HOW WE HELP
WE SHOULD MEET
We are asked all of the time about the right time to meet. It’s always a good time for a financial check up. Your "future you" cares about the actions and decisions you take today. Do your family and yourself a favor and have a conversation with PIVOT about what you're currently doing or not doing. To help, ask yourself these questions:
Personal
QUESTION 1
Are you confident your assets are positioned in a way that maximizes your benefit?
QUESTION 2
Do you truly understand what value your financial professional brings, and do you know your options?
QUESTION 3
Are you confident the investments and assets you have can provide the comfort and security that is wanted/needed after you decide you either can’t physically, mentally, spiritually work anymore? Have you considered that this period of time will be 25-30 years; longer than you’ve possibly worked?
Business
QUESTION 1
If you are in business with partners…Have you considered the funding strategy to pay off the remaining spouse if something were to happen to either of you? Has a financial professional explained how this will work and with what dollars?
QUESTION 2
How do you know if the products/accounts you have were the most cost effective for you or if they were just the easiest to implement for the individual that was putting them in place?
QUESTION 3
Do you have employees? Have you considered how the liability of their actions might effect or impact your future retirement?
Unless you can confidently answer “yes” to each question, consider a conversation with PIVOT.
BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
With true business experience, we understand what it takes to own and operate a business, and, a large percentage of our clients are business owners, of all stages in the ownership lifecycle. Many clients work with PIVOT to help improve business planning, compensation arrangements, protection strategies, or the coordination of the legal, accounting* and insurance aspects of the family and / or business plan. While many of our clients have accumulated wealth through ownership of a privately held corporation, and work with PIVOT for business continuation planning, executive benefits and exit planning. Our discovery process will help you create an action plan that coordinates your business planning with your personal financial strategies.
Protect Your Business
Executive Benefits/ Compensation
The success of most businesses is tied into the talent, passion and work ethics of their key executives. Executive benefit packages can help you attract, motivate, and retain high-caliber employees and keep your company healthy and stable. We can help you with funding non-qualified plans, supplemental employee retirement plans, split dollar plans, and more.
Fund Key Person Insurance
Key person life insurance offers a death benefit that helps indemnifies an employer for the loss of one of its most important assets - the key person. This can help assure continuity of the business for employees, customers and creditors, and protects against losses in sales, momentum, and credit. It can also be used to assist with recruiting and developing a replacement for the employee.
Reward Your Employees
Employee Benefits
Selecting the right benefit package is becoming increasingly important in retaining the best employees, and keeping them productive. We strive to know and understand your complete financial situation and provide you with the highest quality of information, products, and services to help you reach your goals. We always have our clients' interests at heart.
Focusing on your objectives, budget and culture, we work with you to custom design your group benefits, qualified retirement plans, and voluntary benefits plans to address your employees’ unique needs. Our strong relationship with insurers helps enable us to effectively represent your employees to ensure claims and issues are resolved promptly.
Funding Deferred Compensation
Deferred compensation is a written agreement between an employer and an employee where the employee chooses to have part of his or her compensation withheld by the company, invested on their behalf, and distributed back to them at a pre-determined point in the future. Deferred compensation can be used as a flexible way to attract and incentivize key employees.
Plan for Your Future
Business Continuation and Exit Planning
Succession planning allows owners to leave their business on their own timeframe while preparing their company to be transferred to family members, key employees, an outside party, or even a charity. This must be done in a way that achieves personal financial security, maintains harmony, and achieves maximum value for the business.
Buy-Sell Agreements
A buy–sell agreement is a legally binding agreement between co-owners of a business that governs the situation if a co-owner dies or leaves the business, whether by force or by choice. A funded cross-purchase buy-sell plan may use life insurance to help ensure that the arrangement is properly funded so that there will be money when the event is triggered.
Liquidity, Estate and Tax Strategies*
Buy-sell plans can help create a market for a closely held business, establish a price for all parties to sell their interests, and provide money to fund the plan. A buy-sell plan will work differently depending on the type of business entity. Each type of agreement may help create a smooth process for transferring ownership of the business. The agreement provides control over who purchases the remaining assets. The buyer can purchase a life insurance policy to help make sure they have available funds to purchase the business.
Supplemental Life Insurance
Supplemental life insurance for retirement planning can not only provide death benefit protection related to the business but can also help you generate income once you retire while strengthening your business’ balance sheet. Of course, accessing the cash value in a life insurance policy will reduce the total cash value and total death benefit. You purchase and own a life insurance policy, provided premiums are paid. You pay the premiums before you retire. Once you retire, you can withdraw monthly income or borrow against the policy.
What Questions Do I Need to Ask?
Every business should have a plan. Consult with us to make sure yours is up to date. Chances are your business’s needs continually change, just as your company. Here are some items to review:
Medical Coverage
Rising costs have made health care the fluctuating cost of your company’s planning strategy. Three points to consider:
Health care is a key factor in employment retention.
With health care costs constantly on the rise, you probably cannot afford to be without.
Health care is undergoing rapid, innovative change. There are ways to combat costs.
Questions to Ask
Does our coverage meet our needs, or is it leaving us and our employees dangerously under covered?
Are our deductibles as high as we can comfortably afford?
Are we aware of all the options available to our company and recent healthcare changes?
Key Executive Life Insurance
Your key people are your greatest assets. Life insurance can reimburse the company for loss of services if your non-expendable employee dies. If you don’t have key person coverage on your most valuable people including yourself, consider it. If you already have this valuable insurance, it may be time to review it.
Questions to Ask
Are all key players covered, including the owner(s)?
Are the amounts right in proportion to the value of each key person?
Should names be changed on policies where a key person left the company?
What is the cash value on each policy?
Disability Insurance
If you, a partner, or a key employee become disabled, the loss to the company could be just as great as if he or she passed away. It would financially difficult because that person would still require an income.
Questions to Ask
Do I have acceptable disability insurance for myself?
Do we have coverage on our key employees to help meet our responsibilities to them if they become disabled?
Business Succession or Buy-Sell Plan and the Insurance Coverage to Fund it.
If you don’t have such a plan, perhaps this is the year to choose one. This type of plan helps ensure that your family is appropriately compensated for the business if anything happens to you.
Questions to Ask
If we have a plan already in place, is it up to date?
Is adequate life insurance in place to fund the buy- out?
Does it include disability insurance needed to help replace my salary or income if I become ill or injured?
Funding Deferred Compensation
Deferred compensation allows you to pay a portion of an employee’s compensation at a future date. It’s an appealing incentive for select employees as well. By deferring a current raise today, you can theoretically get a tax break for yourself. Plus, you will be saving for your future. As always, check with a tax professional about any potential tax implications.
Questions to Ask
Am I fully aware of all the advantages and benefits of a deferred comp plan?
If there is a plan in force, am I taking maximum advantage of it?
Qualified Retirement Plans.
Many small businesses are looking for ways to provide a retirement plan for themselves and their employees. There are many options, including Profit Sharing Plans, Simplified Employee Pensions, and SIMPLE Plans that can help you build a retirement plan for your business.
Questions to Ask
Are you seeking tax deductions?
Are you hoping to contribute for just yourself or make matching contributions?
Am I aware of all available options?
We would be happy to review your insurance and retirement planning needs during a no-cost, no-obligation meeting.
"We reached out to Rebecca and the PIVOT team at the recommendation of our son. Rebecca explained our lump sum pension vs other options available. Also, how to use our investment growth to buy life insurance to leave tax free death benefits to our kids. We couldn’t be happier and recommend her and her team to people all the time."
- Retired Couple, Mid-60s, Fans of the Lump Sum Up Front and Enjoying Retired Life
(Member of the PIVOT Family Since 2019)
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The experience of the people described in this material may not be representative of the experiences of other clients. Experiences obtained by these people are not indicative of the future experiences that may be obtained by my clients.
INDIVIDUAL & FAMILY SOLUTIONS
We understand the difficulties in preparing for and protecting your financial future. We are here to assist in the challenges that accompany success and all of life's big and small pivots. We work with business owners, high net worth individuals and families. We will provide you with strategies that steer you towards the rewards of your wealth accumulation, and away from the risks.
Plan for Retirement
Start Balanced Saving
At PIVOT, we want you to live your best life now and in the future. To do that, it is important to achieve a balanced saving strategy. We can help you establish a budget for needs, wants and savings, and push you to make your retirement dreams a reality.
Earn with Interest
We will help you explore and select possible strategies in an effort to increase the amount of interest earnings in your portfolio. Who doesn’t like compound interest?
Supplement with Guaranteed Income
If you’re strategizing your retirement, how can you be sure your savings are enough? After all, Americans are living longer than ever. We will help explore options that allow you to convert a lump sum of your retirement fund into a steady, reliable cash flow for the future and ensure you’ll have cash you can depend on. No matter what.
Enjoy Your Retirement
Secure Guaranteed Income
If you’re retired or nearing that time, it’s wise to think about converting some of your savings or assets into reliable income. The goal is to achieve the peace of mind a steady income provides—without the need to work for a paycheck. We can help you explore taking income now, guaranteeing income later and how to reinvest your 401(k).
Protect Your Assets
There are numerous financial strategies and retirement income plans that can help you accumulate assets for the future, shield your business and personal assets from liabilities, and safeguard asset transfer to children and grandchildren. We can help you figure out what the right course of action is for your specific situation and objectives.
401(k) and IRA Rollovers
When you leave a job or retire, you have a decision to make regarding your 401(k) money. While leaving those assets in the former employer’s plan is an option, a rollover can be a consideration. Working with your tax advisor, we can help you determine the right course of action for you. This may include: leaving the funds in your existing plan, if permitted, or rolling them into your new employer’s plan, if one is available and rollovers are permitted. Each choice offers advantages and disadvantages, depending on your specific needs and retirement plan, such as the desired investment options and services, applicable fees, expenses, and withdrawal options, as well as required minimum distributions and tax treatment of applicable options.
Protect Your Assets
Insure Your Whole Life
Many people think that life insurance is only for people with families. While it is true that life insurance can help provide for the needs of dependents, life insurance also can be an important part of a well-thought-out estate, business succession or charitable giving plan. And permanent life insurance offers many living benefits as well, such as tax-deferred cash value accumulation. For all of these reasons, life insurance can be important for someone starting out - or for someone who’s starting over.
Whole Life
Term Life
Universal Life
Survivorship Life^
Insure Your Income In Retirement Income
Annuities can set you up for retirement and guarantee a steady stream of income for the rest of your life.
Get Lower Cost Protection Now
So far, we have not found the fountain of youth, though we think Golf might get us closer! Ok, so we are not getting younger, and the cost of insurance isn’t likely to go down as we age. We will help you take action to insure, protect and build value when the coverages is most affordable.
Access Cash Value
Whole life insurance is a way to invest in your life, with guaranteed protection for your loved ones. It also builds guaranteed cash value year after year, which you can borrow against (like a loan), often tax-free, to help with buying a home, paying for college, covering unforeseen emergencies, or even funding your retirement. We will help you examine this option to see if it is right for your portfolio.
Loans against your policy accrue interest and decrease the death benefit and cash value by the amount of the outstanding loan and interest.
Build Your Child’s Future
With appropriate preparation, you can leave a legacy and help your heirs enjoy a life unimagined, possibly without probate and administrative hoops. We will help you find a balanced approach to leaving a legacy and securing a financial future for your heirs.
"My husband and I started working with Rebecca and PIVOT for our retirement plan in 2018. When he passed in 2020, she and her team helped me in so many ways, to invest our assets, protect my gains, strategize for income, and for my long-term care."
- Retired and Newly Widowed, Early-70s and Ready for the World.
(Member of the PIVOT Family since 2018)
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The experience of the people described in this material may not be representative of the experiences of other clients. Experiences obtained by these people are not indicative of the future experiences that may be obtained by my clients.
LIFE STAGES
We understand there are different stages of life that can range from marriage, the birth of a child, planning for college, sometimes divorce, sometimes re-marriage, parenting a parent, preparing to retire, staying retired and death of a loved one. If you are a business owner, you have all of the same life stages to work through, plus you layer in starting a business, hiring employees, partner buy-ins or buy-outs, selling or transitioning a business through a planned exit strategy. You may find yourself past these events, and need to circle back with some preparation… or you may not realize now how close these real events are to being your tomorrow. The second half of life seems to happen more quickly. We need to be working on these areas before they are upon us. Small pivots. Big changes. We can help.
Personal
Marriage
Merging two financial lives is not always easy, even if you have already begun living together. You must learn how to budget, save, meet obligations, plan for the future, and merge with a cohesive, comprehensive short and long term strategy.
Purchasing a Home
You’ve found your dream home. Congratulations. Now comes the fun part. Have you saved enough? Have you considered all there is to consider?
Children
Planning to protect, secure and leave a legacy is important to you, and it is important to us. We will help create a strategy of how to save, how much to save and what to save it in for the best possible optimum results given all of your options and goals.
Planning for College
The little ones grow up fast. There are many options when it comes to funding their college years. What you save it in matters. You want the option to use the money, even if they don’t choose college. We will explore all of the options.
Divorce
No one likes the “d” word, and we almost don’t like to bring it up. But it is a fact of live for many adults, and one that we find ourselves helping with often. We have the experience and strategic relationships to help you work through the most trying of times and decisions.
Disability
You rely on your paycheck. You insure your car, your home, your boat… but what about the paycheck that pays for those? We have learned to expect the unexpected and can help you determine if and how to add income protection to your portfolio.
Purchasing a Second Home
Maybe you dream of a lake house or a golf retreat. Or maybe you have worked and saved and now you are ready for purchase. Whichever the case, we can help you consider this in relation to your financial goals.
Re-Marriage
Finding love a second time is a blessing. Merging two adult households and set of complex finances, not so much. We can talk you through all there is to consider, and how to move toward a cohesive strategy that helps secure and protect your assets and your future.
Parenting a Parent
Life comes at us fast. And even faster when you have to care for a parent. Preparing for this time of your life is tough. Even more tough when you are in it and need a strategy now. We have helped many of our clients through this difficult time.
Preparing to Retire
Whether the date is drawing near, or is 30 years away, the question usually remains; Have you save, or are you saving, enough? Then, how will you turn your savings into income, and how do you make sure it is enough to allow you to live the lifestyle you want now and in the future.
Staying Retired
You’ve worked hard and want to know that you are secure in your financial future. You don’t plan to take on a second job in retirement, and we can help you avoid that.
Down Sizing
Empty nest? Empty rooms? No need to empty your pockets too. When the time is right, we can help you work through the financial decisions that may come with your next home purchase.
Caring for Yourself When You Can’t
It’s not fun to think about, and it is less fun to experience when you aren’t prepared. Explore options for how you pay for the care you need. Will you have enough saved?
Death of a Spouse or Loved One
The death of a spouse is more than just an emotional loss. It’s a financial one, too. While the death of another loved one might not be a direct burden, sometimes it comes with unexpected financial considerations. While there are some things you simply cannot prepare for, there are some steps you can take to lessen the financial burden of losing a spouse or love one, and PIVOT can help.
Business
Starting a Business
You have a great idea, product or service and are ready to get started. Now how do you make the right financial decisions to not only help you meet your current financial obligations, but also for the business’ future?
Hiring Employees
With all you have going on, you need to make sure that the plan for your associates is sound, so you can retain them, keep them happy, and keep growing your business.
Partner Buy-Ins or Buy-Outs
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Exit Planning
We've been working hard to develop a new website to serve our clients better. This section is still being edited and refined, but check back soon for updates.
"We reached out to Rebecca and the PIVOT team at the recommendation of our son. Rebecca explained our lump sum pension vs other options available. Also, how to use our investment growth to buy life insurance to leave tax free death benefits to our kids. We couldn’t be happier and recommend her and her team to people all the time."
- Retired Couple, Mid-60s, Fans of the Lump Sum Up Front and Enjoying Retired Life
(Member of the PIVOT Family Since 2019)
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The experience of the people described in this material may not be representative of the experiences of other clients. Experiences obtained by these people are not indicative of the future experiences that may be obtained by my clients.
SCHEDULE A TIME TO TALK
PIVOT Income Strategies, LLC
The Lighton Tower
7500 College Blvd, Ste 860-861
Overland Park, KS 66210
Call: (913) 661-7229