Last week we mentioned the many factors that go into Social Security Retirement Benefits, and how that particular benefit is funded. To repeat: for most Americans, the main (and often only) decision regarding Social Security is this: When should I start my benefit? That means our job is to give advice to our clients on when they should start this lifetime income stream, all things considered Here are the principles we use when advising on when our clients should start their S

For most Americans, the main (and often only) decision regarding Social Security is this: When should I start my benefit? That means our job is to give advice to our clients on when they should start this lifetime income stream, all things considered (including someone’s fears about the solvency of the program). Birken does a good job summarizing the mechanics of Social Security, all of which we take into consideration when advising clients on when they should start their ben

Here are Birken’s Interview Questions for Prospective Financial Advisers, and our answers What is your background and experience? Tim started Brockmann Financial nearly 30 years ago and has been serving clients through asset accumulation (growing investments) over that time. I’ve been in the industry and working with Tim for 5 years, and now serve as the managing partner of Brockmann Financial as well as the primary advisor for our clients. This includes leading our expansion

Nobody is born knowing that stock prices deviate from underlying company value, that IRS income tax rates are progressive, the average cost of healthcare in retirement, etc. Anything anybody knows related to financial planning was learned. And while it’s possible to learn something on your own (often the hard way), you only retire once. As a rule of thumb, if you’re only going to do something a handful of times let alone once in your life, it’s worthwhile to find someone to h

If we had the following, we could create a spreadsheet and tell you exactly how much you could spend each year in retirement. The current value of all your assets How the value of each asset will change year by year How much cash will be wanted/needed each year We can get reasonably close to #1. So far so good. #2 includes not only your investments, but also your real estate and any other item that shows up on your balance sheet. We’ve misplaced our crystal ball, so unless yo

When I finished my internship with Tim back in 2020, I got him a thank you gift. It was a custom T-shirt that said “Brockmann’s Philosophy of Annuities.” On the back: “Overpay and Underperform.” While mostly a joke and surely an oversimplification, if you’ve been a client for many years you know Tim is light on annuities. (The two exceptions in his career: around 2008/2009 when there were very high income riders, which many of our clients still benefit from today; secondly, i

If there’s one question we answer for our clients, it’s “How much can I spend in retirement?” It’s actually a really easy question to answer. The answer is always …it depends 🙂 Of the factors that get to an actual answer tailored to a specific household, there are two very important factors that are unknown: how long you will live, and what financial markets will do until then. We can get an idea of your life expectancy with a simple health questionnaire (and otherwise plan

While not explicitly stated, it seems to be an assumption of Birken that 5 years out from retirement you don’t have enough saved (from calculations in chapter 1). While this won’t be the case for everyone, putting into practice the recommendations from this chapter will improve anyone’s retirement income. Continuing from the example above, if you have $600,000 and you need to get to $1,000,000, there are things you can control (rather than simply hoping the markets cooperate

You’ve worked for decades, and now are so close to retirement “that you can practically taste it. And yet… you’re worried. Do I have enough saved? How do I handle being laid off late in my career? What taxes will I have to pay? Should I sell the house and move somewhere cheaper? What happens if I get sick?” Birkens wrote this book to help near-retirees answer questions such as these. Chapter 1 details the first big step toward getting an objective view of things, by answering

My next read will be Emily Guy Birken’s The 5 Years Before You Retire: Retirement Planning When You Need It the Most. Not 30 years. Not 6 months. What do you need to know and do if your timeline for retirement is roughly 5 years out? If you would like to get your own copy and read along with me, please let me know! Sometimes we get people who come into our office and say, “I just retired! I’d like to talk about what I need to do.” It’s not uncommon that what they need to do i