1. What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
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As field personnel working abroad you have given your life to service. Your life does not in any way resemble that of the average American. So it makes sense that your retirement needs would be different as well. That’s why the typical rules of thumb on retirement planning rarely work in your situation. Because GuideStone has been helping those in your situation attain financial peace of mind for more than 95 years, we understand your unique needs, and are here to help you make wise financial decisions and be good stewards of both your pre- and post-retirement income.

2. Field Personnel and Retirement Income
What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
Field Personnel and Retirement Income
Don’t rely on traditional income replacement models.
Do your homework about the cost of living in the U.S.
Field Personnel and Retirement Income
The standard rule of aiming for a retirement income of 70 to 80% of pre-retirement income doesn’t often work with field personnel. That’s because they may need to replace 100% — or more — of their pre-retirement income. They may discover that housing, transportation and supplemental health coverage costs may be significant when they transition back to life in the United States.

3. How to Build a Retirement Budget
With that in mind, field personnel have additional decisions to make about the various living expenses they are likely to encounter and need to provide for during retirement.

4. Determine Housing and Living Expenses
What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
Determine Housing and Living Expenses
Where will you live?
What is the cost of living in that area?
Determine Housing and Living Expenses
The first step will be estimating your housing and living expenses. Of course, these will vary greatly based on where you live. That’s why choosing a geographic location for retirement is the first step. Just as the cost of living in Moscow far exceeds the cost of living in Asuncion, the same can be true across various locations in the US and even within the same state. Give serious consideration to where you might locate during retirement, since your cost of living will be very much tied to your location and the local economy.
When you are 5-10 years from retirement, I encourage you to talk to your family, friends, and others who live in the geographic area where you may want to live. Be careful to choose people who you know to be financially disciplined and who have lived in this location for many years. They can help you gain an understanding of the cost of living and average housing costs in the area, including the cost of purchasing a home.

5. Build Your Retirement Budget
What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
Build Your Retirement Budget
What are your resources?
How will you allocate them?
Build Your Retirement Budget
Once you have an idea of your housing and other living expenses, it will be time to create a budget. A budget is simply a spending plan and representative of good personal stewardship. It is a way of saying: “Here are the financial resources made available to me and here are the obligations that I anticipate month to month and year to year.”
GuideStone’s Preparing for Retirement resources contain excellent information and planning tools. And best of all, they are easy to access via

6. Evaluate Your Retirement Savings Plan
What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
Evaluate Your Retirement Savings Plan
Use GPS: Guided Planning Services® to determine your needs.
Evaluate Your Retirement Savings Plan
Once you’ve outlined your retirement income needs, utilize GuideStone’s Guided Planning Services tool for guidance on the current contribution amounts and review the investment choices that will best fit your situation and enable you to achieve your goal of adequate income in retirement. GPS is available online at
GPS made available through GuideStone Advisors.

7. Tax Savings Strategies
What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
Tax Savings Strategies
Employee contributions
Employer contributions
Tax Savings Strategies
• Employee contributions
As a field person, you are in a unique position when it comes to taxes. Most often, your income falls below the IRS foreign earned income exclusion allowance (this was $97,600 in 2013). Consequently, field personnel often find that Roth deferral contributions to a retirement plan offer significant advantages over tax-sheltered contributions. This is especially true if the majority of your service is conducted outside of the United States. With a Roth deferral, your contributions are subject to taxes today, rather than during retirement. However, since the majority of your income will likely be excluded from U.S. taxes, this will not be an issue.
If you find yourself working inside the U.S. for an extended time, during which the foreign earned income exclusion allowance would not apply, you have two options. You may continue making Roth contributions or choose to make tax-sheltered contributions. Your tax adviser can help you determine what’s best for you.
• Employer contributions
Your sending organization may be able to help.
In late 1996, the Internal Revenue Code was amended to allow employers to make after-tax employer contributions on behalf of field personnel who are working outside the U.S. at the time the contribution is made. As you know, the majority of a field person’s career is spent in another country. This provides an additional tax benefit, assuming that your employer is able to administer this unique provision.
Additionally, after-tax employer contributions allow for a partially tax-free distribution during retirement. In other words, the employer contribution is considered “already taxed” and the earnings alone would be subject to taxation upon withdrawal.
To comply properly, the employer contribution would then need to be switched to pretax (or tax-sheltered) when the field person is on a period of U.S.-based assignment.

8. A Word about IRAs While serving overseas
What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
A Word about IRAs
While serving overseas
While serving in the United States
A Word about IRAs
• While serving overseas
Field Personnel who are living and working outside the United States, and who claim the foreign earned income exclusion on all of their income are not allowed to make contributions to a Traditional or Roth IRA. See IRS publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements, for details.
• While serving in the United States
You may make contributions to either a Traditional or Roth IRA based on the income you earn while residing in the United States. However, most field personnel will want to consider maximizing their already established contributions in their employer-sponsored plan before they invest in an IRA.

9. Housing Allowance Considerations
What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
Housing Allowance Considerations
Consider a plan for maintaining your housing allowance during retirement.
IRAs and some other plans do not allow this option.
Housing allowance considerations
For those who qualify as Ministers for Tax Purposes, the ability to continue claiming the minister’s housing allowance throughout retirement can result in a lower tax bill, which can in turn, increase their monthly income.
Individuals who are deemed to be Ministers for Tax Purposes can designate retirement distributions from their GuideStone plan as minister’s housing allowance.
This allows the portion of the distribution that would otherwise be taxable to be withdrawn tax free (to the extent eligible). Ministers who take advantage of this privilege would need to retain receipts and records to substantiate any designation of minister’s housing allowance.
One word of caution: Distributions from IRAs and some other retirement plans may not be eligible for housing allowance designations. Loss of a housing allowance designation during this critical period can result in a higher than anticipated tax bill.

10. The Next Steps Determine your retirement needs.
What Field Personnel Need to Know about Retirement Planning
The Next Steps
Determine your retirement needs.
Adjust your contributions as needed.
Reassess your investment options.
For individual help, request a personal telephone appointment.
The Next Steps
To sum things up, here are the steps you’ll need to take to prepare for your transition into retirement:
• Determine your retirement needs
• Adjust your contributions as needed
• Reassess your investment options
• For individual help, request a personal telephone appointment

11. A Real-life Example A real-life example
(Rep will share a retired field person’s story)