Retirement and Taxes

By Susan Weiner

“Retirement is wonderful if you have two essentials—much to live on and much to live for,” said an unknown author cited in a Southern Living article on “70 Retirement Quotes That Will Resonate With Any Retiree.” This issue’s focus on retirement and taxes fits nicely with this saying.

“Much to Live for”

The articles in this month’s NAPFA Advisor address both sides of that equation, starting with the “much to live for” side in “Preparing Your Clients for Happiness in Retirement.” I enjoyed the presentation that author Adam Felts, an MIT AgeLab research associate, gave at the NAPFA Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Region Symposium in March 2023, so I asked him to contribute. His article is complemented by Liz Miller’s “Help Aging Clients Discuss Their Priorities.”

“Much to Live on”

On the financial side of retirement, after I heard great things about Christine Simone’s presentation at the NAPFA Spring Conference earlier this year, I asked her to contribute. “Using Medicare Open Enrollment to Strengthen Advisor-Client Relationships and Create More Comprehensive Financial Plans” is the result. (By the way, if you’re uncomfortable digging into your clients’ Medicare decisions, you can refer them to a local office of the highly regarded State Health Insurance Assistance Program for free, objective assistance from trained volunteers.)

Taxes affect the financial side of retirement, but their impact is broader than that, as reflected in two more articles: Steve Sweeney’s “Attaining Tax Control through Tax Diversification” and Linda Leitz’s “The Role of Taxes in Your Practice.”

Article Ideas from the NAPFA Fall Conference?

Did you see a presenter at the NAPFA Fall Conference who’d be a great contributor to this magazine? Or, did the conference make you think about a topic that should be covered in the magazine? Please email me to let me know!