When it comes to your IRAs and other retirement accounts, you probably have a lot of questions like, “How much are my withdrawals taxed? When do I need to begin taking withdrawals? How much will I have to take? What happens to my IRA when I die?” And perhaps most importantly, “How can I minimize my taxes so I can spend more of my hard-earned money?”

You know, years ago life was simpler in many ways and retirement was really no different. Many people went to work and then, when they retired, they collected a pension and Social Security benefits. There wasn’t as much needed in the way of planning and people weren’t all that concerned about running out of money since both their pensions and their Social Security benefits were generally guaranteed. For most people, that along with whatever else they had managed to save along the way was enough.

Today, though, things are different. Companies and other organizations have abandoned pensions in mass numbers and instead, have turned to 401(k)s and similar plans, shifting many of the risks they once shouldered onto the backs of employees and their families. Retirees are now responsible for making more of the critical decisions that will determine how successful they are in retirement. And that includes keeping up with changes to the law (that happen all the time). For instance, just recently, the law known as SECURE Act 2.0 made nearly 100 changes to the rules for retirement accounts; some of which we’ll talk about today.

The bottom line to all of this, though, is that today, more than ever, when it comes to your retirement, you’re on your own.

We’re here to help.

What we’re seeing is that baby boomers want to know: Will Social Security be there for you? You've been told for years that the system is "going broke." But now that it's almost your turn to collect, is that really true?

You also want to know how much you can expect to receive. Before you can retire, you've got to know how you are going to support yourself. That means doing a budget, lining up all your income sources, and knowing how much you can expect to receive from each. Social Security, because it is a relatively known quantity, represents the foundation of that plan.

You're also probably asking when you should apply for Social Security. You may have heard that if you apply early your benefit will be lower than if you apply later. But is it worth missing out on all those extra checks to have a higher benefit later on?

Something your parents probably never asked is how it is possible to maximize benefits. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using the Social Security rules to your advantage. We’ll show you ways you can maximize your Social Security benefits simply by knowing the rules and making smart decisions.

And finally, you're wondering if Social Security will be enough to live on in retirement. You probably already know the answer to this. Social Security represents about 40% of the average retiree's total income. But by coordinating Social Security with the rest of your retirement income plan, you can pursue a comfortable, worry-free retirement.

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We believe in giving the IRS their fair share… but we don’t need to leave them a tip! Tax laws change every year, we’ll help you be proactive to take advantage of every opportunity given to you in the tax code.

Our goal here is to help you understand that the retirement distribution game – spending assets in retirement – is much different than the accumulation game when you’re saving for retirement.

Chances are you have been in the accumulation phase of your life for several decades and you’ve been working hard and trying to save money and hopefully your accounts have grown.

But now, as you enter or prepare for retirement, you’re in an entirely different phase… The distribution phase. And the distribution phase has new, strange rules that can catch people off guard. And along with those new rules, there are often many changes in your own personal life that can have a big impact on your taxes, too.

For instance, your children are grown and that means no more child tax credits. Your house may be fully paid off and that means no more mortgage interest deduction. If you’ve already retired, you may no longer be receiving tax-free employer-paid medical insurance. If you’ve stopped working, you may no longer have the ability to stash income in a 401(k) or similar plan to manage your annual tax bill.

At some point, you’ll start taking Social Security. And sooner or later, when you reach 73, you’ll have to start taking required distributions from your retirement accounts.

The list of changes goes on. Many aspects of retirement will affect your tax bill in ways totally different from your working years. Understanding what these are, and how they can impact you, is absolutely crucial.

We’re here to help.

3 Key points:

The first key point is that if you do not enroll in Medicare on time, you will pay a monthly penalty. A lot of baby boomers don't know if or when they are supposed to enroll in Medicare. But there are very clear rules about when you have to sign up. If you don't sign up within a specified window, you will be assessed a monthly penalty that you'll have to pay for the rest of your life.

The second key point is that if you do not get the right private insurance to go with Medicare, you may pay too much in premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Now, the fact that you even need private insurance to go with Medicare is a surprise to many people. Some people think Medicare covers everything. But no. In order to have prescription drug coverage and coverage for other out-of-pocket expenses, you need to have private insurance. We'll show you how that works.

The third key point is that if you do not plan for higher health care costs in retirement, you could run out of money or not be able to get the care you need. People are usually happy to go onto Medicare when they turn 65 because it provides some relief against high health insurance premiums. But you must be prepared to factor higher future health care costs into your retirement budget. And the best time to do this is now.

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• Percent of Americans over 65 who will need Long-Term Care—and the answer is 70%

• Percent of Americans who think it is “very likely” they will need Long-Term Care at some point in their lives—and the answer is 8%

• Percent of Americans who have Long-Term-Care insurance—and the answer is 3%.

When it comes to planning for a safe and secure retirement, long-term care remains a confusing and unaddressed challenge to many people’s financial security.

While many people understand the basic idea that some retirees may need long-term care, planning for it is often overlooked.

The costs and risks associated with not planning for long-term care extend to your family as well and include emotional and financial issues.

On the emotional side, lack of planning may result in:

Family strife about responsibilities and care arrangements. It’s not uncommon for some family members to shoulder the vast amount of responsibility for overseeing, even giving, care to a loved one. When not planned in advance, trouble often ensues. Making late in life decisions for loved ones where cost and quality of care comes into play can be stressful and difficult for your family.

We’re here to help.

If we learned anything from the Coronavirus, it’s that anything can happen to anyone at any time. Even in normal times the news is filled with stories about accidents, natural disasters, sudden illnesses, and other unexpected events that upend people’s lives. You just never know.

And then there’s that biggest mystery of all. Actually, the fact of death is very predictable. None of us are going to make it out of here alive. But the timing is usually unpredictable. That’s why we need to get our affairs in order now—so we’ll be ready when it happens.

Because the laws governing property ownership and property transfer are intangible, it’s easy to ignore them. But death is a legal event. Once a person dies, these laws come into play and they determine what will happen to your assets and your possessions—that is, who the new legal owners will be. If you have done your estate planning you can live the rest of your life knowing that when your time comes your loved ones will have the law on their side, because you set it up that way.

We’re here to help.

Two seconds… that’s how often someone becomes a victim of identity theft. Last year, there were over 14 million victims of identity theft and fraud.

Are you one of those 14 million? Has your personal information been exposed in a data breach or hack?

The statistics say, “Most likely.” The past few years have given us record-breaking breaches. You see only a few of the big ones listed here. T-Mobile, exposed data of over 54 million people. 500 million Facebook users were victim to a data breach that exposed their phone numbers, full names, locations, email addresses and more.

Yahoo took first place for the biggest breach in history with news of hack that affected every single Yahoo account– that’s 3 BILLION users.

And these are only some of the breaches that occurred in the last few years. Given those statistics, it’s likely that your personal information has landed in the hands of a hacker.

In addition, new threats are exposed every day. Even as we sit here now, a vast array of cyber attacks are pounding at the walls of security networks built to protect you and your digital persona on the Internet.

And what I’m going to say next sounds a bit dramatic, but it’s completely true:

A world of dark forces and criminal networks conspire day and night to steal your username and password, obtain your Social Security number, open credit cards in your name, drain your bank accounts, and seize your computer to hold it for ransom.

We’re here to help.