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    5 Retirement Savings Strategies for High Income Earners
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      High Income Earners

      Career advancement can be an exciting time of growth, higher incomes, and more responsibility. But advancement happens for high income earners at the same time your family is growing and getting busier. This is when life can start feeling overwhelming. 

      Gone are the days of doing the simple financial things like maxing out your 401(k). Now, you need to think about deferred compensation, stock options, restricted stock units, and other advanced financial topics. Weaving these decisions together with retirement and college planning is a lot for anyone to handle at this stage of life. That’s where we come in.

      Who are High Income Earners?

      The definition of a high income earner goes beyond how much income your family makes. What feels like a lot of money to one person might not seem like much to another. We look beyond specific dollars and cents for certain characteristics that mark a typical high income earner.

      Are you a High Income Earner?

      Total income reaches into higher tax brackets, creating a greater tax burden

      Income is too high to contribute directly to a Roth IRA

      Income is too high to get a tax deduction on Traditional IRA contributions

      Future retirement spending needs can’t be met solely by maxing out 401(k) contributions

      Uncertainty about what to do with extra cash flow beyond monthly spending needs

      High income earners reach a certain income level where they ask themselves, “What else should we be doing?” That’s where we come in. The clients we work with aren’t just looking for more stuff to buy with their extra cash. They want to make sure their kids are cared for, look forward to being able to retire early, and want to make sure they’re prepared for whatever life may throw at them.

      We help high income earners organize every piece of their financial life so they can see how everything fits together. And as major financial decisions come up – whether it’s buying a new home or deciding whether to exercise stock options – we help you make sure you’re optimizing your financial decisions. 

      We do all this work for you so you can stay focused on what matters most to you: your family and your career. 

      What Financial Services Do High Income Earners Need?

      As your family’s income level increases, you eventually realize there are a lot of moving pieces of your financial life to keep track of. To get the most out of your income and wealth, each piece of your financial life needs to be coordinated with the other pieces. This maximizes the potential of your money and will give you opportunities to do things in the future (early retirement) that might seem out of reach today. 

      You can explore each of the services listed below in greater detail by clicking the link to their page.

      Wealth and Investment Management

      Wealth and Investment Management is the comprehensive, ongoing service we offer to high income earners to help them save time and maximize the potential of their money. We take your comprehensive financial plan and help you implement it and keep it fresh and relevant by updating it each year.

      Included in this service is ongoing investment management, which makes sure you’re always invested in alignment with your goals. Markets are constantly rising and falling, so it’s important to have someone monitoring your investments at all times.

      Financial Planning

      At the start of every client relationship, we create a comprehensive financial plan. This is the first step in organizing your financial life and identifying the financial goals that are most important to you. 

      Typical areas we work on for high income earners are saving for college, buying homes and cars as your family grows, and analyzing employee benefits packages. Financial planning gives you peace of mind that each part of your financial life is getting the attention it deserves.

      Retirement Planning

      As a high income earner, retirement may be a distant 20 or 30 years into the future. Many people think they’ll work into their 60s, but we find that many executive-level clients think about early retirement once they get into their 50s. 

      If early retirement is a potential goal for you, then starting the retirement planning process early is critical. Our retirement planning services will help you see how different savings strategies can achieve different retirement outcomes.

      Estate and Legacy Planning

      Estate planning is one of the easiest – yet very important – pieces of the financial puzzle to miss. Managing the risk to your family in the event of a death or disability is critical to make sure your loved ones are taken care of if something happens.

      Our job is to help you identify potential areas of risk to your financial life. We then refer you to estate planning attorneys who specialize in getting the right estate planning documents in place. 

      Tax Planning

      Taxes are a fact of life and impact many aspects of your financial plan. As part of our ongoing wealth & investment management service, we review your tax situation annually. Tax planning helps you save taxes by being thoughtful and intentional about when you pay them. 

      In recent years, we’ve had major changes to the tax code that required adjustments to tax strategies. This will remain an issue in years to come as current tax laws sunset after 2025.

      Work With Financial Design Studio

      If you’re a high income earner and want to work with someone you can trust and rely on, Financial Design Studio is what you’re looking for. We guide you through each step of the financial planning process and help you implement the planning recommendations.

      You’re busy enough with work and family. We will help organize and plan out your finances. This will give you peace of mind and confidence in this important area of your life. 

      5 Retirement Savings Strategies for High Income Earners
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      Services & Pricing

      Financial Planning

      Over the course of about eight weeks, we work with you to design a flexible strategy for you and your goals.

      We use a combination of interactive online software, custom reports, and discussions about your options. Through strategy meetings, we learn what's important to you so your plan fits your unique goals. And you'll receive a copy of your plan to remember the details in the future.

      Click here to read more about your first step: creating your Financial Design.

      Wealth Management

      After receiving our Financial Plan, we offer this all inclusive, ongoing implementation of our recommendations.

      We provide you advice on anything that has to do with your finances. We deliver financial plan updates and regular planning to ensure you're always on track to achieve your goals. We coordinate with your other professionals (CPAs, attorneys, mortgage brokers, and insurance agents).

      Click here to read more about our ongoing Wealth Management services.

      Pricing Schedule

      Financial Planning

      A Financial Plan has an initial cost of $5,000. This is paid 50% up front and 50% when we present it. Then we begin implementing your plan through wealth management.

      Wealth Management

      Our ongoing Wealth Management services range from 1.25% to .60% per year, of the investments we manage for you, including employer retirement accounts.

      Our services are for you if…

      You prefer to delegate to an expert because you value a professional's guidance

      You want to know that you are cared for by a team that wants the best for you

      You value a "certainty of outcome" over "beating the market"

      Ready to take the next step?

      Schedule a quick call with our financial advisors.