• Create a comprehensive financial plan

• Identify long-term goals

• Evaluate current resources and future income

• Understand how much you’ll need

• Measure and track your progress

• Stop spending and adding to current debt

• Don’t lock yourself into commitments you will later regret

• Paying cash will make you think hard about buying the next shiny object

• You can feel the true cost of things when you pay cash

• Decide where every dollar will go before you spend it

• Create a budget and then choose where to spend it; a new car, your next house, retirement, vacation

• Stick to your spending limits

• Keep it simple

• Use a budgeting software or budgeting system to track your expenses

• Set up a budget

• Start by making the minimum payments

• Split extra cash flow between repayment and retirement savings

• Pay off credit card, student loans, car loans and other high interest loans first

• Consider a 15-year mortgage; the lower rate may keep the payment close to a 30-year payment

• Consider a debt reduction strategy such as the Debt Snowball Method; use a debt calculator tool

• Target for 3-6 months of income

• Start by saving $1,000 in the next month

• Fewer than 4 in 10 Americans have enough money set aside to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense [6]

• Having the fund helps keep stress levels down; and keeps you from spending on a whim

• Buy adequate insurance, when you are young

• Disability, health, term life, property, casualty & umbrella

• Buy insurance to cover risks, not as an investment

• Invest enough to get the full match from Fortune 500

• Max contribution was raised to $20,500 per year in 2022[7]

• Set a goal to contribute 10-13% plus the employer match

• Each time you get a raise, increase your contribution

• Consider IRAs especially if you don’t have access to a Fortune 500-sponsored plan

• Use Traditional IRAs to rollover old 401k funds

• Roth IRAs are tax-free and contributions can be withdrawn at any time without penalty

• HSAs are also tax-free so consider this when choosing your health plan

• Once your portfolio is 1X your salary, get some advice

• Early in your career, it’s more important that you invest than how you invest

• Don't fear stock market exposure

• Choose a limited number of funds to spread out your risk

• Use diversified funds to get exposure to stocks and bonds

• Investment research firm, Morningstar studied “smart” factors beyond picking investments that create real financial gain (asset allocation, withdrawal strategies etc).

• Know your investment management limits

• Provide yourself an opportunity for an annual financial check-up

• Get professional help early if you need it

The Retirement Group is a nation-wide group of financial advisors who work together as a team.

We focus entirely on retirement planning and the design of retirement portfolios for transitioning corporate employees. Each representative of the group has been hand selected by The Retirement Group in select cities of the United States. Each advisor was selected based on their pension expertise, experience in financial planning, and portfolio construction knowledge.

TRG takes a teamwork approach in providing the best possible solutions for our clients’ concerns. The Team has a conservative investment philosophy and diversifies client portfolios with laddered bonds, CDs, mutual funds, ETFs, Annuities, Stocks and other investments to help achieve their goals. The team addresses Retirement, Pension, Tax, Asset Allocation, Estate, and Elder Care issues. This document utilizes various research tools and techniques. A variety of assumptions and judgmental elements are inevitably inherent in any attempt to estimate future results and, consequently, such results should be viewed as tentative estimations. Changes in the law, investment climate, interest rates, and personal circumstances will have profound effects on both the accuracy of our estimations and the suitability of our recommendations. The need for ongoing sensitivity to change and for constant re-examination and alteration of the plan is thus apparent.

Therefore, we encourage you to have your plan updated a few months before your potential retirement date as well as an annual review. It should be emphasized that neither The Retirement Group, LLC nor any of its employees can engage in the practice of law or accounting and that nothing in this document should be taken as an effort to do so. We look forward to working with tax and/or legal professionals you may select to discuss the relevant ramifications of our recommendations.

Throughout your retirement years we will continue to update you on issues affecting your retirement through our complimentary and proprietary newsletters, workshops and regular updates. You may always reach us at (800) 900-5867.

1. What to do with an Early Retirement Ebook

2. Social Security Ebook

3. Lump Sum vs. Annuity Ebook

4. 401(k) Rollover Strategies Ebook

5. Closing the Retirement Gap Ebook

6. Gibson, Kate. "Most Americans couldn't cover a $1,000 financial emergency, survey finds." CNBC, January 11, 2021

7. IRS.gov. "Retirement Topics - 401(k) and Profit-Sharing Plan Contribution Limits." IRS, June 26, 2021