Recording not available

On 27 January, The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston hosted an engaging virtual seminar on “Funding your Retirement Lifestyle.” The event, which was presented by chamber member Amiralli Dodhiya, was primarily aimed at business owners and in particular retail owners who wish to maintain their current lifestyle in their retirement years. This category of the population, according to the speaker, rarely had a retirement plan for themselves.

Amiralli is a MAP Certified Financial Professional with over 17 years of experience in the field of Wealth Preservation Strategies. He is a New York Life Insurance Agent and the recipient of one of the industry’s top honors – the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors- National Quality Award for nine years in a row from 2011-2019.

The presentation noted that most business owners consider “their business”, their retirement plan and consequently plow their profits back into the business to build their assets. The fallout of this traditional assumption is that when they retire, 90% of their assets are tied up in the business itself.  Despite having a retirement plan for their employees, they personally do not contribute for two reasons: either they don’t see any benefit in it or do not have the cash flow. The latter is one of the biggest issues for business owners as they need to reinvest the money earned.

It was also pointed out that business owners who are relatively young and intend to retire from the sale of the business must factor in the fact that things could change drastically when they are set to retire. A healthy bottom line at present could hold future potential risks such as not getting the expected value, a right buyer, or an unexpected competitor that could drop the value of the business.

Amiralli emphasized the importance of repositioning assets in various retirement plans to help assure a steady income in the golden years. Some money, he advised, must be set aside annually in a retirement fund from an early age or even when the business is getting off the ground to safeguard retirement plans.

The importance of diversification was also dealt with, not only from the assets’ perspective but also from the cash perspective. Saving for themselves is as important as reinvesting money in business. Investing in retirement plans can also be tax advantageous and the reason being that if the earnings are going to be taxable when you retire, the tax bracket than you are in currently will also remain the same.

Additionally, three things can affect a retirement lifestyle: longevity, inflation, and the risk that all your money is tied up in the business.  Statistics reveal that more than 60% of the income of those who are 75 and above is spent on health care and nursing homes because not everything is picked up by Medicare. Clearly, the last thing you need is for your money to run out just when you need it most.

The hour-long seminar lent a great deal of clarity on the importance of a well-thought-out retirement plan versus looking at the business as a retirement strategy.