Planning is essential for successful retirement

If you’re a denizen of Northern Kentucky that’s closing in on retirement, age is just one of your many considerations. Our state and Northern Kentucky in particular offer all sorts of advantages, which include allowing exemptions for Social Security income and a favorable sales tax structure that falls below the U.S. national average. Many items, such as prescription drugs, prosthetics and most groceries are also exempted from sales taxes. But let’s face it, we could all use some extra money, whether that comes directly through our own savings, saving on life expenses or getting an increased benefit from Uncle Sam.

Jim Braun is president and owner of Tri-State Retirement, a company that is focused on helping clients realize their retirement dreams by offering financial and lifestyle advice. Over the course of more than 18 years in business, Braun (who is a lifelong resident of Northern Kentucky and also a fiduciary) has helped thousands of clients optimize social security, reduce Medicare costs and create retirement income strategies. Tri-State also holds informational seminars on specific topics such as retirement income strategies and life insurance.

“One of the main things to consider is whether or not you have filed for Social Security in the right way to optimize your benefit,” says Braun. “There are three to four different payments that you can choose from and there are about 567 ways to file for Social Security right now. So when I do my seminars, I find that many people have missed Social Security payments in the past. In general, that can be as many as 20-30% of the people in the room. So many people should go back and correct their Social Security filings to get a higher payment.”

The state of Kentucky also allows for Homestead Exemptions for citizens over 65, allowing write offs for property taxes up to $40,000.

“Often, they won’t just tell you that you can sign up for the exemption, but the write off actually increases from $2,500 to $5,000 a year, which is great,” says Braun. “I had a lady who was over 70 and had not filed her property exemption. When I went to file it for her, she got five years of tax money back.”

Another strategy that Braun promotes is something called, “Sequence of Returns Risk.”

“Which is something that I would encourage everyone to look up,” says Braun.

Sequence of Returns is the risk of negative returns occurring late in your working years and/or early in retirement, which can result in significant financial setback. There are certain strategies that can be used to help protect your retirement nest egg against the impact of negative markets. There are also ways to create a diversified tax-efficient strategy to get the most return from your invested funds.

“And finally, the fourth important most important issue to consider is Medicare,” says Braun. “With medical costs going up so dramatically with inflation, you can often find ways to reduce your Medicare costs simply by shopping around a little.

“I had a lady who was 92 years old who attended one of my seminars and was paying in excess of $380 a month for prescriptions and other supplementals,” says Braun. “By simply shopping around a little, we were able to cut her expenses down to $149 a month, and there was no difference in her coverage. It was basically the same plan.”

Naturally, choosing the right retirement planning professional is key—and there are plenty serving the Northern Kentucky as well as the entire Tristate area.