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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 Apartments For Rent Q $575— for 2 Bedrooms $625— for 3 Bedrooms 2 & 3 Bedrooms, Central Air Refrigerators, Stoves Washer & Dryer Hookups Easy Access to Bus Routes Century Investors United Properties 1805 M.L. King, Jr. Blvd 912.236.7563