Sage Financial Planning

  The Roth IRA, Backdoor Roth IRA and Mega Backdoor Roth IRA are oft misunderstood and underutilized retirement savings strategies. In my Roth three-part series this week, I'm going to break down each Roth IRA strategy, who is eligible to use them, and what you need to know when using them. This article focuses on the Backdoor Roth IRA. If you have an after-tax 401(k), forget the Backdoor Roth and read about the Mega Backdoor Roth instead. You can find all the articles from the Roth IRA series here . Who Is The Backdoor Roth IRA Strategy For? For those who don't qualify to contribute directly to a Roth IRA because income is too high and do not have access to the Mega Backdoor strategy, a standard Backdoor Roth is the next step. The Backdoor Roth strategy can be useful to increase your tax-advantaged retirement contributions using personal IRA accounts. The contribute limit is the same as regular Roth contributions. Remember that Traditional and Roth IRAs share the same contr...

The Roth IRA, Backdoor Roth IRA and Mega Backdoor Roth IRA are oft misunderstood and underutilized retirement savings strategies. In my Roth IRA three-part series this week, I'm going to break down each Roth IRA strategy, who is eligible to use them, and what you need to know when using them. This article focuses on the center of the Roth universe: the Roth IRA. You can find the other articles from the Roth IRA series here . Who Is Eligible To Contribute To A Roth IRA? The regular ol' Roth IRA is a fairly straightforward retirement savings vehicle. As long as you are under the preset income limits (reassessed annually by the IRS) and you have earned income equal to or greater than your contribution amount up to the maximum contribution amount (also reassessed annually by the IRS), then you have an opportunity to take advantage of tax free investment growth and completely tax free withdrawals on qualified distributions from your Roth IRA in retirement. Roth IRAs have the same r...

The CFP® marks are the gold standard of the financial planning and advising industry for good reason. Namely, CFP® practitioners are highly educated, tested, trained ongoing, and are fiduciaries bound to act in their clients' best interests at all times. No exceptions.  Here is the Fiduciary Oath as created by the Committee for the Fiduciary Standard. http://www.thefiduciarystandard.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/fiduciaryoath_individual.pdf

Sage Financial holds four types of collaboration meetings throughout the planning process: Introductory Meeting A no cost, no commitment 30-min call to assess our mutual fit, discuss your goals at a high level, address your initial questions and talk through potential next steps. If you choose to engage with Sage Financial for planning services after this meeting, you will be emailed our Form ADV 2a and 2b (per state compliance) as well as a Financial Planning Agreement outlining in detail our planning process and expectations, conflicts of interest, disclosures, and estimated costs. Upon signing the FPA, a request for your financial documents will be subsequently emailed and half of the expected planning fees will be due for payment. Discovery Meeting The framework for our collaborative planning process, together we’ll assess your current financial situation and dive into your short- and long-term goals, needs, and concerns. This includes talking through your historical relationship w...

The financial planning governing body, the CFP® Board , sets a planning process standard to ensure that planners provide optimal value for our clients.  Here is their outlined process: Understand client situation Qualitative factors e.g. client health, life expectancy, family circumstances, values, attitudes, expectations, earning potential, risk tolerance, goals, needs, priorities, and current course of action and trajectory. Quantitative factors e.g. client age, dependents, other professional advisors, income, expenses, cash flow, savings, assets, liabilities, available resources, liquidity, taxes, employee benefits, government benefits, insurance coverage, estate plans, education and retirement accounts and benefits, and risk capacity. Identify and select goals Short-term goals Long-term goals Objectives and priorities along the way Extenuating circumstances impacting goal planning, e.g. divorce, caring for family members, experiencing hardship, death in the family, etc. An...

Sage Financial provides financial planning services and investment advice to individuals and charges for these services in one of three ways: as an ongoing service under a subscription fee model in order to keep clients’ financial plans up to date (recommended), as a one-time fixed fee for a single comprehensive plan, or as-needed on an hourly fee basis.     Typical fee ranges are as follows: a fixed hourly rate of $200-$650/hour billed per quarter hour, $1,500-$6,000 for a one-time comprehensive financial plan, or, $1,350-$5,400 for an initial comprehensive financial plan as well as a $150-$300 monthly retainer fee for ongoing planning services.  Client fees are negotiable on a limited basis; Sage Financial Planning, LLC retains the discretion to negotiate alternative fees on a client-by-client basis based on the expected complexity of the client situation and estimated time required to complete the project scope and/or plan. Income level, net worth, dependent status, pr...