Rachel Lutzker: Welcome to today’s CT Buzz. I’m Rachel Lutzker. Whatever your age, it’s not too soon to start financial planning for retirement. Whether you’re in your 20s or your 70s and every age in between, there are steps that you can take now that can make a difference in your retirement. Ben Fuchs, founder of Fuchs Financial, is here to talk about how they can help you with realistic planning and asking and answering those right questions to put you in the best place for retirement. In addition to being a certified financial planner, Ben is also a certified private wealth advisor professional. Rachel Lutzker: So, Ben, tax season is now behind us. What do we have to start thinking about going forward? Ben Fuchs: Well, if we’re going to go decade by decade, I mean, we have a little graphic that we’re going to throw up there, but we talk about, you know, talking about your 20s. One of the biggest mistakes people make in their 20s, they get their first job, they want to move out right away, they want to buy the best car. Slow down, y’all. Just take a minute, take a breath, and before you buy that next big expense, before you buy that next big thing or you move out on your own, live like you’re going to prior. So, if it’s going to cost you an extra four or five hundred a month, save that first for a few months. See if you actually enjoy your lifestyle, make sure you can handle it, and then move forward. Rachel Lutzker: I feel like it’s kind of hard to reel in somebody in their 20s and say, “Hey, you should start thinking about something that’s 40, 50, 60 years down the road.” Ben Fuchs: Oh, absolutely. And there’s like so many graphics that show us that people start saving in their Roth IRAs in their 20s. The amount of compound interest that they get is crazy. Like you could completely set yourself for your whole retirement if you started saving in your early 20s. But you know, getting people to do it is a totally different story. Rachel Lutzker: What about your 30s? Ben Fuchs: So in your 30s, there’s almost like two parts to the 30s. At least there were for me, right? There was like the pre-kids 30s where we made money and we were good and then the post-kids 30s where all of our money went to daycare. So you kind of get by as best you can, but you really want to start focusing on contributing and make sure those contributions are to the Roth IRA. We want that money to be growing tax-free. It’s going to continue to compound and double over the years. And so we want to make sure that that doubling, that compounded growth is within the Roth IRA so that you get it tax-free later. Rachel Lutzker: All right, let’s go to the 40s now. Ben Fuchs: Getting into the 40s. Getting a little more settled down. I mean, you typically are starting to make more money as you enter your 40s. You’ve got to a different stage in your career. You’ve kind of passed all that other pieces. This is the time to really start buckling down and saving more into your 401(k) because you’ve gotten past daycare. You’re not quite yet in college, right? You’ve got that period where you’re really like, this is the opportunity to really buckle away and save and put yourself in that position for retirement. And that’s why it’s so important to have a plan early on so that you know the impact of the savings now and how it will translate 30, 40 years down the road. Rachel Lutzker: Do the 50s… is that where panic kind of starts to settle in? Ben Fuchs: Yeah. Yeah. That’s when all of a sudden you look at it and you’re like, “Well, I do actually want to retire. I’m in my 50s now. How did that happen?” And now it’s not just planning for retirement, but it’s having a plan for retirement, right? Planning for retirement in your 20s, 30s, 40s was let me put as much money away as I can. In your 50s and then again in your 60s, it’s this… is coming. Where am I going to get my money from when I retire? Am I on track? Have I done all the things that I need to do? And if I haven’t, what do I now need to do to get there? Rachel Lutzker: Now, if you’ve gotten to that point and really haven’t done any of that planning, is this that time where you really need to ramp things up? Ben Fuchs: Yeah. And people always feel like, “Oh, it’s too late for me.” It’s not. There’s never a point where it’s too late because you can always improve from wherever you are and we have to go forward and that’s the way that it is. But yes, you can always create a plan. One of the most important questions to have answered is understanding where your money is going to come from when you retire. So, where do we get that income from? How much are we getting from Social Security? How much are we getting from the rest of what we have? And let’s make sure that we can support that from the investments in retirement. Rachel Lutzker: So in the 60s now… Ben Fuchs: Yeah, it’s like, okay, am I going to retire or do I need to work a little bit longer? And I think the question has to be answered: here’s my lifestyle. Can I maintain my lifestyle if I retire? Maybe. If I can’t, is it worth it for me to diminish that lifestyle or do I want to keep on working and maintain it? I can’t answer that question for you. It’s you, right? We’re here to help you figure out what you need. That question has to be answered along with a whole bunch of others: how do we save money on taxes? Where is the income coming from? What’s the estate planning look like? Can we handle a recession? What happens if there are more tariffs? All those things that are happening have to be played into account. Rachel Lutzker: And once we get into our 70s… Ben Fuchs: We want to be retired, right? Hopefully we’re in a good point. If we’re not, we’re working because we want to. You really have to focus on the required distributions, right? That’s when you’re forced to take money out. That’s when taxes come really into play and could force you into a whole new tax bracket if you don’t plan correctly. Rachel Lutzker: So clearly there are a lot of questions to be answered no matter what your age is. Ben Fuchs: If you could use some guidance, reach out to Fuchs Financial. Your initial conversation with them is complimentary, no obligation. We’re happy to start a discussion, answer your questions, and share our experience and expertise with you, or you can get a second opinion on your existing financial retirement plan from our top-notch team of experts at Fuchs Financial. Our goal is to put you in the best position for retirement. Our offices are located in Middletown, Westford, Middlebury, and Mystic. So, you can stop on by, you can give them a call, visit their website at taxesandincome.com, or call 860-461-1709 to set up an appointment for your complimentary consultation. Rachel Lutzker: Thank you, Ben, and thank you for joining us for today’s CT Buzz. I’m Rachel Lutzker, and we will see you next time.
