We recently held our first Tax Savvy Forum of the year in Tampa, Florida, where SSN Financial Professionals learned how strategic tax planning complements the broader retirement planning process.
SSN’s Practice Development Specialist Corey Keltner kicked off the event by discussing:
- Why most client cash flows change over time and how financial professionals can diversify across account types based on those changes;
- Why clients in their 50’s often get a short but significant opportunity to build tax-diversified portfolios;
- How the middle-income clients can exacerbate the ‘retirement tax bomb’ through traditional IRA, Social Security and capital gains distributions;
- And ways to contribute and convert assets away from tax-deferred accounts to avoid a higher tax burden in the future.
Next, we focused on how to best maximize the Tax Clarity software package, what financial professionals can do to help their clients avoid tax traps and how to get them to act on a tax-related planning recommendation – including collaborative planning and motivational interviewing techniques that empowered them to make the best decisions depending on their own unique situation.
The final presentation came from Transamerica’s James Verbonitz and Dan Cronin, who provided financial professionals with a clear understanding of the challenges faced by retirees in the 21st century. The duo provided overview of:
- The retirement planning market;
- The five steps in the retirement planning process;
- How to assess a retiree’s income needs, a review of the different sources of retirement income (including Social Security, qualified retirement plans, IRAs and fixed and variable annuities);
- And the various risks that will need to be addressed in the retirement income planning process, including the importance of planning for healthcare in retirement.
Transamerica’s presentation also carried the opportunity for Super CE Credit with an examination given at the end of the day.
Feedback from the event was positive, with attendees unanimously saying they would attend another Tax Savvy Forum in the future.
We plan on continuing the momentum by offering two additional Tax Savvy Forums later this year in Boston and Minneapolis.
If you would like to learn more about SSN’s Tax Savvy initiative or have a conversation about tax planning tools available to SSN financial professionals, reach out to Corey Keltner (corey.keltner@ssnetwork.com / 800-264-5499 x 229). You can also learn more at www.ssntaxsavvy.com.
