We do not require a minimum balance; we just require that our clients truly want to commit to their retirement and tax optimization goals and take action towards achieving them. Our firm was founded by entrepreneur Scott Borhauer, who previously sold several businesses. And although he doesn’t technically have to work anymore, he is passionate about helping other people achieve the success he was fortunate to achieve. From young people just starting out in their careers, to government employees who have nowhere to turn because their HR departments are nonexistent, to people five to 10 years away from retirement, to women living on their own, to very large investors or business owners with complex finances and assets, the retirement strategies and tax mitigation concepts you’ll get from Smart Life Financial can scale up or down.

Absolutely, especially when it comes to retirement planning and succession planning. If you’d like to sell your business to family members, or key employees, or even an outside entity, we can help you with various scenarios, including advanced planning trusts, done in conjunction with attorneys, to help mitigate taxation. You can potentially end up a lot better off if you sell correctly. If you want to keep working, we have strategies for that, too. We can help you protect your family members should something happen to you, and help you with strategies to attract and retain key employees.

Yes, yes and yes. We have a special focus on people with TSPs and other government benefit plans like 403(b)s, 457s and more. Smart Life Financial founder, Scott Borhauer, has deep personal experience in this area, having seen first-hand the lack of advice and resources available, and he sincerely wants to help.

Traditional IRAs and traditional 401(k)s are tax-deferred investment vehicles where contributions are added to your account on a pre-tax basis, reducing your taxable income, but any withdrawals made are taxed later on, during retirement. Contributions to Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s are made with after-tax dollars so contributions don’t reduce your taxable income now, but your withdrawals and gains aren’t taxed later, provided certain criteria are met. Additionally, Roth accounts can be left to your heirs on a tax-free basis. Due to new legislation, traditional IRAs and traditional 401(k) accounts inherited by non-spouses have to be drained—and taxes paid—within 10 years which can significantly reduce what they inherit.

A thrift savings plan (TSP) is a type of retirement investment program open only to federal employees and members of the uniformed services, including the Ready Reserve. It is a defined-contribution (DC) plan that offers federal employees many of the same benefits that are available to workers in the private sector. At Smart Life Financial, we are affiliated with a process called the TSP Rescue Plan which focuses on optimizing these plans for retirement.

A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage saving for future education costs, usually college, although funds can also be used for private elementary or secondary school tuition expenses. 529 plans, legally known as “qualified tuition plans,” are sponsored by states, state agencies, or educational institutions and are authorized by Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Similar to bank CDs, fixed annuities are insurance products which offer fixed rates of return over a certain period of time, except that instead of receiving the money at the end of the time period, you receive regular payments, usually monthly. The rates are typically based on the current interest rate environment. Fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) are insurance products can last for a certain amount of time, or can provide monthly retirement income for life. While not actually invested in the stock market, FIAs use a certain specified index—such as the S&P 500—as the benchmark for crediting interest to the policy, and if the index loses money, the lowest amount credited is 0%. This protects your funds from stock market losses. Fixed annuities and fixed indexed annuities are contracts between you and highly-regulated insurance companies. An independent, insurance-licensed financial professional—including those at Smart Life Financial—can help you choose between hundreds of annuity products based on your situation and goals, and they can help you examine the details included in each annuity contract.