Reliant Financial Services

Your goals are what matter. Not all that noise that might be clouding your judgement with your investments. Lets be honest, it's 2020. We are all being bombarded with plenty of content that gets our emotions going! At the end of the day, keep in mind what matters. Your goals & reasons why you're investing in the first place. #financialplanning #personalfinance

To all my school district employees! Did you know that in a lot of cases, your employer paid portion of your health insurance is included in your pension calculation? Listen up with this example..... Let’s say you and your spouse hear about this and how it can impact your pension benefit. You choose to switch insurance to your plan instead of your spouses plan that isn’t in a district. ... You do this during your final three years of teaching. Let’s also say that these are your three highest earning years. The employer paid portion is $600/month. This Missouri teacher decides to teach for a total of 30 years and has also already reached the top of their pay scale ($80,000). So what kind of estimated impact could this have on a monthly pension payout? An additional $450/month in retirement income! Are you exploring this opportunity along with the others that are available? 1) Know your pension system. 2) Know the rules on how to max it. 3) Find a professional that does if you don’t. #teaching #k12 #pensions

An interesting change given how established the five day school week has been. Do you think some of these districts will continue to keep this in place? #education #k12

Lots of opportunities out there for those looking to get their foot in the door at a school district or in the education field! Some districts are assigning specific substitutes to specific buildings. While this helps keep the spread of Covid down, this reduces the flexibility of assigning substitutes to other buildings in need. Take care of yourself if you're a teacher facing a larger class size this semester! #teaching #k12 #teachers

We were taught in school that atoms are the building blocks of life. Think of budgeting as one of the building blocks for good financial health. Even just a rough budget is better than no budget! #budgeting #personalfinance

Easy questions to ask your 403(b)/457 retirement plan provider.... 1) How are you compensated & what are all the fees associated with my retirement account? Often times, you’ll find financial professionals that will be compensated by commission or a flat percentage based on the investments managed. It’s also good to have a clear understanding of all fees that you will be paying since some accounts can be as high as 3% on a yearly basis. ... 2) Are there surrender charges associated with this account? One thing I often hear from my clients is that their previous investment provider didn’t educate them on a surrender charge/period associated with their old account. Some didn’t even know they were purchasing what’s called an annuity. 3) What kinds of ongoing service will I receive? One of the largest complaints I hear is lack of service. Make sure there’s a mutual understanding of the service you will receive. Many expect a more in-depth relationship and end up receiving help opening their retirement account and that’s it. Know what you're purchasing and paying for before you go in. Get educated! #financialplanning #403b #teachers

It's great to see incentives like this. Keeping great talent in the classrooms and rewarding them as well. In a year with a lot of job cuts, pay freezes, and hiring freezes....good news like this is great. #teaching #k12

What does retirement mean to you? I think we do a pretty bad job of articulating what retirement actually can be. I’m a big believer that retirement means many different things to many different people. 1) Do you have to quit your job and move to Florida to play golf everyday? No! ... 2) Do you have to retire at the age of 65? No! 3) Do you even have to do this whole retirement thing? No! In my opinion, retirement simply means having more control over doing the things that you love to do. If you love your job, keep doing it! If you want to explore a new career that’s interesting to you, do it! Don’t let others dictate what retirement means to you. #financialplanning #retirement

The Budget Teacher (David Gourley) a former teacher and Ian Abundis a current teacher, both here in Kansas City are helping to educate other teachers on taking control of their finances! It's great to see others out here trying to do good for this group of individuals. It was a pleasure being on your podcast to speak about loan forgiveness opportunities for school district employees. More specifically, Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Keep doing great things you two!... #budgeting #debt #studentloans

Myth: You must be debt free to start saving/investing for retirement. The world that our parents and grandparents grew up in is substantially different than the world we live in now. With massive change, why should we let a statement like this guide our finances? Take this for example....... Interest rates now compared to what they used to be are substantially different! We can’t just go out and plop our money in a CD and expect to obtain a several percent return on a yearly basis. Interest rates are so low that this now opens up the opportunity to see how we can effectively use our money while still having some sort of debt. For example, a mortgage or student loan debt. Keep in mind, 1) You don’t have to be debt free to save for retirement. 2) The world we live in now is substantially different than what it used to be for other generations. 3) We have different opportunities that are available to us that were never available to these other generations. 4) There’s not a one size fits all for your financial plan. Your financial situation needs to be treated as your situation! #financialplanning #debt #investing

Are some of you considering an early retirement from teaching? Remember to explore all the impacts that this could have on your finances! A few questions to ask yourself.... 1) Will my reduced pension payment be an amount I’m comfortable taking? 2) If I take another job outside of teaching, will I have to worry about my Social Security benefits being reduced due to my pension? ... 3) What are my health insurance options for an early retirement? #teachers #retirement #k12

Here's a great opportunity for not only teachers but for school district employees in general. An easy and free way to knock out that basic estate planning. With so many Americans out there that don't have any estate plan in place, this would be a great opportunity for those in K-12 while this promotion is going on. #k12 #teachers

To all the educators out there... With the start of the school year, things can get busy quickly. Especially this year, it might feel like your first year of teaching all over again. This is about the time of the year that teachers start looking at pushing their financial goals down the road to later in the semester with hopes that things will be less busy.... With all the craziness going on , just remember that right now isn’t the time to put your financial goals on the back burner. Make time for your financial goals. #teaching #financialplanning #teachers

To all the teachers out there..... How are you feeling? Lots of you probably started this week. Hang in there! Make sure you're giving yourself some self care time. The last thing you need is burnout with the start of the semester. #teaching #k12