Retirement planning is much more than a magic number that answers the question “How much is enough?” It’s a process of you and your advisor working together to make sure you’re asking the right questions: Should I retire? How will I continue to provide for my family? What will I do next? How does retiring help me fulfill God’s purpose in my life? How will I determine what my next chapter is?

The Bible is virtually silent on the concept of retirement, and makes no mention of ceasing work at age 60 or 65. As you approach retirement, don’t look at it as an end. Rather, look at it as a beginning. It is the start of the next phase in your service in God’s kingdom. With proper planning and wise stewardship, you may become financially free to use your talents and abilities to fulfill God’s next purposes for your life, even after your primary career is completed.

In a robust economy, many investors mistakenly believe that strong investment returns will continue, and that there is no need to plan or save for a leaner future. On the other hand, some investors are so aggressive when it comes to retirement savings that they rob themselves – and their families – of opportunities to enjoy life and be generous toward others.

Neither extreme is healthy – and neither reflects wise stewardship, an important component of financial planning. The two primary tools for saving for your retirement – qualified retirement plans, which may be available through your employer, and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) – each offer a tax incentive for saving.

These alternatives offer significant advantages that your advisor will consider in the financial planning process. A thorough review of all of your available options, along with projections for reaching financial independence, can provide you with:

• Resources to help identify the best time to retire.
• Confidence that your investments may be sufficient for your lifetime.
• Clarity and confidence regarding “how much is enough.”
• The specific steps needed to reach your goal of retirement.
• A strategy to use your savings in a tax efficient manner.
• A plan to live life to its fullest during your retirement years. 
• An understanding of how inflation, investment return, and lifestyle decisions impact your projected retirement time frame.

One of the key benefits of having a comprehensive and strategic financial plan is to be able to give generously. Helping clients with their plans for giving has been a central tenet of Ronald Blue Trust since our inception – in fact, because we have always considered it a focus of our services, we’ve attracted many like-minded clients, who have given hundreds of millions of dollars to philanthropic causes. They give in the true spirit of sharing and experience the message of wisdom found in the biblical principle that guides us: Giving is key to becoming free from the power of money over our lives.

Generous giving needs a strategic plan, not just knowledge of the tax laws that govern “deductions.” With wise charitable giving strategies, your giving plan can help you: 

• Realize a deeper personal satisfaction from making a difference. 
• Gain a thorough understanding of the financial implications of giving. 
• Understand the strategies for giving assets in addition to giving cash. 
• Coordinate a giving strategy with your financial plan. 
• Feel confident that you are giving in a tax efficient manner. 
• Prioritize your passions and goals for philanthropy. 
• Most importantly, we can help you benefit from the freedom and personal joy that giving generously brings to bear on the giver.

With all of the tax laws and legislative changes, how do you successfully navigate the complex, always changing and confusing tax system? More importantly, how do you best take advantage of these changing laws in order to improve your financial stewardship and accomplish your goals?

Benjamin Franklin once said that “nothing is certain but death and taxes.” Despite yearly tax bills, most individuals think about taxes only when they are filing their return. “After-the-fact” tax planning is often too late to take advantage of certain tax deductions, credits, and other tax planning strategies. Unlike tax preparation, tax planning is a year-round process.

Tax planning should be an important part of your financial plan. But simply lowering or avoiding taxes should never drive or be the centerpiece of your financial plan. Instead, consider tax reduction efforts in light of your overall goals for investing, debt reduction, estate distribution, and charitable giving.

By paying attention to your taxes year-round instead of just at tax-preparation time, Ronald Blue Trust can help you make the most of tax planning strategies. Our tax planning process can provide you with many benefits: 

• Short and long-term tax projections 
• Confidence that your taxes are being reviewed 
• Analysis that your tax withholdings or estimated tax payments are sufficient 
• Tax savings opportunities through income shifting, deferment, deduction planning, and other timing strategies
• Estimation of marginal and effective tax rates, and federal and state tax liabilities 
• Understanding of the tax consequences of financial and life decisions 
• Working along side your tax preparer to ensure that your tax planning goals are being met 
• Referral to an experienced CPA firm for tax preparation services, if you don’t currently have a tax preparer

Estate Planning is not just planning for death. It also includes building an estate during your lifetime, and then ensuring that the assets in your estate are stewarded in a manner that meets your goals and objectives and passed to your beneficiaries in a thoughtful way. It allows you the opportunity to preserve and control the purpose and distribution of your wealth during life and at death.

Estate planning is a process, not an event. Over time, many things in your life will change – values, goals, assets, and relationships. In many ways, estate planning is also a high form of family leadership. Guided and assisted by your Ronald Blue Trust advisor, you can create the strategy for an estate and legacy plan that is designed to empower subsequent generations and reflect your values and principles.

A core service and expertise of our company, the estate planning process can provide you with many benefits:

• A plan to distribute your wealth according to your most important goals, all within the broad context of personal and family needs
• Assurance that your beneficiaries will be cared for by the people you choose
• A charitable giving strategy and tactics for design, implementation, and administration of the strategy
• Tax-efficiency in distributing your assets
• A plan that is reviewed and adjusted as beneficiaries, assets, goals, circumstances, tax laws, and legislation change, if desired
• Alignment of your legal documents (provided by your attorney) with your goals and wishes to help your family organize and settle your estate

In line with our other services that reflect who we are as a company, we use a biblical perspective in estate planning. Read more about it here.