Phone: 985-208-3900
Addresses: Houma - New Orleans - Baton Rouge
Frequently Asked Questions
Plan. Protect. Invest. Your Questions, Answered.
From retirement, tax and estate planning to student loans, NUA strategies, business owner planning, insurance, education funding and investment management, find clear answers to the questions we hear most.
Retirement Planning
A retirement analysis compares expected spending with Social Security, pensions, investments, taxes, healthcare costs, inflation, and risk. A useful plan also tests what happens if markets, longevity, or spending differ from the base case.
The decision depends on health, life expectancy, marital status, work, taxes, cash flow, and survivor needs. Compare lifetime and household effects rather than choosing only by the highest monthly benefit.
Compare the plans guarantees, survivor options, inflation protection, interest-rate assumptions, taxes, other assets, and need for predictable income. Neither choice is automatically best.
A withdrawal plan decides which accounts fund spending, taxes, gifts, and reserves over time. It may coordinate taxable accounts, traditional retirement accounts, Roth accounts, RMDs, and charitable distributions.
Include Medicare premiums, supplemental coverage, prescriptions, dental and vision costs, out-of-pocket expenses, and a plan for long-term care or self-funding.
Review it at least annually and after major changes such as retirement, a job change, inheritance, market disruption, marriage, divorce, death, or a material change in spending.
Compare the interest rate, tax treatment, cash reserves, investment risk, monthly payment, and value of flexibility. Paying off debt can reduce required spending but may use assets needed elsewhere.
A retirement income plan coordinates spending, cash reserves, Social Security, pensions, investments, taxes, healthcare, and estate intentions so decisions are made together rather than account by account.
Investments and Tax Coordination
An evidence-based approach uses diversified, low-cost portfolios and established research rather than forecasts or short-term market timing. The portfolio should still reflect the investors goals, risk capacity, taxes, and time horizon.
Rebalancing can follow a calendar, allocation thresholds, cash flows, or a combination. The method should control risk without creating unnecessary taxes or trading.
Asset location places investments across taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth accounts with attention to tax treatment, liquidity, and expected holding period. It is different from asset allocation.
A Roth conversion may be useful when the current marginal tax rate is lower than an expected future rate and the client can manage the tax cost. Medicare premiums, deductions, credits, estate goals, and cash flow also matter.
Tax-loss harvesting realizes investment losses that may offset gains or a limited amount of ordinary income under current law. Replacement investments and wash-sale rules require careful coordination.
Start by measuring the position, tax basis, restrictions, income needs, and downside risk. A diversification plan may use staged sales, charitable giving, hedging where appropriate, or other coordinated techniques.
Compare fees, investments, services, creditor protection, loan rules, withdrawal options, employer-stock treatment, and consolidation benefits before moving assets.
True Financial provides financial planning that considers tax and legal issues. Tax returns, legal opinions, and legal documents should be handled by the appropriate qualified professional.
Business Owners and Retirement Plans
A business owner should build personal assets outside the business, estimate the business transferable value, plan for taxes and succession, protect against key risks, and test whether retirement depends on a sale.
The answer depends on owner goals, employee demographics, cash flow, contribution objectives, administrative tolerance, and plan-testing requirements. Compare SIMPLE IRA, SEP IRA, 401k, profit-sharing, and cash-balance designs.
A cash balance plan is a defined-benefit retirement plan that states a promised account-style benefit. It can permit larger contributions for some owners, but funding, testing, actuarial, and administrative requirements apply.
Review plan fees, investment options, service providers, participant communications, governance, benchmarking, and whether decisions are documented and made for participants benefit.
A buy-sell agreement sets terms for ownership changes after events such as death, disability, retirement, or departure. Financial planning helps test funding and personal outcomes; an attorney drafts or reviews the agreement.
Build liquid assets outside the business, review insurance and legal protections, plan distributions and retirement contributions, and create a realistic succession or sale strategy.
A valuation is useful for succession, sale planning, ownership transfers, insurance, buy-sell funding, and measuring whether the owners retirement assumptions are realistic.
True Financial describes consulting for employer-sponsored plans, including design, investment selection, fee review, fiduciary support, and participant education. The final scope depends on the engagement and other plan providers.
Employer Stock Estate and Risk
NUA is a tax treatment that may apply when employer stock is distributed in kind from a qualified plan after a qualifying event. The shares cost basis may be taxed as ordinary income while eligible appreciation may receive long-term capital-gain treatment when sold.
Employees with appreciated employer stock in a qualified plan should compare NUA with an IRA rollover before selling or moving the shares. Age, basis, appreciation, concentration, cash needs, estate goals, and taxes matter.
A rollover generally preserves tax deferral but may eliminate the opportunity to use NUA treatment for those shares. Analyze the options before the transaction.
A financial advisor can organize assets, review beneficiary designations, model cash flow and taxes, and coordinate investment and insurance decisions with an estate-planning attorney. The attorney prepares legal documents.
Review beneficiaries after major life events and during regular planning reviews. Retirement accounts and insurance typically pass by beneficiary designation, which may override instructions in a will.
Under current federal rules, some inherited assets may receive a new tax basis based on value at death. Eligibility and results depend on the asset, ownership, jurisdiction, and current law.
Begin before a health event limits options. Compare insurance, hybrid products, self-funding, family support, Medicaid considerations, and the effect on retirement and estate goals.
Umbrella coverage adds personal liability protection above underlying home and auto policy limits. Coverage terms, exclusions, required underlying limits, assets, income, and risk exposure should be reviewed.