Youre retired so now what? Hopefully you have spent the majority of your adult life appropriately budgeting, investing, and otherwise planning for retirement, and can spend the entirety of your golden years sailing around the globe on a well-appointed and professionally staffed yacht. Unfortunately, most throughout our nation will not live out their senior years quite this luxuriously, due largely to minimal, off-target, downright shoddy, or a complete lack of retirement-specific financial planning. Or, perhaps its due to the rampant here today, gone tomorrow pension plans that have plagued corporate America. What, then, can get our burgeoning senior population to the financial promise land - or at least able to live out a comfortable retirement - particularly if their pension plan nest eggs gets scrambled? Senior Financial Coach Hank Parrott, President of Estate & Financial Strategies, Inc., offers these ten fundamental, though key, strategies for retirement-based financial planning, which can and should be implemented by young and old alike in working to secure their financial future whether or not they are part of any pension plan: o Know where your money is. You probably have your retirement resources in a number of different accounts: 401(k)s and similar plans, IRAs, non-retirement accounts, your home, annuities, CDs, and other places. In addition, you may have other sources of retirement income and/or assets such as that from Social Security and company pension plans, which have been riddled with problems of late, as well as stock options, and life insurance policies. o Do a needs analysis. Determine your required retirement budget by reviewing your traditional, retirement income sources, such as pension plans and Social Security that may or may not be meeting your expectation; your employer-sponsored plans; and personal investments in stocks, bonds, and other investments. Contrast that with potential expenses such as that for medical, insurance, prescription medication, and long term care. Ensure that you can cover these possibilities on your own, without the aid of employer-based benefits. o Make assets work for you. Forget about using the traditional risk tolerance assessment profiles or programs. While this approach may have worked well before retirement, you need to know your money is secure and that you have an adequate retirement income stream. That means taking a whole new approach to asset allocation, which will provide a stable, predictable retirement income stream with minimal risk exposure. o Estate planning is mandatory, not optional. How many times have you heard it said, the only things in life that are certain are death and taxes? When it comes to retirement and estate planning, that truism is very appropriate. Estate planning consists of many actions, with almost all having three primary and oh-so-important purposes: to protect your privacy, to reduce taxes, and to make probate simple for your heirs. There are five essential documents for estate planning: Revocable Living Trust, Pour Over Will, General Durable Power of Attorney, Power of Attorney for Health Care, and a Living Will. o Plan for taxes: an unavoidable, though containable, reality. During your lifetime you pay many different types of taxes: Federal, state, local, property, use, auto, business, capital gains, and on and on. When you die you may also have to pay federal and state taxes. Taxes dont end when you die. That means planning for taxes both during your retirement, and after your death. Failing to plan can result in some horrendous tax bills, penalties, and interest. o Near term planning for long term care. Develop a plan for long-term care because it is expensive and can quickly deplete your retirement funds. It is important to educate yourself in advance on the type of long-term care, the ways to pay for it without using all your assets, the limitations of programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and the provisions involved in long-term care insurance. o Benefit from built in guarantees. Consider the power that equity index annuities (EIAs) can play in guaranteeing principle while maximizing retirement income. EIAs have many of the advantages of the market but without the inherent risks. One of the best benefits of an EIA is safety and its ability to accumulate money with guarantees of principal. o Prudently extend investment allocations. Consider investing in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, but assure an approach that involves proper diversification and asset allocation which are key investing strategies. Risk management is achieved by managing your overall percentage of equities, being diversified, and allocating assets (rebalancing and shifting to maintain the appropriate investment strategy). o Dont be derailed by details. There are many little things you can do to make your retirement planning and estate planning less complicated. Titling assets properly and naming the proper beneficiaries are just two of the many smaller things that can have a large impact on your financial plan. Keep a good record of all your assets, debts, and other obligations together in one location. Know what to keep in a safety deposit box and what to keep at home. Make sure everything is kept up to date by revising all information at least every three to five years, or sooner if youve experienced a major life event. o Ask an expert. Choose a financial advisor who specializes in working with retirees to position and/or reposition their assets to preserve and maximize their retirement income stream, minimize taxes, and reduce overall portfolio risk. This specialist should be able to help you with referrals for other essential advisors, including elder law attorneys, estate planning attorneys, tax specialists, and senior advocates. Parrott notes, Ensuring a comfortable retirement in todays volatile business and investment climate is not always easy, but it is quite doable. By carefully analyzing your available assets and resources, and making strategic adjustments in the types of investments you own, you can both preserve your hard-earned assets and have the retirement income stream that meets, and perhaps even exceeds, your needs. |
