🧭 Introduction
This course explores often-overlooked strategies for retirement planning and guides you through practical ways to apply them. Whether you're just beginning to plan, approaching retirement, or have recently retired, the content is tailored to meet your needs. Regardless of where you are in your journey, you'll uncover techniques to grow and safeguard your wealth—even during uncertain economic times. Most importantly, you'll evaluate your current financial standing and design a customized roadmap to pursue your retirement goals with clarity and confidence.

Your instructor, Craig A. Lance, serves as CEO of Global Planning Partners and is a dedicated member of the Society of Financial Awareness. With more than three decades of experience in financial and tax planning, Craig brings a wealth of knowledge and actionable insights to the table. At the conclusion of the course, attendees will have the opportunity to schedule a complimentary one-on-one strategy session with Craig to explore how the course principles apply to their unique financial situations. Participation in this review is optional.

📘 Course Overview
Strategic Retirement in a Changing Economy
•     Contrast between traditional and modern retirement models
•     Creating a clear retirement vision
•     Building a strategic retirement roadmap
•     Key steps for a smooth transition into retirement

Tax Planning Challenges
•     Why experts anticipate significant tax increases
•     The potential impact of rising taxes on retirement income
•     Understanding the 401(k) and IRA Tax dilemma
•     How disappearing deductions affect retirement taxation

Retirement Income Strategies
•     Overview of the three main retirement account types
•     Allocating funds to the most beneficial accounts
•     Tax-deferred vs. tax-advantaged: which suits you best?
•     What qualifies as a tax-advantaged investment
•     When and why to consider Roth a conversion
•     How retirement accounts influence Social Security taxation
•     Techniques to reduce or eliminate retirement-related taxes

Optimizing Your Social Security Benefits
•     Factors contributing to Social Security taxation
•     Key income thresholds to be aware of
•     The hidden costs of taxed Social Security benefits
•     Strategies to avoid Social Security taxation
•     Tips for optimizing your Social Security payout

Spenddown Strategy Missteps
•     New withdrawal rate guidelines and their implications
•     Strategies to ensure your retirement savings last
•     Best practices for asset liquidation sequencing
•     Avoiding the “sequence of returns” risk

Reducing Exposure to Market Fluctuation
•     How market downturns can derail retirement plans
•     Evaluating the relevance of “buy and hold” strategies
•     Two critical approaches to managing investment risk
•     Limitations of traditional asset allocation
•     Achieving genuine portfolio diversification

Long-Term Health Care Strategy
•     The financial impact of long-term care needs
•     Navigating Medicaid spend-down rules and spousal protections
•     Four common strategies for funding long-term care