Which blog posts were the most popular in 2021?

In 2021, you dedicated a lot of time to read up on the latest industry trends, expert insights, and best practices. We’re glad you’ve found the content helpful. Here’s a list of the ten blog posts that were most impactful to our readers over the past year.

1. Taxable Social Security Calculator

The proportion of beneficiaries who must pay income tax on their Social Security benefits has risen over time and will continue to grow. With more people impacted by these taxes, it’s crucial that you’re able to explain how their benefits are taxed. The calculation is complicated, but this taxable benefit calculator makes it simple for you to show clients how much of their benefit is taxable. Read more.

2. Six Financial Planning Seminar Topics that Will Attract Prospects and How to Deliver Them 

For financial planning seminars to be successful, you must first determine what topics interest your ideal client. In other words, the flashiest direct mailers won’t get people in seats if the content doesn’t resonate with them. Consider partnering with subject matter experts on topics of importance to people approaching retirement in a “Retirement Transitions Series.” You position yourself as a helpful resource in your community by offering free, educational, financial planning seminars. You’ll be seen as the retirement expert, overseeing all aspects of retirement financial planning. Read more.

3. Essential Definition: The Tax Torpedo and 4 Ways to Avoid It

Retirement income planning involves much more than just investing your clients’ money and targeting a retirement age. The amount of money your clients have at their disposal is affected by several factors, including how and when they claim Social Security benefits. Clients’ taxes on disbursements from various retirement funds can make a big difference, too. Poor planning can cause your clients’ retirement to be disrupted by the dreaded “tax torpedo.” Here’s how smarter long-term planning can help them avoid this disaster scenario. Read more.

4. What is the Social Security Widow Benefit?

Several layers of complexity to the widow(er) benefit make it challenging. To optimize your clients’ Social Security widow(er) benefit, you must consider: 

  • Whether they should claim widow(er) benefits early.
  • When to wait to claim. 
  • When to switch to the survivor’s benefit. 

Social Security Timing® includes a widow calculation so you can run scenarios for your widowed clients and help them determine the best time to claim benefits. Read more.

Try Covisum's retirement income planning software for free, now!

5. How to Develop a Roth Conversion Strategy for Your Clients

Roth conversions are a great way to help clients manage tax obligations in the short term while also reducing overall taxes paid during retirement. As a financial advisor, your job is to recognize when a Roth conversion can benefit your clients and identify the specific strategy to help them achieve their financial goals. Here’s a road map for approaching this process. Read more.

6. Social Security Timing Has Been Updated to Account for Social Security Benefit Cuts

Social Security experts estimate that the Social Security system will run out of funds even faster than they initially projected. We updated Social Security Timing software to help you answer your clients’ most important questions about potential benefit cuts. Read more.

7. Roth Conversion Cheat Sheet for Financial Advisors [Free Handbook]

Converting part of a client’s traditional IRA into a Roth IRA can offer significant long-term tax benefits. So, we’ve gathered everything you need to know about Roth conversions into one place to make it easier for you to help clients take advantage of this strategy. Read more.

8. FinPlan Friday: The Biden Tax Plan

President Biden’s tax plan includes some significant changes that could impact how advisors build efficient retirement income plans. Read more.

9. How to Generate New Leads as a Financial Advisor

Whether you’re a new or established financial advisor, you know the importance of lead generation. Suppose you are trying to attract those first leads to build up your customer base or gather the new leads you need to stabilize and grow your well-established firm. In that case, we have some tips to help you attract new leads to your business, from traditional strategies to more innovative digital approaches. Read more.

10. FinPlan Friday: Social Security in the Biden Administration

While President Biden has many items on his agenda of interest to financial advisors, one of the biggest is Social Security. Record-high unemployment in 2020 has led to many discussions about the uncertain future of Social Security. Learn more about how you can help your clients prepare for potential Social Security changes under the Biden-Harris administration. Read more.

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