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Back to the Basics: Why Buying Luxury Items Is Less Harmful at 62 Than at 22

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, SLC Spring 2021, Spring 2021 by Scott Dougan

Why Buying Luxury Items Is Less Harmful at 62 Than at 22 This rant may come as a surprise to you, at least coming from me. It’s actually a little surprising to me that I’m writing it because I wrestle with this topic quite a bit. The subject is that of luxury items; things like a ’69 Camaro, a Florida …

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Back to the Basics: The FIRE Movement

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, SLC Winter 2021, Winter 2021 by Scott Dougan

There’s an exciting new movement among young professionals who aspire to retire from their careers early … very early. Called the FIRE Movement – or Financial Independence Retire Early – these folks are taking advantage of their high salaries and extremely frugal lifestyles to stockpile enough invested wealth to afford a retirement beginning in their 40s, and for many, in …

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Back to the Basics: Why it All Starts with Income Planning

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, Fall 2020, SLC Fall 2020 by Scott Dougan

There are several questions that hopeful retirees are consistently asking as they seek to build a successful retirement. Some of these questions are: When can I retire? How much do we need? Will I have enough? What if there’s a major healthcare, stock market, or inflationary event that threatens what we’ve saved? While all of these questions are certainly different …

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Back to the Basics: Two Ways To Estimate Retirement Expenses; One Fast, One Slow

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, SLC Summer 2020, Summer 2020, Tax Planning by Scott Dougan

Retirement Planning done well should feel like a state of flow. Money flows in, money flows out; the rate of this flow is determined by your chosen lifestyle. Ideally, your lifestyle conforms naturally to your desires and needs, as they shift with your health and interests. Thus your accumulated assets should provide you with enough income (flow in) to match …

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Back to the Basics: The Great Decluttering

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, Investment Management, SLC Spring 2020, Spring 2020 by Scott Dougan

For everything there is a season. For many of you, it’s time to declutter. Nobody is forcing you to declutter, but you’re probably feeling that desire on some level. Sitting in your home due to quarantine, there’s never been a better time! Looking back, we spent an entire childhood wishing for more things like bikes, games, our own room. Then …

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Back to the Basics: Having A Budget Vs. Budgeting

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, SLC Winter 2020, Tax Planning, Winter 2020 by Scott Dougan

One of the most critical – and often overlooked – aspects of planning a successful retirement is the estimating of expenses during retirement. The ability to project what your lifestyle will cost into retirement allows you to determine whether the nest egg you’ve accumulated will go the distance. When we approach this subject with aspiring retirees, we’re often met with …

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Back to the Basics: Total Value

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, Fall 2019, SLC Fall 2019, Tax Planning by Scott Dougan

So much attention gets paid to the growth (or decline) of the stock market that I fear we can become hypnotized by it and fall prey to sloppy fundamentals from time to time. How do I know this? Because many of the people we work with admit to receiving each investment statement and simply doing the ol’ “Is it up …

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Back to the Basics: Seven Factors in Determining Retirement Age

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Articles: Salt Lake City Office, Back to the Basics, Retirement, SLC Summer 2019, Summer 2019 by Scott Dougan

Retirement means something a bit different to everyone. To some, it’s a financial finish line. To others, retirement represents a transition from paid work to volunteer work. Whatever it means to you and those close to you, retirement happens, whether by choice or by force. As a person nears ‘retirement age’ a litany of decisions arise that must be carefully …

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Back to the Basics: Revisiting an Enduring Strategy

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Back to the Basics, SLC Spring 2019, Spring 2019 by Scott Dougan

In a recent email from a very well-known firm in our industry, the subject line stated, ‘[this person] Shares A New Retirement Strategy.’ Always eager to add a new tool to the toolbox, I read further. What the article was sharing was a strategy that isn’t ‘New’, but it’s one that we’ve been using since the day Elevated Retirement Group’s …

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Back to the Basics Social Security Planning 101

In Articles, Articles: Kansas City Office, Back to the Basics, Tax Planning, Winter 2019 by Scott Dougan

Just a Few Drops Into the Ocean One of the core building blocks of a retirement income plan is Social Security. Earned over decades of working and paying taxes into the system, Social Security recipients have turned the corner and are now extracting income from this unique asset. But what’s so surprising is how nonchalant many retirees are about this …