Seeking advise, I'm retiring from my W2 job to take care of my couple rentals
Hi, after working for the same company for 28 years I'm ready to retire so I can concentrate on managing a couple rental properties I own.
I'd like to get advise from bigger investors on the following questions.
1) How to best protect my rentals and my home from lawsuits.
2) I also want to create a living trust or something like that so when I die my kids receive what I leave behind without probate or courts
3) How/when to start drawing from Social Security IF needed (I expect my rentals to provide at least 50% of my retirement income)
4) I was told that to manage my rentals I need to create a LLC (or more than one?)
How I can tie it all together and do it at once so I can finally have peace of mind.
Here is what I have done:
a) I have contacted a couple of "retirement advisors", but their only goal was to "take over" of my retirement fund, and when I declined to move it the help disappeared.
b) I was planning to hire an attorney to take care of everything, but I don't know any attorneys in town that I can trust. So if anyone here knows any trustable attorney in the CA central coast area who has experience doing the above please let me know.
So please if you could provide any help I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you
Al.
Most Popular Reply
Hi Al, fellow Californian here and we love visiting the Central Coast! Congrats on the transition!
I’d think about this in buckets: legal structure, insurance, estate planning, and tax/cash flow planning.
An LLC may help, but it's not a magic shield. I'd first make sure you have solid landlord insurance, an umbrella policy, clean leases, separate bank accounts, and good records. For probate/legacy planning, a living trust is definitely worth discussing with an estate attorney.
For Social Security, I’d run it through a tax/cash flow projection since the right timing depends on your rental income, retirement income, health, and tax bracket.
I’d probably build a small team: estate attorney, CPA familiar with rentals, and a good insurance agent. The value is making sure they all coordinate so the plan actually works together.
Hope that helps a bit. If any other questions come up, happy to chime in where I can.