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Getting Married
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Congratulations on the engagement! Getting married can be such an exciting time, but there is a lot of planning that goes into it. Here are some things that you may want to consider updating after the big day.
Update Personal Information
- Social Security card (if name change)
- Driver's License
- Passport
- Credit cards
- Insurance
- Physicians
- Utility companies
- Student loans
- Memberships
- Employers
- Update W-2 tax exemptions
Consider making your spouse a beneficiary
- Life insurance
- Personal investments
- Work savings or stock plan accounts
- Add spouse to health care plan if desired
Create a Will
- Establish or update your will to include your spouse
- Review beneficiaries
Decide Banking Account Usage
- Will you have individual or joint accounts?
- If selecting joint ownership, combine finances
- Merge accounts to get rid of paying on duplicate bills
- Work together to create a realistic budget
- Discuss individual credit scores for future purchases
- Reduce and eliminate bad debt to help build a stronger credit
- Put money aside for an emergency fund
- Start planning and saving for the future
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Starting a Family
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Things are about to change with the news of a child coming into your life. There are many responsibilities that come with caring for someone else. Have everything in place so you are ready when the time comes.
Review Employer Benefits
- Flexible spending
- Child care subsidies
- Maternity leave
- Disability
Review your Finances
- Review and revise your budget to account for child-related costs, include medical and dental expenses
- Set aside an emergency fund for unexpected expenses
- It's never too early to start savings. Consider an ISSBee Savings Account for your child
- Set back money for more expensive purchases in the future such as clothes and school supplies
Update Tax Information
- Take advantage of the government credit for becoming a parent
- Update your W-2 tax exemptions
Other Options
- Create or update your will
- Consider life insurance
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Starting a Business
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When starting a business, there are so many details to consider. We are here to help you establish your plan.
Know the Costs
- Utilize SBDC’s Startup Resource Packet and visit https://www.sba.gov/ for additional resources
- Create a financial business plan
- Include start-up costs
- Expenses for office space, equipment, inventory, employees, marketing and working capital you will need to operate
- Decide whether or not to pay yourself and how much
- Determine how you will fund the business
Identity
- Select a name and legal structure
- Sole Proprietorship
- Partnership
- Limited Liability Company
- Corporation or S-Corporation
Obtain Licenses and Permits
- Speak with an accountant regarding legal tax structure followed by an attorney to create the organizational documents
- Determine if a Federal permit is needed
- State occupational and professional licenses
- State product selling licenses and permits
- Sales Tax permits
- Business licenses
- Business insurance
Set-up
Start Marketing
- Develop a business identity
- Create a marketing plan for your products and services that targets your ideal customers
Assess Future Needs
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Changing Careers
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Times can be overwhelming when it comes to starting a job or switching career paths. Here are some steps that you can take to ensure your transition is smooth.
Track your monthly expenses
- Track your monthly expenses and income before switching jobs to ensure a healthy budget with your new income.
- View your transaction history through Online Banking to track your expenses.
Know the Benefits
- Most employers don't offer health coverage starting on day-one, so be prepared for whatever gap coverage is needed.
- Consider 401k roll over options
- Keep your money with your current employer (usually as long as you have at least $5,000). The benefit for this option would be that you already know the plan.
- Completely rollover your money to your new company. Your human resource department can help you with the rollover.
- If your new company doesn't offer a retirement plan, many companies let you set up an Individual Retirement Plan (IRA) with a financial institution or your financial advisor.
Sign-up for direct deposit
- Many companies offer the benefit of direct deposits. If you would like your checks to be automatically deposited into your account, sign up for direct deposit. To sign up, you will need your account number and your Bank’s routing number. (Iowa State Savings Bank's routing number is #073901495.)
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Planning for Retirement
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As you near retirement, one of the most important questions is whether you have accumulated enough to financially sustain a comfortable lifestyle throughout your retirement. Here are some tips to consider.
Things to consider 5 years before retirement
- Discuss your retirement plans with your spouse and/or financial advisor
- Prepare a retirement budget taking into account realistic inflation
- Compile pension and benefits information from your current and former employers
- Consider consolidating your accumulated retirement assets
- Determine if you may need additional coverage for health care or long-term care
- Take an earnest look at your projected income compared to projected expenses
- Assess the adequacy of your investment portfolio
Things to do with 1 year until retirement
- Review your retirement budget
- Re-evaluate your income along with your retirement distribution plan options
- Choose your retirement date
- Consider downsizing
- Begin necessary paperwork for retirement assets accumulated with your former employer's retirement plan, various IRA accounts, and your current employer's retirement plan
- Make any necessary changes to your asset allocation strategy
- Take action if you will need any additional health care or long term care insurance
- Contact the Social Security Administration to apply for benefits three months prior to the date you want payments to begin
- Three months prior to your 65th birthday, sign up for Medicare
Ways to ensure a secure future for your retirement
- Max out your retirement
- Open an IRA
- Invest in a tax deferred annuity
- Know the tax benefits
- Understand your lifestyle change
Have an understanding of your income plan and retirement investment
- Understand the guidelines for your withdrawal rate and which accounts to withdraw from first
- Have a strategy in mind for generating income in retirement
- Keep the importance of asset allocation and periodic rebalancing in mind as you transition to retirement
Make changes to your will and estate
- Turn retirement savings and pensions into income
- Estate planning
- Consider assisted living options
- Optimizing taxes
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Caring for a Parent
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As a parent ages, they may need help with managing their finances. There are a variety of tools available to make the job easier and your parent more comfortable as time goes on.
Family Discussions
- Discuss with your parent how they prefer their finances to be handled
- Determine the role each sibling will play in the parent’s financial and medical decisions, if any
- Consider long-term care insurance
- Look into naming a power of attorney
Organize Documents
- Insurance policies
- Deeds
- Titles
- Pension and bank account records
Review & Update Beneficiaries
- Update or create a will, trust or living will
- Review beneficiaries on insurance policies, employer-sponsored retirement plans, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and annuities
Look at Available Monetary Resources
- Government funded benefits
- Social Security
- Assets
Assistance to Consider
Banking Considerations
- Retitle accounts to make it easier to pass them on without probate
- Consider payable on death accounts
- Open a trust account
- Set up automatic bill payments