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The Savannah Tribune • Wednesday, May 30, 2018
5 Ways Small Business
Owners Plan
Intelligently For Retirement
Preparing finan
cially for retirement can be
complicated for anyone, but
for small business owners
the process often poses even
more challenges.
Teachers, police
officers, firefighters and oth
er government employees
generally receive a pension.
The corporate world can of
fer benefit plans or matching
contributions. But entrepre
neurs can’t automatically
rely on any of those fea
tures; instead they have to
put saving/investing plans
in place for themselves and
their employees.
And often, Small
Business Owners (“SBOs”)
aren’t preparing sufficient
ly for retirement. A survey
of SBOs, conducted by
BMO Wealth Management,
showed 75 percent had less
than $100,000 saved for re-
tirement.fi]
“Small business
owners have to do it on their
own, and many aren’t pre
paring properly,” says Troy
Bender, President and CEO
of Asset Retention Insur
ance Services Inc. (www.
asset-retention.com). “Many
feel like they will never
make it, but they can. The
idea is to simply start.”
Bender lists five
ways small business owners
can wisely plan for retire
ment, which include:
Decide how much to save
each month. An ideal av
erage for saving per month
is 15 percent of your pay.
Bender says. If that seems
too much at first, you might
ease into it. “To begin, you
may start with 5 percent and
then ramp up 2 to 3 percent
each year,” Bender says.
As a better gauge, he says,
note that an employee with
a 401 (k) can contribute up
to $18,500 of their salary for
2018 if they’re less than 50
years old. Someone aged 50
and over with a 401 (k) can
save $24,500 a year. A good
goal is to try to match these
amounts annually.
The SEP IRA. As defined
by the IRS, a Simplified
Employee Pension (SEP)
plan provides business own
ers with a method to contrib
ute toward their employees’
retirement as well as their
own retirement savings. “It
doesn’t have the start-up and
operating costs of a conven
tional 401 (k) or profit-shar
ing employee plan,” Bender
says. ’’Your business pays
no taxes on annual earnings,
as it grows tax-deferred.
Rule of 100. “Retirement
accounts that offer the high
est return may seem ideal,
but a business owner who
goes down this path can be
easily overwhelmed and
stressed,” says Bender. “As
a business owner, you gen
erally already have enough
stress, which can manifest
in so many ways. A basic
rule to follow is known as
the Rule of 100.” Under that
rule, you subtract your age
from 100, and what’s left
over is the percentage of
your portfolio you put into
investments with some risk.
For example, if you are 50,
then 50 percent of your as
sets would be at risk and 50
percent would be allocated
conservatively - placed in a
bank account, or perhaps in
an annuity, for example, to
provide income for you in
your future.
Life insurance. A small
business owner with a fam
ily should have 10 times
their annual net income in
life insurance. Bender says.
“The life insurance can be
set up to provide a Tax-Free
income in the future, too,
that a small business own
er can draw from,” Bender
says.
Key Person Insurance.
Like having life insurance
to provide financial help for
your family when you pass
away, a SBO may want to
consider “Key Person Insur
ance.” The death benefit of
fered through “Key Person
Insurance” helps ensure that
should a “key person” with
in a company pass away,
there will be continuity of
the business for its employ
ees (and customers).
“You need to save for the
necessity stream as well as
the discretionary stream,”
Bender says. “You should
get the basics down and re
ally look at covering your
lifestyle, so you can look
back and smile from the
thousands of hours you
worked owning a business.”
City to Use Goats to Clear Vegetation In
Two Pilot Locations
S t. John Academy Awards and
Bridging Ceremony
The City of Sa
vannah will begin a pilot
program in mid-June to use
goats to clear vegetation in
two areas of the City.
The City will rent
60 goats and two livestock
guardian dogs from Atlan-
ta-area company Get Your
Goat Rentals. The goats
will be used to remove veg
etation along a ravine in the
Laurel Grove North Ceme
tery located near W. Ander
son Street and at the Clinch
Street Pond behind Derenne
Middle School.
The goats will
benefit the City in sever
al ways. Goats are able to
clear vegetation in areas
that are difficult for work
ers to clear or to access with
machinery. Goats thrive
on poison ivy, poison oak,
Kudzu, blackberries, nasty
vines, and briers. Second,
the City also expects to see a
cost-savings using the goats
instead of City staff. Third,
goats are more environmen
tally friendly. The type of
vegetation they eat ordinari
ly requires heavy machinery
or toxic chemicals to man
age and they leave behind
natural fertilizer.
The City is sched
uled to receive the goats on
June 19. While the goats
are working they will be
confined using marked elec
tric fencing. Get Your Goat
Rentals estimates it takes
20-25 goats one week to eat
one acre of vegetation.
The cities of At
lanta, Roswell and Sandy
Springs are already using
goats to clear vegetation.
St. John Acade
my held its Annual Awards
and Bridging Ceremony
on Tuesday, May 15, 2018
at 11:30 AM. The Acade
my is located at 2415 East
DeRenne Avenue. Students
in grades 1-10 were recog
nized for academic gains
on the Iowa Tests of Ba
sic Skills, Students of the
Month, the Head of School
Honorees, perfect atten
dance, the Principal’s Hon
or Roll and for excellent
classroom performance in
mathematics, reading, social
studies, music and physical
fitness.
The following el
ementary students Bridged
to Middle School: Kacy
Carter, Patience Cummings,
DeAsia Kent and Prince
Lee. Students Bridging
from Middle School to High
School were: DeJuan Hicks,
KeYeon Scruggs and Shi-
naisa Williams.
The keynote
speaker for this celebration
was Dr. George P. Lee, III,
pastor of the St. John Bap
tist Church, CEO/Founder.
A reception for parents and
students was held immedi
ately following the ceremo
ny.
Dr. Charles H. Holmes,
Head of School
The Deadline For Submissions For Church News
Is Friday at 5 p.m.
Check Out Our Church Directory To Attend
The Church of Your Choice
Thank You for Reading The Savannah Tribune
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