Pathways to Success® Process

At Wisdom to Wealth we find that those who feel the greatest uncertainty about their retirement often have one thing in common: they are missing a written strategy that provides clarity and confidence.

Drew Stevens has created the Wisdom to Wealth Pathways to Success® to address, integrate and simplify the six critical components that we believe every successful retirement plan needs to include:

1. Income Planning - the lifeblood of retirement is income. Will you have enough? Will it last as long as you do? These are the top concerns of the people we help serve every day. 

We will help you to:

·  Maximize Social Security Options: identifying which retirement claiming strategy makes the most sense for you and your family.

·  Optimize Pension Selections: navigating your choices from lump sum payouts to survivorship options.

·  Create a Written Income Plan: segmenting your money to provide the income you need for now, soon and the later years of retirement using The Bucket Plan®.

2. Growth Planning - With retirement today often spanning multiple decades, including long-term growth opportunities is essential. Through asset allocation and diversification, this growth will help hedge against inflation, long-term care costs and provide for a surviving spouse or loved ones in future generations.

3. Tax Planning -  It’s not just about what you make, but what you keep. With most retirement savings having an unpaid tax bill that becomes due upon distribution, taxes are often the greatest single expense for most Americans today—even during retirement. Our goal is to help you be efficient to pay as little in taxes as possible. This may include:

·  Planning for required minimum distributions (RMDs): determining what these distributions will look like every year, which accounts they will come from and how they will impact your overall taxable income throughout retirement.

o  Remember Secure 2.0 has launched and there are new distribution and contribution changes beginning January 2023.

·  Roth conversion strategies: evaluating your current and future expected tax liabilities to help minimize the total tax impact on your retirement accounts.

4. Health Planning - What are you doing to protect your greatest asset of all—your health? Another significant expense and concern in retirement is healthcare. We will help you explore your options to establish the coverage protection you may need, including:

Health insurance

Medicare supplements

Long-term care coverage

5. Estate Planning - From creating an income plan for your surviving spouse to partnering with attorneys as needed to create essential documents to implement your intentions in the event of your death or disability, your plan may include updating:

·  Wills

·  Trusts

·  Power of Attorneys

·  Durable Power of Attorney

·  Estate Documents

6. Non Financial Planning - It’s not just money that will make for a satisfying retirement; it’s how the money is used that ultimately determines your retirement success. Once you stop being an employee, who will you be? What relationships and experiences give you the most purpose and fulfillment? We will guide you through these critical conversations to determine what matters most to you, and then create a plan to help you achieve it.

Two other quick points. 

When it comes to social security, individuals are taking it too early or not understanding some of the unique benefits that occurs with divorce, survivorship and dual incomes. Additionally, 90% of Americans do not know how to maximize their social security.

And,

Our experience shows us that most financial professionals may address one, maybe two of these components, but it takes all six of these components working together in alignment to create a truly successful Pathway to Success®.