Retirement Financial Planning

WASHINGTON - Planning for retirement is one of those things that you won't get a second shot at. But a lot of people wait too long to consider how they'll support themselves after they stop bringing in a paycheck. Joining FOX 5 with his top strategies for making sure your retirement years aren't a financial fail is Larry Rosenthal, President of Financial Planning Services.

LINK: http://www.larryrosenthal.com

Larry Rosenthal's Top 5 Reasons People Fail Financially in Retirement
1. Procrastination
· People take the path of least resistance. They wait to save and play and tell themselves that they have a long way to go. Most people have to fund for two colleges and then turn around the get ready for retirement shortly after that.
2. Failure to set clear financial goals
· People need to know their finish line. Some people can retire now and have no idea they can, while others are trying to force an early retirement on themselves and will struggle throughout their retirement years.
3. Failure to establish plans to meet their goals
· Everyone needs to develop a written financial plan. Most importantly, that plan needs to be monitored and reviewed each year.
4. Lack of understanding about what money can do for them
· Understanding compound interest and how to accumulate money with dollar cost averaging vs. market timing is important. In addition, it is vital to understand how to take money out during retirement to provide dependable streams of income from a reliable source.
5. Failure to understand and apply tax laws
· There are four different tax buckets: taxable; tax deductible and tax deferred; non-deductible and tax deferred; tax exempt or tax free. One of the most over looked tax advantages is the use of the Roth IRA. Take high income earners for example. Most of them think they cant make a contribution to the Roth. Heres how its done: Make a contribution to the non deductible IRA and then the next day convert it over to the Roth. One of the best kept secrets.
6. Unwise use of credit
7. Failure to prepare for the unexpected
8. Neglecting to plan their estates
9. Failure to develop a winning attitude