PROBLEMS WE SOLVE
lynn Hathorn
tax-free retirement
retirement income planning
maximizing social security
investing
efficient tax planning
long-term care
college planning
The Benefits of Secure Monthly Income
Retirement is a phase in your life that isn’t always easy to think about. How much money you’ll need, what kind of health you’ll be in by the time you retire, how you want to spend your time: these specifics aren’t always readily apparent. Whether you relish the idea or avoid it entirely, it can help to start gathering your answers sooner rather than later. Talking to a financial advisor can be a great way to bridge the divide, particularly if you want to set yourself up for success during your golden years.
How you prepare will depend on any number of factors, but it’s important to keep in mind that most people have more expenses than they realize. Maybe it’s an unexpected medical crisis, but in alot of cases, it’s nothing that dramatic. Maybe a person just finds that they want to pay for the next generation’s higher education.
Whatever it is, the right financial partner can show you what it means to stockpile different sources of secured income and how to leverage that money to build a strong foundation for your retirement and your descendants.
What Is Secure Income in the Greater Detroit Area?
Secure income refers to any source of recurring funds that you can count on. For you, this might take the form of Social Security benefits, pension withdrawals, and rental checks from real estate properties. For others, it might mean a combination of stock dividends and their savings. A financial advisor can help you work out a formula that will take care of your monthly expenses and much, much more. At a boutique retirement firm like the Lynn Hathorn Agency, you’ll find someone who’s willing to walk you through the basics, so you don’t leave any money on the table.
And if it all starts too complicated, Lynn Hathorn can break it down for you:
1. Decide how much you can save every month.
2. Allow an advisor to aggressively manage and invest a portion of your wealth.
3. Sit back and enjoy the best years of your life!
Tax-Free Retirement
Is a tax–free retirement possible? This question may seem strange at first glance. After all, if you live in America, the reality is you pay taxes on everything. So why should your golden years be any different? This financial principle isn’t about skimping on your civic duty, it’s a nod to how many people overpay on their taxes without even realizing it. Whether you’re impacted most by local, state, or federal tax codes, a financial advisor can tell you more about what your options are and how you can use them to your advantage.
Tax-Free Retirements in the Detroit Area
A financial advisor will first assess how your assets fit into the larger tax scheme. From there, they can break down how you can restructure your accounts to either drastically reduce the bottom line or eliminate your taxes entirely. For instance, your financial advisor may recommend opening a trust for your favorite nonprofit. Or they may encourage you to take advantage of deferrals.
At Lynn Hathorn Agency, you’ll learn more about the details of the codes that determine what you pay every year. This is the key to finding the right strategies for you. It’s important to find someone who understands taxes on a granular level, and Lynn Hathorn has the insider knowledge that can make a real difference in your life. If you rely on your accountant to help you, you’re likely missing out on a lot without even realizing it.
If you’re asking “how to have a tax–free retirement,” you should know that even a reduction in taxes can be a game–changer in your life and in the lives of your loved ones. Whether you want to donate to a charity or want to invest your money in lucrative opportunities, you have the chance to make decisions that will benefit you and the causes you care about the most. The right financial advisor will lay out all the potential paths, and then let you make the final calls.
Retirement Income Planning
As you look toward the future, the question of retirement can loom large. No matter how diligent you’ve been over the years, you may still have some unanswered questions. How much do I need to retire? Will I be able to handle the unexpected? How much will I be able to help my descendants should they need it? Can I achieve my goals without jeopardizing my assets?
Retirement income planning is a way to essentially address all of these concerns, and the right financial advisor can tell you more about how it can work to improve your portfolio. If you’re wondering how to plan your retirement income, you should know that it’s more than just saving up.
How Does Retirement Income Planning Work?
Retirement income planning is a financial principle that helps people replace the income from their job when they reach retirement age. Just as you rely on a steady paycheck to cover your expenses, fund your investments, and fuel your savings today, you can replace your paycheck with income that’s just as steady in the future.
If you live in the Greater Detroit area, the goal is to amass as many reliable sources of income as possible, so you have enough to augment your savings and then some. An advisor like Lynn Hathorn at the Lynn Hathorn Agency can tell you more about how to structure this income so it can keep up with your lifestyle. For instance, some people will want a mix of pension withdrawals, rental income from real estate properties, and Social Security. Others may want to rely on stock dividends or other investment returns to cover their monthly bills.
Whether you picture yourself in first–class accommodations or something more modest, you can use income planning to stay financially solvent during the inevitable twists and turns of the economy. Hathorn has the insider knowledge to recommend strategies that you may not have even considered, all of which will serve to give you more than enough to live on during your golden years.
Maximizing Social Security
Social Security benefits have been available to Americans since 1935. When the program first got its start, people may have been able to rely on the monthly checks as their sole means of support during retirement. Today, the system isn’t well known for helping retirees, and its poor reputation may cause people to discount the income source altogether. The reality is more complex than that, but to untangle it all, it helps to have a financial advisor who knows the ins and outs of how to file.
How to Maximize Social Security
If you’re entitled to Social Security during your retirement, it’s important to collect as much as you can from it. When it’s time to say farewell to your regular paycheck, having as many sources as possible of secure income is the key to living the life you’ve always managed. Whether you want to grow your own food or travel the world, Social Security benefits can help you cover basic expenses, so you have enough for the emergencies that inevitably pop up along the way.
When it comes to the paperwork, it’s important to answer all the questions thoroughly the first time. What you receive every month is specific to you and your professional life, so you shouldn’t make assumptions before you start the process. If you have a friend or a relative that receives next to nothing, that doesn’t mean that you will receive the same.
Lynn Hathorn of the Lynn Hathorn Agency is a financial advisor who helps her clients figure out the process from start to finish. While it’s possible to correct your mistakes the first time you file, it can be an arduous ordeal to do so. Hathorn is there to get all of the details right, leveraging everything she knows about the program. If you’re looking for someone who can tell you everything you’d want to know about maximizing Social Security, she’s there to find the right strategy based on everything from your employment history to how much you’ve already contributed.
Investing
The word investment is broad enough that it can be interpreted in a variety of ways. For some people, it’s a strategic game with very clear–cut rules. For others, it’s an adrenaline rush brought on by risky maneuvers with high stakes. As you get closer to retirement, though, it makes sense to temper the chances, improve your odds, and build a retirement foundation that will last.
Where to Get Your Investment Advice
Your investing style doesn’t have to look like that of your neighbor’s or brother’s. Whether you favor tech stocks, real estate, or collectible figurines, the reality is that everyone has their own way of accruing wealth. When it comes down to it, the only thing that matters is how your investments are helping (or, in some cases, harming) your retirement plans. A qualified financial advisor can show you how to leverage what you have and then augment it with other opportunities.
How this looks will depend on who you are, what you want, and how you plan to live your retirement. Some people might need to diversify their investments, so they can protect their money if the economy takes a turn for the worse. Others may need to consolidate their holdings, so their portfolio has a clean and clear focus. Still others, may just need a financial advisor to keep an eye on their accounts, so if one begins to stagnate or fall, they have someone to give them a heads up.
Thankfully, the right financial advisor in the Greater Detroit area can tell you more about the best ways to grow the margins of your portfolio with better investments. At the Lynn Hathorn Agency, you can get the guidance you need to make the most of every dollar. If you’re on the conservative side, she can help you branch out. If you’re more of a wild card, she can show you how to rein in it so you wind up with stronger assets by the time you say farewell to your day job.
Efficient Tax Planning
When it comes to doing your taxes, there are a number of ways to approach the problem. Some people will fill out the forms, take the standard deduction, and call it a day. Others may rely on a big–name tax prep service to get it done, whether they file once per year or once every three months.
As you approach retirement age, it may make sense to stay on the same trajectory. It may seem unnecessary to get a financial advisor involved, particularly for those who have relatively straight forward assets. However, discounting the work of an advisor could cost you thousands of dollars every year —and this is true even if you have the best accountant in town.
Efficient Tax Planning: What You Should Know
Efficient tax planning is the art of structuring your finances in a way that makes the most sense for you and your portfolio. If you live in the Greater Detroit area, you’re likely unaware of how local, state, and federal tax codes ultimately impact your bottom line. What’s more, very few people have the time or inclination to learn it all. From the restrictions to the loopholes, working through all the jargon can take immense effort.
A financial advisor not only knows how tax law can be used to your advantage, but they can also show you how efficient tax planning can fit into your larger investment and retirement goals. From trusts to deferrals to charitable donations, Lynn Hathorn at the Lynn Hathorn Agency can present you with options that you might not have even considered.
She’ll give you the pros and cons of different tax planning strategies, so you can make the final decision with confidence. You may need to convert a retirement account, funnel gains into new investment opportunities, or reassess how much you’ll receive from your Social Security benefits. Whatever it is, a good financial advisor will ensure you understand what each choice will mean for your larger financial future.
Long-Term Care
Retirement can be a precarious time in an individual’s life. While it’s undeniably a time to relax and enjoy the fruits of your labor, it may also be complicated by the fundamentals of aging. Whether it’s a genetic illness or serious injury, medical conditions of any variety can get in the way of your plans. Unfortunately, that can have a huge impact on your finances.
No matter how good your health insurance is, it won’t be able to cover all of the related expenses associated with long–term care. That’s why it may make sense to consider a Long–Term Care (LTC) insurance policy. If you want to learn more about how this asset will affect your overall portfolio, a financial advisor can review the benefits and whether they fit into your overall retirement plans.
What Does an LTC Policy Cover?
Long–term care policies are a type of insurance that pays for a variety of incidental costs that may arise if you’re ill or injured. When you need help running errands, cooking, or bathing, you can use this policy to cover those costs. As you can imagine, care spread out over time can all add up pretty quickly. If you’re interested in the numbers, Lynn Hathorn at the Lynn Hathorn Agency can tell you more about what you can expect.
The case for LTC insurance isn’t always as straight forward as it seems. On the one hand, there are studies that show people with this policy spent about six times less than those who didn’t have this insurance policy. However, the policy plans are often extremely expensive, and not all carriers have the same terms. In fact, many carriers don’t even offer LTC because of the vast array of expenses it covers.
If you live in the Greater Detroit area and have questions about how to protect yourself from medical bills, it can help to talk to an advisor who has all the facts. Hathorn is here to help her clients process and understand the terms and conditions that may ultimately protect their retirement.
College Planning
For parents, college planning is usually more than just helping children write their essays. They have to account for tuition, the cost of books, years abroad, extra curricular activities, room and board, etc. Even for parents who want their kids to shoulder some of the economic burdens, it can still be difficult to predict how much will be needed to get them to graduation.
If you want to learn more about how to save, a financial advisor can go over not only the direct costs for you, but can also tell you how spending today will impact your retirement tomorrow. Because planning for college is often as much a financial investment in the family as the individual, Lynn Hathorn at the Lynn Hathorn Agency can work out what the expenses will mean for your portfolio.
What It Takes to Plan for Higher Education
One of the first decisions that all parents have to make is what portion they want to cover for their kids. Some parents are prepared to help them throughout the duration, while others will pay for one degree and then stop there. Maybe you want to pay for half of the tuition only, leaving your child the responsibility of covering the other half plus any other expenses. No matter what you’re looking to do, a skilled advisor can tell you which strategies make the most sense for your larger financial goals.
How much savings do I need? This common question about planning for college is one that can be answered in numerous ways. Whether your kid wants to go to an Ivy League university or not, their journey is still going to mean some degree of sacrifice for everyone. Supporting your child’s dreams may not always be easy, but the encouragement that they receive from you can make an impact on their career as a student. Having an advisor that you trust can make the planning process a lot easier. It can also make it possible to revamp your portfolio and make it even stronger than it was before.