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A successful retirement is so much more than just having enough money to live on.  As financial planners, we often focus on the financial aspect of retirement. The social, emotional, and physical health side of retirement are just as important as having proper funds. In fact, you won’t really know how much money you need in retirement until you know how much you want to do. I will discuss several common retirement goals and how to prepare for success.

Life is unpredictable, so it’s understandable if you feel you can’t prepare for everything. From losing a source of income to losing valuable possessions, the risk of financial shortfalls are always on the back of our mind. In this article I will outline several pre-emptive and reactionary courses of action to fund a financial shortfall. I will touch on topics from disability insurance to qualified plan distributions to illuminate several options available to fund a shortfall.

A reverse mortgage is a home-secured loan on the primary residence for homeowners over the age of 62, also known as a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM). It allows borrowers to loan against some of the equity in their home for future funds or a line of credit. There are several options to choose from that differ on interest rate, how much money is available, and payment options.

There’s no doubt that a 529 savings plan is one of the best available options for college funding. It has a high contribution limit ($14k annual eligible for gift splitting up to $28k annual and it can even be super funded in the initial year up to $140k). The owner of the 529 savings plan can direct the investments (within plan constraints), and is even allowed to change the beneficiaries. Depending on state of residence, contributors may be eligible for a state tax deduction based on 529 contributions.