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Welcome to Retirement A to Z, I’m Sue Burnett w Monarch Financial Advisors, and this series focuses on Qualified Retirement Plans.  This is Episode R, where we’ll be discussing what happens when you reach your retirement date.  You've worked hard, and now the day has come – you’re ready to retire! Now what? What happens with your retirement plan if you’re a business owner? What happens to the money that’s in your plan? What happens if there’s life insurance in the plan? What about Social Security? Take a listen! Have any questions? Shoot me an email at MonarchFinancialAdvisors@gmail.com. Thanks for listening in! 

How strict can I set the vesting, or the eligibility, for my pension plan? What does the word "vesting" mean, anyways? I’m a business owner and I don’t want any of my employees in the plan, I want it to just be me – is that legit? Let’s talk it through.

What kinds of plans are out there? With over 65Million+ results when you Google "qualified retirement plan", there are only 7 different plan types. Some are flexible, some provide guaranteed benefits, some can have life insurance ... in this episode we discuss the pros and cons of the 7 different plans, and how they work together (or don't!) We break it down for you, to give you the gist without being overwhelmed.

The SECURE Act, signed into law in December 2019, was the biggest piece of retirement legislation passed in over a decade. What is the SECURE Act? How did it impact plan sponsors? Participants? Normal people like you and me? And is it a good thing or not? Let’s talk it through.

What IS a QLAC? Why would someone want a QLAC? How would you go about getting one, if you decide it’s a great idea? What are the down sides of QLACs? QLACs, or Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts, can be a really helpful addition to your retirement planning if you’re worried that your retirement savings might not last long enough, if you’re looking to minimize RMDs, or for a conservative investment that protects your money from market dips later in life. BUT QLACs aren’t free of downsides, and they definitely aren't right for everyone! Is a QLAC right for you? Take a listen, and if you want to hear more, give us a call!   

Welcome to Retirement A to Z, I’m Sue Burnett w Monarch Financial Advisors, and this series focuses on Qualified Retirement Plans.  This is Episode P, where we’ll be discussing 3 ways that a qualified plan can protect you and your savings. What kind of protection, you may ask? Does it protect your benefit? Your business? You? The answer is yes, to all 3 questions. A qualified plan can protect your benefit amount, protect your benefit from creditors, and protect your benefit payment to your family if you pass away before retirementHow? Take a listen! Have any questions? Shoot me an email at MonarchFinancialAdvisors@gmail.com. Thanks for listening in! 

What kinds of organizations can sponsor a plan?  Can anyone start one? Do I Need to have employees? Does it matter if I’m the only employee, or if it’s a partnership, or if it’s a corporation? In this episode we discuss what types of organizations can sponsor a qualified plan (spoiler alert - they all can!!), and why the TYPE of organization makes a difference.  

Episode L focuses on life insurance, and the benefits of having life insurance as an investment in a plan. How much of the contribution can you use for insurance? Why would you want to use life insurance? We break it down for you, to give you the gist without being overwhelmed.

In this episode, Episode K, we discuss kids and other family members in the business, and how they can impact your retirement plan designs. Do you have to cover your kids? What about your parents, your grandparents, aunts and uncles or any other family members? Is there a difference? What if the kids work there, but aren’t going to take over, does that matter? Does it matter if I don't own very much? We talk through which family members may be considered owners solely because they're related to you, how this would impact the design of the plan, and some special rules for spouses. Instead of fun facts, we've scattered some jokes throughout the podcast, because if you can't laugh at your family, who can you laugh at?Seriously though - knowing who's related to the owners, and adjusting / accounting for that, makes a huge difference in our plan designs, and can make a good plan into a great one. Listen here to find out how, and why.

If you're a business owner and Google "qualified retirement plan", you get over 62million hits - how would you ever be able to figure out which plan is best? We'll do it for you! We take our 25+ years of experience, and let you know what's out there, the pros and cons of each, and why you may want to choose one plan over another. We also discuss using life insurance within the plan to cover part, or all, of a buy/sell for the owners.This episode uses a dentists' office as a case study, with two owners and 15 employees. This could also apply to any other office with a similar structure - a few owners, and more than a few employees! Interested in seeing a proposal specifically for you and your business? Contact us at  MonarchFinancialAdvisors@gmail.com - proposals are provided at no cost to you,

If you're a business owner and Google "qualified retirement plan", you get over 62million hits - how would you ever be able to figure out which plan is best? We'll do it for you! We take our 25+ years of experience, and let you know what's out there, the pros and cons of each, and why you may want to choose one plan over another.This episode is for realtors, with one owner and no employees. Interested in seeing a proposal specifically for you and your business? Contact us at  MonarchFinancialAdvisors@gmail.com - proposals are provided at no cost to you,

If you're a business owner and Google "qualified retirement plan", you get over 62million hits - how would you ever be able to figure out which plan is best? We'll do it for you! We take our 25+ years of experience, and let you know what's out there, the pros and cons of each, and why you may want to choose one plan over another. We also discuss using life insurance within the plan to cover part, or all, of a buy/sell for the owners.This episode uses a hematologist's office as a case study, with two owners and 150 employees. This could also apply to any other office with a similar structure - a few owners, a few other highly paid employees, and a lot of rank and file employees having different roles.Interested in seeing a proposal specifically for you and your business? Contact us at  MonarchFinancialAdvisors@gmail.com - let's see what we can do! 

Highly Compensated and Key employees are critical to the success of a business. Would a qualified plan help attract, and retain, them? How are they treated differently than normal rank and file employees? Doesn’t it cost more for them, since they’re paid more? Should they be in the plan at all? If not, won’t that make them quit? What if you give them a pension contribution instead of a bonus? Let’s talk it through.

Episode G discusses guaranteed benefits in qualified retirement plans. Do any of the plans guarantee benefits? The answer is yes .... to a certain extent, depending on what happens in the future and when you take your benefit. We break it down for you, to give you the gist without being overwhelmed.

Episode F focuses on flexibility with timing and amounts of contributions. Can you put in a lot in one year, and nothing the next? Can you pay monthly, or quarterly? Does all the money have to go in by year end? What if you can't make the payments? We break it down for you, to give you the gist without being overwhelmed.

Mark Jordan of BHMK Law joins us to talk about all things estate planning - what IS an estate? What happens to my IRA, or qualified plan, or life insurance, if I die? Does it matter if I'm married? What documents should I have for a complete estate plan, and how much does it cost? What are the top three things that he's seen people do - or not do! - that screws up their estate plan? Mark helps us talk it through - and, because it's Mark, provides a few great jokes along the way! 

How do you get your money out of a retirement plan? When can you get it out? What kinds of penalties, or taxes, are involved? And how is the payment of benefits different depending on how, and when, you take them? We break it down for you, to give you the gist without being overwhelmed.

Episode C focuses on ownership, and how it impacts qualified plan design. What if you own 2 companies outright? What if you only own part? What if the other owner is your spouse? We break it down for you, to give you the gist without being overwhelmed.

Episode B examines when a qualified plan is used not for retirement planning, but for business planning. How can a qualified plan be used with a buy-sell agreement, or with succession planning? We break it down for you, to give you the gist without being overwhelmed.

Episode A is the ABCs of qualified retirement plans, or retirement plan basics. What's a qualified plan? Why would a business owner have one? Why wouldn't they have one? We break it down for you, to give you the gist without being overwhelmed.