Retirement In Sight for August, 2015

R E T I R E M E N T I N S I G H T
Presented by Laurie Klein
 

MONTHLY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR CURRENT AND FUTURE RETIREES

AUGUST 2015

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
  

- William Arthur Ward

TRAVEL TIP
A picture is worth...everything

Before you go overseas, get out your phone and take photos of your emergency contact information, your passport, the toll-free numbers of credit card issuers, your driver’s license, your health insurance cards and other key documents. You never know when you might have to confirm your identity or other information if something gets lost or stolen.

BRAIN TEASER
Words, Words, Words.
Which word can be placed between the words “table” and “house” to make two new words?*

DID YOU KNOW?
The last shot of the Civil War was fired...in the Pacific Ocean?

True. On June 22, 1865 (more than two months after the Confederate military surrender at Appomattox), the C.S.S. Shenandoah fired on a Yankee whaler in the Bering Sea. The Shenandoah had captured 38 unarmed merchant ships for the Confederacy during 1864-85. On August 2, a British ship informed the captain and crew that the war was over.4,5

For MATURE Women, The More Exercise The Better

New research published last month in the online edition of JAMA Oncology notes a distinct relationship between sustained exercise and weight loss in older women, with implications for reducing the risk of breast cancer.

While the National Institutes of Health says that adults should opt for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, Canadian researchers found that postmenopausal women who engaged in 300 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise weekly lost much more fat within a year than women who exercised fewer hours a week.

They studied 384 women with body mass indexes (BMIs) of 22-40, having half exercise per the NIH recommendation and the other half exercise twice as many hours, all while maintaining their normal diet. The women who exercised twice as much not only shed more pounds than those in the other group, they also significantly reduced their belly fat, waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio. Being overweight after menopause has also been linked to increased breast cancer risk – another reason that exercise after 50 may be great for you.1

WILL THE VALUE OF YOUR BUSINESS PEAK AS YOU RETIRE?

In an ideal world, it would – but few business owners see their company trend up all the way to their envisioned retirement date. Sometimes a business may peak a decade or more before the owner searches for a buyer. This is all the more reason to sell a company just before it matures, when it is approaching the peak of its growth phase. Since that moment seldom coincides with an owner’s exit, it may be wise to hire a business consultant who can provide a market analysis and healthy business audit to gauge the company’s future prospects 5-10 years before the owner leaves.

A TD Bank survey recently found that 47% of small business owners lack retirement plans, even though 57% of small businesses are sole proprietorships providing owners with most or all of their incomes. Facts like these reinforce the need for SBOs to design new income streams that can flow in retirement.2

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE
While calls to reform the federal tax laws are regularly heard, the federal government does provide real encouragement to retirement savers. In 2014, the Internal Revenue Code contained nearly $100 billion in tax incentives to promote retirement saving.3

Laurie Klein may be reached at
(425) 321-5800 or liz@kaizenfa.com
https://kaizen2.advisorwebsite.com/