Saving and investing for retirement can be a daunting task. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reported that "nearly half of families have no retirement savings at all." How much does one need to save for retirement and how much income might you need in your retirement years? What will the source of that income be?

Gone are the days when most people worked for employers who provided a pension at retirement. The Social Security Administration has indicated that without any changes, by 2034, the payroll taxes collected will be enough to pay only about 79% of the scheduled benefits. Therefore, the need to save and invest for retirement is even more important.

There are many types of retirement accounts that one can participate in, including IRA's, ROTH IRA's, 401k's, 403b's, 457 deferred compensation plans and more. Accumulating retirement assets through one or more of these types of retirement accounts is important, but once one retires, how do you structure an income stream from these assets? Should you roll your 401k to an IRA at retirement? What about Social Security? When should you claim your Social Security? How does one integrate a pension, Social Security and retirement savings into an income stream that will provide for ones needs? Should you name your children as beneficiary of your retirement assets or should you name a trust? If you inherit retirement assets, how do you take distributions from the inherited retirement account to keep your tax liability to a minimum? What about required minimum distributions (RMD's) that you must take from your retirement accounts starting at age 70 1/2? How are those calculated? What happens if you don't take your RMD when you are supposed to? These and many more questions require careful consideration and often times the help of a knowledgeable advisor. We can help with these and many more questions.