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Welcome to the Limitless Retirement Podcast. My name is Danny Gudorf, the owner of Gudorf Financial Group. Whether retirement is on your horizon or you've already made the leap, this podcast tackles your most important questions in retirement. Every episode, I'm here to share valuable tips and strategies to help you succeed in retirement. So let's go ahead and get started with today's show.

Are you approaching retirement and looking for ways to increase your income without taking on another job or saving more? If so, this video is for you. I'll share seven effective strategies to boost your retirement cashflow and enjoy the lifestyle you deserve. Hey everyone, my name is Danny Goodorf and I'm a financial planner and owner of Goodorf Financial Group. By watching this video, you'll learn how to maximize your social security benefits

optimize your income withdrawals, take advantage of your employer benefits, and make smart tax and spending decisions. These strategies can help you increase your retirement income by at least 15 % without any extra effort or any extra savings on your part. First, let's talk about Social Security. While there's no such thing as a free lunch, Social Security comes pretty close. Most viewers of this channel

are likely aware that delaying your social security benefits can significantly increase your monthly payments. For each year you wait past age 62, your social security payment increases by approximately six to eight percent plus inflation. Once you reach full retirement age, which for most of you falls between 66 and 67, the increase jumps to eight percent plus inflation.

all the way up until age 70. This fact is incredibly important because many people don't retire at age 62. Yet, the majority of social security recipients opt to start taking benefits at this age. By understanding how the social security tables work and considering your future lifestyle, you can make a well -informed decision on when to start claiming

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this valuable source of retirement income. For many of our clients, this is a couple hundred thousand dollar decision. So it's very important to get this right. The second strategy that we're gonna talk about that can significantly change your retirement income is gonna be how you take withdrawals out of your portfolio. Now there's a lot of different strategies out there on what's the best practice to begin taking

your portfolio withdrawals and what number that needs to be. One of the more common ones that exists is the 4 % rule. But by blindly following some of these common rules and not applying them to your specific situation, you can leave a lot of money on the table. Whether you're 45 and have 40 years of retirement to live through or you're 65,

and only have roughly 20 years of a retirement time horizon to live through, deciding on how you can take money out of your portfolio is going to really impact how much it can generate in monthly or annual income. The 4 % rule says that you can take 4 % of your portfolio value out starting and in just that every year for inflation. At our firm, we use a strategy called retirement income guardrails.

with our clients. A guardrail strategy is going to look at your likely retirement time horizon and changing income needs in your retirement years and determine an initial income level that the portfolio can support. Then you place guardrails around your portfolio balance, which tell you when you can increase your spending or when you need to cut it back. If your portfolio returns are good, you can bump up your spending

and lessen the chance you'll leave too much money on the table. But if your returns are bad in those initial retirement years, then you can reduce your spending a little bit. This will allow us to reduce that sequence of return risk in the event that markets are falling and going down. It will allow you to cut your spending to let the portfolio recover

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before then eventually increasing spending again. To determine the optimal withdrawal rate for your unique situation, it's highly recommended that you consult with a financial planner or financial advisor. They can help you navigate this complex interplay between Social Security and taking investment income withdrawals out of your portfolio. Getting this calculation right means

you'll be able to spend more money in retirement because you've done the necessary work and arrived at an accurate mathematical conclusion. Interestingly, many viewers of this channel actually spend less than their model suggests they could, often due to concerns about running out of money. I frequently see comments from people who feel unable to spend as much as their financial plan allows, not because they lack

ways to use the money, but because they're apprehensive about the future. So this is a very important decision to make. The next way to boost your retirement income is to take advantage of the free money from your employer. Believe it or not, 77 % of people who qualify for a 401k don't contribute to one. And many of those individuals are missing out

on the valuable company matching contributions simply because they're not putting money in on their 401k plans and not putting in the minimum amount required to maximize the match. Now, you might be thinking, Danny, didn't you say at the beginning you were gonna show us how to increase our retirement income without boosting savings? This sounds like you're telling us to save more.

Let me clarify a little bit. If you're not investing in your company's 401k and one is available to you, there's a good chance you're not investing at all. In that case, you absolutely need to start contributing to your 401k as soon as possible. However, if you are investing but not utilizing your 401k, you might have your investment sequence wrong, particularly if your employer

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offers a match. Even without a match, the pre -tax, forced savings aspect of a 401k is a compelling reason to participate in it. Next strategy item that I want to talk to you about is to consider hiring a tax professional, such as a tax accountant or tax planner. To have someone to help you plan around your taxes for the future, not just prepare

your annual tax return, but your overall tax planning. For most people, taxes are going to be their largest expense in retirement. Many choose to either do their taxes on their own, and very few engage in proactive tax planning for the present and future. Tax professionals don't just help you find current year tax rates, they assist you in planning for future life events.

But it's very important that you have someone that is familiar and participates in that future tax planning. Most CPAs and tax professionals are so busy that it's hard for them to do any type of real tax planning with their clients. Tax planning is crucial for various scenarios, such as downsizing your house without paying capital gains taxes, executing a Roth conversion, or distinguishing

between personal and business expenses to maximize your available tax deductions today. Retiring from a job and starting retirement is a significant taxable event. So be proactive in your planning. It's essential. The next way to boost your retirement income by at least 5 % in most cases is to wait one more year before retiring. Here's a simple fact.

Well, none of us know for sure how many days we have left. One year from today, we will have 365 fewer days. Why is this important? Well, if you're 63 years old and the average lifespan at that age is approximately 83, giving you another 20 years, and it's slightly less for males and slightly more for females, if you spread

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your hard earned investments over the next 20 years, you'll receive roughly 5 % per year on those assets. But if you wait just one more year, instead of dividing everything by 20, you'll be dividing it by 19. That extra year translates to an additional 5 % of annual income. In addition to that, it will allow

your Social Security benefits to continue to increase and increase that benefit amount. And it will also allow you for your portfolio to continue to grow because you no longer need to take withdrawals in that year. You're postponing them for one year. So all of those three things make potentially waiting to retire one more year that much of a better solution. Next, let's discuss

downsizing your home. If done correctly, downsizing can have a tremendous impact on your quality of life and your spendable cashflow in retirement. First, let's clarify what I mean by downsizing. It involves either selling your current home if you own it or leaving it if you're renting and moving into a less expensive residence. This results in lower taxes

lower utility bills, and an overall lower cost of living. With lower expenses, you'll have more free cash flow. It's a simple equation of money in versus money out. If you're selling your home, you'll have more equity to then invest or allocate to other areas of your life. If downsizing isn't an option, consider other options like renting out part of your house,

or potentially renting it on Airbnb if you have multiple homes or multiple areas that you're living in. You're paying for that space, but not getting any benefit out of it if it's sitting empty. In addition, your home can be an important asset when it comes to paying for long -term care. For those of you who don't have a mortgage and have a lot of equity in your home,

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One thing you can do is at the end of life, as you're moving on to get long -term care, you can sell that home to help pay for long -term care. So the last item I want to talk to you about today is a reverse mortgage. To be completely honest, I'm not a huge fan of reverse mortgages, but they do have a certain place in certain situations. However, I recommend proceeding with caution

and fully understanding what you're getting into before making a decision. For most people, the only way to truly access the value of their home is to sell it. But if you're not ready to sell, you do have an asset with value, but you may plan on living in that home for the rest of your life, or at least the foreseeable future. In reality, this often means

that the people who ultimately realize the value of your home won't be you, but your heirs or your children. A reverse mortgage allows you to access the value of your home today instead of your heirs accessing it at some point in the future. Here's why I'm not a fan though. But if you can get your mind around it, a reverse mortgage might be right for you. For most people,

their home equity is their single largest asset. It serves as a firewall between where they are today and the possibility of something really bad happening to them in the future. If you degrade that firewall prematurely, you may end up with nothing at the most critical point in your life when you need it the most. If you do decide to access your home's value through reverse mortgage,

First, consult with a professional who has your best interests at heart, such as a financial planner or other financial planning professional. Additionally, push the decision as far into the future as you possibly can. These seven strategies can help you increase your retirement income without taking on another job or saving more. By making smart decisions about your Social Security,

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your portfolio withdrawals, employee benefits, and taxes, you can enjoy the retirement lifestyle you've always dreamed of. Thanks for tuning in. I look forward to talking with you again. And if you want to learn how Goodor Financial Group can help you experience a limitless retirement, then go to goodorfinancial .com forward slash get started. This is where you can schedule a 20 minute call

to see how our firm can help you prepare for our free retirement assessment program. This is the way we help new potential clients experience what it's like to work with Goodor Financial Group. Thank you and have a great day. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Limitless Retirement Podcast. If you want to see how Goodor Financial Group can help you get the most out of your money, go to

goudorffinancial .com forward slash get started. This is where you can schedule a 20 minute call to see how our firm can help prepare a free retirement assessment. Please remember, nothing we discuss on this podcast is intended to serve as advice. You should always consult a financial, legal or tax professional that is familiar

with your unique circumstances before making any financial decisions.