Men Do” dating coach Evan Marc Katz wondered whether women might rethink their expectations for the man’s financial contribution to the relationship. This makes sense especially when all other aspects of the relationship are equal. After all, many wealthy men remarry to women who are not as financially well off, and why? Companionship, compatibility, and physical attraction.

If a wealthy man is happy to pick up the tab for trips and dinners, why aren’t wealthy women?

Case Studies Where She’s Better Off

Here are a couple of cases to illustrate the dynamic. I asked Licensed Mental Health Counselor Ken Donaldson for his thoughts on some fictional case studies.

Alan and Donna: Donna is a 53-year-old professor who became disabled after an accident. Her disability is not evident to most people, but at any moment she could be hospitalized. She received a large settlement from the accident. She is making a new life for herself and wants to live well while she can. Alan, her 55-year-old boyfriend, is a painter. He is handsome, romantic and kind to her. Alan does not know Donna’s financial situation. He does know he cannot always afford the restaurants where Donna wants to eat, though. Much of the time she picks up the tab. They both feel awkward about it.

Janet and Harold: Janet is a 52-year-old retired author. Her books have sold enough copies that she can live comfortably without working. Her boyfriend, 58-year-old Harold, had an IT career before he was downsized. Since then he has not found a new job or career that seems to be a good fit. Janet loves Harold’s athleticism, his sense of humor and tenderness. They connect on many levels. The problem is, she wants to travel with him to places like Australia, Alaska, and Europe. Neither Harold nor Janet like the idea of Janet paying for the whole trip. Harold does not know Janet’s financial situation, but he does know she is better off than he is.

Q & A With Relationship Counselor Ken Donaldson, LMHC

Q: How does avoidance of the activities that both couples want to do affect their relationship?

A: This would only add to distance in the relationships. Although both people will benefit from doing separate activities that they enjoy, there is much to be lost by leaving the other out when it is motivated by fear and/or avoidance.

Q: How could each couple stay together in a healthy way?

A: Every healthy, harmonious and lasting relationship is built on the HOW factor: Honest, Open and Willing. Those are the cornerstones that prevent the termites of deceit, deception, distance and breakdown. I believe these cases both require a lot of extended processing and perhaps the assistance from both a marriage counselor and a financial expert would be extremely helpful.

Q: What kind of paradigm shift might they try, and how could such a shift be brought about through seeing a professional?

A: As mentioned above, a qualified marriage counselor, especially one who had experience with these types of cases, can only help. Openness, although not rocket science, is always the best policy in cases like this. If either or both can’t handle “the truth” it says something about the foundation of the relationship, which signals that it needs to be strengthened. Harville Hendrix, author of Getting the Love You Want, has some great dialoguing tools I use often with in couples counseling and in all conflict resolution and intimacy-building situations.

Q: What is your opinion about the line between sharing financial information and keeping financial secrets?

A: It is a fine line at times, but it is also based on trust. Trust is probably the cornerstone of all cornerstones. It’s like poker: Sometimes you have to hold your cards for a long time before you show them (or fold them). But, when the time is right, right action is the only move.

Avoidance leads to more avoidance, and openness leads to more openness. However, it is all based on the level of relationship they want. If they only want a level “7” then maybe total transparency is not needed. But if they want a “10” then, again, nothing will be better than open, honest and willing.

Questions to Ask

Are there aspects of your financial relationship that you would rather keep at a “7” than a “10”?

How have you handled the transition from cards-folded to open-hand in your finances with a significant other?

What would you advise others in similar situations? Leave a comment here to help the reader community.

And if you’d like monthly tips on the psychology of money, subscribe to our award-winning e-letter, “The View From the Porch.”

New Year: Got Your Notebook?

Post published:January 4, 2023
Post category:Fee-Only Financial Planner Organizing Finances Personal Finance
Post author:Holly Donaldson

It’s a new year: got your notebook? You know, that one with all of your passwords, account numbers, doctor names, and that very important song that must be played at your funeral.

Yeah, that notebook. Where is it? It might reside digitally on your computer or in the cloud, or it might be a pile of papers in a file cabinet, or it might be in an old-fashioned 3-ring binder. The new year is a good time to ask: how easily can someone who needs it find it?

Who Might Need the Notebook and When?

Everyone needs a someone in mind for the notebook. Your someone is who will step in for you and help to handle things when you can’t. If an immediate someone does not spring to mind, consider asking a professional to be that someone – an attorney, accountant, or professional fiduciary, for example.

When will someone step in? At a time when you need the notebook, but can’t get to it. Like the new commercial for disability insurance, we can imagine all kinds of accidents and tragedies that might bring about a need for the notebook. Rather than dwell on those, let’s imagine that you are suddenly swept away on an all-expenses paid trip out of the country to a remote island with spotty cell coverage.

While you are whale-watching and snorkeling the reefs for an indefinite period, things still need to be handled back home. Bills to be paid. Taxes to be filed. Gifts to be given. People to be notified of your absence and introduced to the someone who is handling things.

What Goes in the Notebook?

In essence, the Notebook is a central place you keep information that your someone will need in case something happens to you.

Common and essential items in the Notebook include:

Your five basic estate planning documents: original will (drafted by an attorney in the state where you reside), living will, health care power of attorney, durable power of attorney, and HIPAA designations.
Advanced estate planning documents: trusts, partnership agreements, business buy/sell agreements, shareholder agreements, etc.
Insurance policies. ALL of them: life, long term care, health, property, car, boat, liability, and any others.
Contact information for professional advisers: attorneys, bankers, accountants, investment advisers, insurance agents, and (of course) your Certified Financial Planner™.
Also, if your adviser has an assistant or paraprofessional who knows you and your situation, write down their contact information and a little note to that effect. (“Sharon is the assistant and she runs the whole place.”).
All of your health care providers – doctors, dentist, optometrist, veterinarian (who is going to take care of Fluffy?). Put similar information by each one – what they helped you with and if any office or nursing staff know you and your history.
Important to remember also, anything handled online: digital password manager, online user ids and passwords, bank statements, investment accounts, real estate deeds and mortgages. So much of our financial lives nowadays keys off of our email address. Can they even get into your email? (See: Document Your Digital Assets for more online stuff to consider.)

Extra Items for the Notebook

In addition, not-as-essential items some people include are:

An “ethical will” outlining your values. This often gives family members guidance when they are unsure what you would want. Writer Susan Turnbull’s book, The Wealth of Your Life, can help guide you through this process.
An end-of-life health care management booklet, like Five Wishes.
An Aging Plan – describing your wishes for the potential time of life when you may need assistance with activities of daily living, transportation, and housing transitions.

Notebook Update Season

It’s a good time of year to check in on your notebook. The end of January brings tax notices from bank accounts, investment accounts, mortgage statements, health insurance, employers, IRA providers, and more. Take this opportunity to pull together scattered pieces of your financial life. Consider collecting everything not only for the accountant, but also for your family or special someone.

One way to keep the notebook updated is to check each tax statement and match it up with a corresponding account in the notebook. Perhaps you forgot about those I-bonds you bought on Treasury Direct – no paper statements, all online. Better add that account to the notebook. All those deductions for insurance from your employer – would someone know how to contact the insurance companies if needed? Then would the insurance companies talk to them? That contact info, power of attorney forms, and beneficiary designations are good updates for the notebook too.

Think of your notebook as a bread crumb trail helping your loved ones work backward from that remote island to the place where you are sitting with paid bills, up to date connections, easily-accessed email and your personal address book at your disposal. A little effort each year will save your someone(s) many headaches later.

Got a notebook you love already? Comment below on what makes it uniquely yours. Share your best ideas.

For more on this topic, see The Mindful Money Mentality: How To Find Balance in Your Financial Future. Struggling with issues mentioned here? Tell me more – Schedule a call.

Student Loan Forgiveness 2022? 6 Questions To Ask

Post published:September 2, 2022
Post category:Fee-Only Financial Planner Personal Finance
Post author:Holly Donaldson

Student loan forgiveness 2022? Where do your student loans stand right now? It can be pretty confusing to figure that out. Covid deferrals, loan servicer mistakes, and now forgiveness have led to a mish-mash of options. However, the big financial mistake you can make is to assume you don’t qualify for some kind of relief.

One piece of good news on the mish-mash front, especially if you have more than one loan: Those loans can now be seen on one page at www.studentaid.gov. No more checking on each servicer’s website for your information. It has a helpful feature. The site divides your loans into those that can be forgiven (through any existing forgiveness program, not only the most recent one), and those that cannot (mostly private loans).

To use studentaid.gov, you will need an FSA ID. This is different from your loan number. Apply for one at the website, and you’re in.

6 Questions to Ask Yourself

Before deciding, like Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi, “No forgiveness for you,” (90s reference – might make no sense to recent graduates), ask yourself these 6 questions to start:

1) Were your loan payments ever on some kind of income-driven repayment plan (IDR)? If so or you are not sure, see “Income-Driven Repayment Loans,” below.
2) Have you worked in medicine, education, or for government, at all since graduation? You may have been given bad advice about Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Skip to “Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” below.
3) Does your employer offer any type of student loan reimbursement benefit? If not, might they consider one? It’s tax-free to both you and them until 12/31/25. For more info, see “Tax-Free Student Loan Reimbursement,” below.
4) Did you repay some or all of your Covid-deferred loans in the last 33 months despite the fact they were on deferral? Skip to – “Forgiveness – What We Know So Far,” below.
5) Is your household Adjusted Gross Income (look on your tax return or ask your CPA or CFP) less than $125K (single) or $250K (married)? Skip to – “Forgiveness – What We Know So Far,” below
6) If you are a parent of a current student getting loans, is your household Adjusted Gross Income (look on your tax return or ask your CPA or CFP) less than $125K (single) or $250K (married)? Skip to – “Forgiveness – What We Know So Far,” below

Income-Driven Repayment Loans

If your loan payments were ever calculated based on your income, you may be entitled to some relief. Many errors were made in the calculations of those payments, mostly in the loan servicers’ favor. Most of those errors have now been corrected. You may owe less than you think. You may also qualify for lower payments.

Go to student aid.gov, sign up for an FSA ID, and find out.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

A study showed that nearly all applications for PSLF had been rejected over the past several years when many of them should have been approved. Additionally the loans suffered from accounting errors.

Plus, more jobs have now been added to the PSLF program eligibility.

****But in order to have your case reviewed, you have to enroll at the student aid.gov site by getting an FSA ID by 10/31/22.****

Anyone in medicine, education or government work should go ahead and enroll. Enrolling sooner than later will reduce the chance of getting caught up in a last-minute rush of applicants.

Tax-Free Student Loan Reimbursement

With the 2017 Tax Act, employers and employees were given a special benefit. Employers can reimburse employee’s student loans up to $5250 (but any tuition directly reimbursed is subtracted first). The employers get to deduct the compensation, and the employee doesn’t pay tax on it. This benefit is available regardless of salary, income, or occupation.

Because the 2017 Act sunsets in 2026, however, this means that this benefit is only available until 12/31/25, unless it’s extended by Congress.

Ask your employer if this benefit is available to you. If you work for a small-ish employer, that employer may not be aware of this benefit. Given the tight labor market, it might be a good time to make the request to add it, or to provide it for you.

Forgiveness – What We Know So Far

While many of the details still have to be worked out, you’re probably aware that the recently-enacted loan forgiveness applies if you are single with Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of less than $125K or married with AGI of less than $250K.

Again before letting that internal Soup Nazi strike you down, remember AGI is not your gross income/salary. If you are a W2 employee, your AGI would be approximately:
Salary+Bonus minus Retirement contributions minus HSA (Health Savings Account) contributions.

In addition to retirement and HSA contributions, there are many other adjustments that can affect your AGI, but they are less common. The point is that if you make $135K and think you don’t qualify, think again. If you contribute $6K to your 401K and $6K to your HSA, your AGI is $123K, so you actually do.

If you are self-employed you probably have even more deductions, so a thorough tax review would be in order. Maybe an amended return for 2021 might be worthwhile if you find a deduction that was missed.

The amounts that can be forgiven are $10,000 for all borrowers with public loans (not private ones), and an additional $10,000 if they were also Pell Grant recipients. The website at student aid.gov will tell you which loans you have that are forgivable.

What if you paid off your loans within the past year and you would otherwise qualify for forgiveness? Surprise – you will be able to apply for a refund. Details on that yet to come, though.

What if you are the parent of a current student? As long as the student had loans as of 7/31/22, and your household’s AGI falls below the income eligibility figures, your child’s loan(s) would qualify for forgiveness.

Summary – Several Strategies

In summary, now there are several strategies to employ that can help ease the burden of student loan debt. Consult with a knowledgable CPA or CFP on what opportunities there might be for you.

You can make an appointment to speak with us about your student loans or other concerns on our Contact Us page.

A Buckets Approach To Retirement Income

Post published:April 27, 2022
Post category:Behavioral Economics Fee-Only Financial Planner Personal Finance Psychology of Money Retirement Readiness
Post author:Holly Donaldson

A buckets approach to retirement income: One of the most common questions financial planners receive from pre-retirees is, “What’s the safest way to give myself a paycheck once I quit working?”

Those who have been around long enough probably know someone who retired close to a particularly bad market year, like 2001, 2007 or 2008. Because that someone had to, or chose to, sell some investments at that terrible time, they ended up living off of much less than they originally thought. This can be a scary thing to watch. It makes some wonder, “How do I make sure that doesn’t happen to me?”

The Buckets Approach

Enter the buckets approach to retirement income. Below is a link to a video excerpt from the online course, “Retirement Readiness,” outlining a buckets approach in more detail. (A link to the course can be found at the bottom of this article and here.) A description for each of the buckets follows below.

https://youtu.be/mkeqzgJfeFc

Bucket 1 – Cash and Money Market Accounts

The first bucket will provide your paycheck. The rule of thumb is to
1) calculate any retirement income you will have (pension, Social Security, dividends, interest, rental property, for examples);
2) figure your annual recurring expenses (do not include one-time expenses such as replacing a car, roof, or paying for a special trip or wedding);
3) subtract 2) from 1); and
4) keep 1 to 2 years of that difference in Bucket 1.

For example, Justine retires at 65. She expects to live past age 82 so she is waiting until 70 to claim Social Security. She has a pension of $800/month. Her recurring expenses are $70,000 annually. The annual difference is $70,000 – $9,600 = $60,400. To start retirement, she decides to keep 1.5 years of the difference in Bucket 1 so $60,400 x 1.5 = $90,600. She puts that in a high-yield money market account and sets up an automatic transfer of $5833.33 monthly to her checking account. Voila – she has a new paycheck.