Crown Haven Wealth Advisors

Specializing in working with retirees and pre-retirees in developing investment, income and estate plans in the Carmel and Indianapolis areas of Indiana.

Blog

Year-End 2021 Tax Advice

Year-End 2021 Tax Advice. Many of us don’t like paying taxes, and most everyone wants to save money. Our founder Casey Marx was just featured on Money Tips to prepare for the 2022 tax season WTHR 13 NBC Indianapolis telling everyone to start making tax moves right now because it can help increase our tax break before the end of the year.

You can start by making all of your charitable donations by December 31st. Any deductions for cash contributions must be made to qualified charitable organizations. Taxpayers who claim a standard deduction claim up to $300 $600 per tax return for those married filing jointly. Make sure you get and keep donations receipts for any contributions regardless of the amount.

Our next move to reduce your tax liability is to look at your retirement accounts like traditional IRAs or 401(k)s and convert these to Roth IRAs. You will pay taxes on those deferred tax savings now, but in retirement, you get the benefit of having tax-free income distributions in retirement.

We know a lot of people initially are afraid of paying the taxes upfront because nobody likes to pay taxes. When you look at this objectively, and you do that in a measured way, you’re then allowing your money to grow and it completely tax-free environment going forward. In retirement you are able to take those funds out tax-free later if you are retired age 72 or older.

Don’t forget about the required minimum distribution from your retirement accounts each year. If you don’t take that from your qualified account from your IRA or other qualified accounts, there’s a stiff penalty. It’s 50% of what it should be. As a side note that requirement was suspended in 2020 but activated for 2021.

If you are a homeowner, you can make an extra mortgage payment on December 31st, you may be able to claim that additional interest paid as a tax deduction in the tax year paid.

At Crown Haven Wealth Advisors we know part of a solid financial plan is proper tax preparation is to review your financial goals. If you want to experience the holistic way we approach financial planning with our RetireSHIELD® plan please feel free to schedule a complimentary appointment online. We can meet in-person or via zoom call.

Schedule Appointment

Crown Haven Adopted 100 Salvation Army Angels In Indianapolis

Crown Haven adopted 100 Salvation Army Angels in Indianapolis this holiday season. We are beyond thankful that our business has thrived through this challenging year. With that success, we wanted to give back to our community.

Partnering with the Salvation Army Indianapolis we are adopting a minimum of 100 Salvation Army Angels. WTHR was there capturing and sharing our mission when we dropped off gifts for nearly 30 families. We then made a cash donation so that their total donation completed their goal.

We challenge our financial planning clients and other Indianapolis businesses to join in the effort and give back to our community. Contact us if you would like to be part of our efforts.

Regardless of where you are at everyone at Crown Haven Wealth Advisors wishes you all a happy and healthy holiday!

Links

Salvation Army Indianapolis
https://centralusa.salvationarmy.org/indiana/

https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/donation-from-carmel-business-will-buy-christmas-gifts-for-100-families/531-c23276a9-2e95-477b-a709-ca236f33eddf

Financial Planning Insanity Defined

You have seen over and over again that every few years, the market crashes. Sometimes it crashes hard. For most of your life, you didn’t really care. In fact, if you’re like me, I wanted the market to crash back in those days. Why? Because it was a buying opportunity. Besides, I knew the market would recover. And I was young enough that I wasn’t going to use the money anytime soon.

Remember the definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results. The truth is that nothing has changed. Your portfolio was at risk when you were 25 years old, just as much as it’s at risk today. So what’s the difference?

Your age, your time period for any new recovery. The very thing that makes putting your retirement money in the stock market bonds, real estate variable annuities, or any other variable investment crazy is that you’re doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. I can tell you, the results will not be any different. Your investments will go up and your investments will go down. They will do great, then they will crash. What is different is that now it can happen when you are near or in retirement. At the very same time you need your money to live. If you’re at or near retirement, it’s time to stop the insanity and look at an option that’s appropriate for retirement goals.

If want to learn how to stop the insanity with your retirement, we invite you to work with our financial planning team. Through our RetireSHIELD® program we can provide you with a lifetime of income you will never outlive.

Schedule Appointment
Contact Us

Listen to Casey Marx, Smart Money episode “Definition of Insanity, Cliff Young Shuffle, Fake News and Underliving Your Retirement” on the player below or on your Apple Podcast App or Android device.

Do Not Wait Until April 2022 To Start Thinking About Taxes

Don’t wait until April to start thinking about taxes. Now is the time to start planning for your 2022 taxes. There are several things you can do right now to give yourself a better chance to reduce your tax burden. Our founder Casey Marx spoke with WRTV to share investment and tax planning strategies to consider before December 31st

Tax Planning Move #1

Consider converting traditional IRAs and 401ks to tax-free accounts like a Roth IRA. We are currently in a low-tax environment, but we believe taxes are probably going to go up in the future. That’s one of the things that we really can’t control. You need to make moves now.

Right now you should consider converting traditional IRAs and 401ks to tax-free accounts like a Roth IRA. The downside is you are going to pay taxes when you convert these accounts. The huge benefit that outweighs this is that your money is going to be taxed free when you start to take the income in retirement. If you do it later you are going to be paying taxes when you convert that money and any gains.

Trust me… Taxes are a legislative risk and something you need to strategize around. Pay those taxes now when you convert these accounts instead of paying when you take it out in retirement.

Tax Planning Move #2

Another pre-tax move to make is a charitable donation. Those over age of 72 are required to make a minimum distribution so they can tax you.

If you make a qualified charitable donation, it can be a win-win situation. You can take the money out of the IRA and donate it to a nonprofit charity. This allows you to bypass the income taxes you typically incur for taking an income distribution. It saves you on taxes and will enable you to do something charitable with the money.

Now remember that money must go directly from your IRA to the charity to ensure that distribution does not count towards your taxable income for the new year.

Tax Planning Move #3

Get professional advice. The further head you think about your tax situation, the better chance you have at reducing your tax burden. Many tax rules follow the calendar year meaning you want to make any tax-saving moves before December 31st.

We invite you to schedule a complimentary consultation to review your tax planning, investment allocation, estate planning, and healthcare planning. Crown Haven manages all of these financial planning elements serving as your Fiduciary for our clients.

Schedule Appointment

Misconceptions About Retirement Planning

I need to share with you misconceptions about retirement planning and how people think of their retirement. Many people have been taught by educators and even financial planners to think of their retirement dollars as a pile of money. For example, you might have $200,000 in your retirement account right now and be thinking that to retire, that you need $500,000 or some other made-up figure. Now I have to tell you that this type of thinking ruins more people’s retirement than our volatile stock market and all of the scam artists combined. It’s not about how big that number is. It’s about how much income you have.

I know people that have almost nothing in their retirement accounts and are living very comfortably in their golden years. So the question becomes how do they do that? The concept is called passive residual income. Now passive residual income is money that comes to you every single month, regardless of how much money you have in your bank, or your ability to work. It comes from not thinking of your money as an account value, but rather as an income value.

To the extent that you work, you have a secure source of income, but when you retire, you need to replace that secure source of income with secure sources. So that could be social security. It could be a pension if you’re lucky enough to have one. However, most people are going to have what we call an income gap that they’re going to have to fill from their asset base or their retirement accounts.

Now the question becomes, do we want to look at those assets those retirement accounts as one big pile of cash. Do we want to leave that pile of cash in the world’s greatest Casino? The stock market… susceptible to upward and downward volatile market swings? Or do we want to use that pile of cash and transform it into something that will provide you with the same reliable income similar to what you had while working?

So it’s essential to think that your assets are an income-producing vehicle rather than just a number in an account. Now, some sources of passive residual income can be commercially leased property that pays you a positive cash flow month after month. Other people have oil wells that pay per month royalties, then there are those of you who have become my clients at Crown Haven.

Over the last decade, I’ve shown my clients at Crown Haven, how to take their IRA 401k or other retirement accounts and turn them into income accounts that will grow until they’re ready to retire so they can enjoy it for the rest of their life guaranteed. Our mission statement at Crown Haven is to ensure our clients worry less about their money and spend more time enjoying their lives. And that begins with building a secure foundation for income. My customized RetireSHIELD®retirement plan will help you to change the way you think about your retirement money.

If you want to do something, we invite you to work with our financial planning team and open an account that will give you up to a 10% bonus on your initial deposit up to 7% compounded interest. Most importantly, we will help provide you with a lifetime of income you will never outlive. You can even make sure your lifetime income lasts for the life of your spouse. Part of our RetireSHIELD® Wouldn’t it give you peace of mind to know that your spouse also won’t outlast your money?

Schedule Appointment
Contact Us

Listen to Casey Marx, Smart Money episode “Smart Money – Sledding Analogy, Guessing Game, Noble Soldier, and ABCs” on the player below or on your Apple Podcast App or Android device.

Is Your Retirement Money A Parked Car?

I was watching a car auction on the TV the other day. One beautiful car after another went over the auction block, some selling for more than $100,000. The commentators kept on referring to the cars as either a driver or a trailer queen. Now for those of you who are not familiar with classic cars, let me explain. A driver is a vehicle you can use to drive daily. A trailer queen is a car you don’t drive because you’re afraid to use it.

How do you see your retirement? Are you going to use it and enjoy the next phase of your life or be afraid to use it? Is it polished and shiny sitting in the corner? Your nest egg will be safe, but will it be doing anything for you?

Inflation and missed opportunity can have a deteriorating effect on your retirement like a parked car. There’s nothing wrong with CDs, and money market accounts for the money you need for emergencies. In fact, every time I meet with someone, my first and foremost priority is to make sure they have money set aside for emergencies. If they don’t, then I have to respectfully let them know that I can’t work with them until they do, I believe having emergency money on the side. Many of you are treating your retirement money like your emergency money. It’s time to make that money working.

If you have a broker, he’s probably giving you the same message. He’s probably telling you that you need to keep your money active and working for you. Let me be very clear, so you don’t get confused. When a broker tells you to get your money active, he’s most likely telling you to put your money at risk. That’s not what I’m talking about.

What I’m telling you is that you need to get your money participating in contractually guaranteed returns without any market risk. In other words, I want to put your car in drive, but at the same time, keep your car from crashing. Don’t let your retirement get into an accident or rust away sitting in the garage. Let’s work together to put your retirement into action, providing you with guaranteed growth and a lifetime of income.

Schedule Appointment
Contact Us

Listen to Casey Marx, Smart Money episode “Smart Money – Parked Car, Deal or No Deal, Black Swan, Sledding Analogy” on the player below or on your Apple Podcast App or Android device.

Playing It Too Safe With Retirement Planning?

Are you someone playing it too safe with retirement planning? In our financial planning, we see many people at or close to retirement spending way too much time being worried about what’s going to happen with their retirement money instead of planning what they’re going to do with it. The entire concept of retirement is the phase of your life where you are supposed to enjoy the fruits of all of the hard work. Unfortunately, many of you spend your mornings and days reading or watching the news trying to figure out how to keep your dreams from being killed by the market taxes, inflation, and political events.

More recently, most people have been worried about the Coronavirus. Some of you have decided enough is enough. You ignore this part of your life and stick your head in the sand like an ostrich, hoping your investments will get better. Many of you have your entire life savings parked in money markets, CDs, or even under your mattress. After all, it’s safe, right? Well, you are right, it’s safe, but it’s doing nothing to guarantee you a lifetime of income.

It’s our mission to point you in the right direction based on your goals. That should be every financial advisor’s job. You see, there’s one thing that I know that many financial professionals don’t. I know that your retirement money belongs to you, not me. Working together, we can secure your guaranteed growth and a lifetime of income you can’t outlive. You can do something else, work with us or do nothing.

If you want to do something, we invite you to work with our financial planning team and open an account that will give you up to a 10% bonus on your initial deposit up to 7% compounded interest. Most importantly, we will help provide you with a lifetime of income you will never outlive. You can even make sure your lifetime income lasts for the life of your spouse. Part of our RetireSHIELD Wouldn’t it give you peace of mind to know that your spouse also won’t outlast your money?

Schedule Appointment
Contact Us

Listen to Casey Marx, Smart Money episode “Smart Money – No Losses, Annuities, Guessing Game, Black Swan” on the player below or on your Apple Podcast App or Android device.

Longevity Annuities And What You Should Know

Longevity Annuities

Longevity annuities and what you should Know. In our many years of helping clients plan for retirement, we have noticed on Longevity annuities can protect against outliving savings. But not many buy…

Casey just saw the article “Longevity annuities can be a good deal for seniors. But not many people buy them” posted to CNBC.com. Crown Haven Wealth Advisors has long believed in annuities as a great retirement.

The more popular and broadly known variable annuities saw sales of $99 billion last year. In contrast, the umbrella of deferred income annuities of which longevity annuities are a subset saw $1.7 billion in sales in 2020, according to LIMRA, an insurance industry group.

According to the article… “The mismatch is largely due to the psychological hurdle of handing over a large sum of money that won’t yield a benefit if one doesn’t survive another 20 or so years, Blanchett said.

The reason we see this being true is that it’s easier to ask a client for smaller deposits of money on a regular basis to get a quick sale even though it may not be the best investment vehicle for the client.

Since our inception, Crown Haven has been a fee-based fiduciary advisor for our clients, always using the Fiduciary Standard as the bedrock of our planning philosophy.

We used this philosophy to create RetireSHIELD® that is a registered financial planning system to make sure you have the most appropriate setup for retirement.

If you are interested in knowing more you are invited to schedule a complimentary appointment to learn more. Just visit our scheduling page to pick a time that is convenient for you. You can also choose between an office visit or Zoom.

Schedule Now

Longevity annuities can be a good deal for seniors. But not many people buy them.
Read the full article at CNBC.com.

Financial Advice On Cybersecurity & Ransomware

Fox 59 Indianapolis just interviewed our very own Casey Marx for financial advice on cybersecurity and ransomware.

New data shows ransomware attacks have increased by more than 90% in the last 6 months and it’s not just affecting businesses but anyone can lose a lot of money and time mitigating the damage from compromised information. Watch the video to learn what you should do and what you should know to avoid cyber crimes against you and your family.

Highlights of the Financial Advice On Cybersecurity & Ransomware interview include:

  1. Keep track of your finances.
  2. Don’t use the same one for more than one site. Use something that will auto generate passwords so they are unique.
  3. Don’t give out your social security number unless you’re really trust who are where you’re giving it to.
  4. If you get a suspicious email contact the company directly to see if it came from them something else to do check your bank accounts and credit cards on a regular basis to make sure there are no unrecognized charges. Typically banks won’t notify you.
  5. Update your computer or phone software that’s because the newest software can catch many of the scams associated with the crypto and ransomware attacks.
  6. Monitor your credit score many services can do it for you a lot of those are free either way.

If you become a victim of cybercrime, report it to your bank immediately and they will put a credit freeze on your account to stop money from being charged or moved from your accounts. Take it a step further and also make a report to the Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau, and the local authorities.

Crown Haven Wealth Advisors offers a complimentary financial planning and retirement planning session. Make sure you have every financial advantage going into retirement and your money is working for you and you are not working for your money.

Schedule Appointment Now

Video: fox59.com / stretching your dollar

How Much Money Do You Have In The Market?

How much money do you currently have in the market? All of it? 50% 80%? Did you make a conscious decision to have that particular percentage exposed to market risk? How did you decide stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, bonds, annuities, or maybe a professionally managed wealth management account? Or… Did it just sort of happen?

Why would I be asking this question? I say it all the time, markets go up, and the markets go down. So how much of your life savings/retirement is exposed to market risk is a very important consideration. That is why I strongly encourage everyone to think of their money in terms of red money, and green money.

Now, those terms might sound a little childish or funny, but I believe they help us understand a very important concept. Let me explain. Red money is money that we are willing to expose to market risk, and we are willing to do this in hopes of a higher return. We accept the possibility of losses even significant losses in hopes of greater gains. Red money is exposed to upside, and downside market risk. Now green money is about safety and security. With green money, we are not willing to accept the risk of losses. So we’ are willing to accept a lower return in exchange. Green money does not have downside market risk. So if red money is exposed to upside, and downside, and green money has only upside, which one is better?

That is probably the wrong question to be asking, because neither one is inherently good or bad. It all depends. The very important questions we should be asking ourselves are these, what percentage of my money should be in red money? And what percentage of my money should be in green money?

Now, if you are at or near retirement, you should ask yourself if any of your money should be in red money? Can you afford to lose any of your retirement funds? Would you rather take two steps forward and three steps back or just take one step at a time and never take a step back?

Hear the rest of my thoughts and listen to the Smart Money podcast below.

If you believe you could better navigate retirement with the help of a team that has 40+ years of experience with financial and retirement planning in the Indianapolis area I would like to invite you to schedule a complimentary meeting to see how we can help.

Schedule Now