retirement | Pacific United Planning, Inc.

17 Oct Valid reasons to cash out on your 401(k)

Posted at 16:28h in General by David Yu, CFP®

Maybe you’ve changed jobs and forgotten about that 401(k) along with the names of your old coworkers’ kids. Or maybe you haven’t quite forgotten about it, but you thought it was best not to touch it. But life happens, right? As much as we’d all like to save money for the golden years and retire like royalty, as the one and only Mick Jagger put it, “You can’t always get what you want.” I’m going to go into reasons why you may not want to touch the money in your 401(k). And then I’ll talk about reasons that may justify it....

01 Aug Will I receive spousal or survivor Social Security if I have a government pension?

Posted at 15:39h in Federal Employees, Local / State Employees, Teachers / Professors by David Yu, CFP®

Will I receive spousal or survivor Social Security if I have a government pension? Spousal and survivor Social Security benefits. Retirement plans and government pensions. Exceptions and more exceptions. You’re a government employee and you have a government pension coming, but what about your partner’s retirement plan? You may be entitled to some of their Social Security benefits, but does your government pension influence what you receive? It turns out it does, and the government has the details down to a T. First things first. What are you entitled to? You can collect up to 50% of your spouse’s Social Security benefits instead of...

Person holding sheet with question mark over face

22 Jun Will I receive Social Security if I have CalSTRS or CalPERS?

Posted at 20:20h in Local / State Employees, Teachers / Professors by David Yu, CFP®

Will I receive Social Security if I have CalSTRS or CalPERS? If you’re a California public school teacher or public employee, you may have asked yourself this very question. In fact, I get asked it a lot from my clients. Understanding your CalSTRS retirement benefits if you’re a teacher or trying to figure out your CalPERS retirement as a public employee is not that simple. So when we start factoring in Social Security, of course there are going to be questions. That’s when the Windfall Elimination Provision comes breezing in. It turns out your tax withholdings and previous jobs make a big...

14 Jun How to calculate your CalPERS retirement benefits

Posted at 16:20h in Local / State Employees by David Yu, CFP®

How to Calculate your CalPERS retirement benefits More than 1.6 million California public employees, retirees, and their families. Managing one of the largest public pension funds in the US for that many people seems daunting, doesn’t it? And if you’re a recipient trying to calculate your retirement benefits, you may feel a bit lost. But terms like “benefit factor” and “final compensation” don’t have to be intimidating. Let’s break down the benefits, the variables, and get you informed and ready for retirement. First off . . . when can you retire? In most cases, you can retire at age 50 with 5 years of service...

27 May How to calculate your CalSTRS retirement benefits

Posted at 17:12h in Teachers / Professors by David Yu, CFP®

How to Calculate Your CalSTRS retirement benefits If you ask a California public school teacher what CalSTRS is, they’ll likely respond that it has something to do with their retirement. But for many, that’s as much as they know. In fact, a lot of teachers that I work with have never calculated how much they’re expected to receive from their CalSTRS pension when they retire. Nor do they know when is a good age to retire to maximize their benefits. Why worry about CalSTRS now? As appealing as it may sound now to postpone the retirement discussion, it’s not necessarily in your best...

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14 Mar Retirement plans for small business owners

Posted at 06:52h in Small Business Owners by David Yu, CFP®

Retirement Plans for Small Business Owners Retirement. Just one word can elicit everything from excitement for those bucket-list vacations to the stress of planning for those golden years now while you’re working and able. Perhaps you’re more worried now about your child’s education, or paying for that dream condo in Los Angeles, but the truth is that nowadays more people are living longer, and fewer people are saving for retirement. Did you know . . .? The average retirement age is 63. The average length of retirement is 18 years. The average savings of a 50-year-old is $42,797. Out of 100 people...