People Near and In Retirement

These people come to us at different stages as they are either getting ready for retirement, or when they’ve been retired for some time.

They come to us seeking help with a wide variety of concerns such as:

• When can I afford to retire, and how can I know that my money will last?
• We’re worried about the risk in not only the stock market, but also with interest rates, as well as keeping ahead of inflation. How can I (we) have confidence in the face of these risks?
• Where can I get answers on how Obamacare will affect health care cost in retirement?
• What is the difference in Parts A, B, C, and D to Medicare, how does Medicare work, and what is my (our) best option for Medicare related benefits. 
• When and how should I (we) start taking my (our) Social Security benefits to maximize my (our) benefit over my (our) lifetimes?
• We’ve seen family who have spent their savings on nursing home care beyond Long Term Care insurance. What are the other ways to protect my (our) assets from this risk?
• Which income option is best for me (us) to use on my pension and/or KPERS?
• We have a complicated family situation, what are the best strategies that can efficiently distribute my (our) assets when we’re gone while still avoiding the publicity and cost of probate?

“Advisors” offering to help you rollover your IRAs or 401(k) assets are a dime a dozen.  The fact is under most circumstances, employees with little to no financial background are able to rollover a qualified plan without tax or penalty.  That “rollover” typically means they’re offering to sell you an annuity, mutual funds, or put your assets in a fee based managed account.

While any one of those options could be right or wrong for your personal situation, we believe the tough question people near and in retirement should be asking is this:

What is the comprehensive, long-term, income and asset distribution strategy you’re recommending we roll our retirement funds into?

The way we see it, these people have spent the majority of their lives climbing the proverbial financial mountain to reach its summit: retirement.  Throughout the climb, they used a combination of savings and growth strategies in what is known as the accumulation phase of wealth management.

For people we work with, we believe the question to be asked as retirement grows closer is this: 

Isn’t the goal to not just get to the top of the mountain, but once you’ve arrived, to avoid the pitfalls together and have a strategy designed to safely help you enjoy the climb down?

It goes without saying that the savings and growth strategies for risk management that are used to get to the top are not the same risk management strategies necessary for a safe trek down.  There are many different risks associated with the path down during the distribution phase of retirement.

Unfortunately, some people stay stuck in the savings and growth mindset used to get to retirement. We see this affecting them on two fronts.  First, they either carry too much risk in their investments or they take far too conservative an approach.  Second, these people withdraw and spend assets too quickly and end up on an unsustainable path, or they never spend any money for fear of running out, and they are unable to more fully enjoy the benefit their wealth could provide them.

We invite people who are seeking easy to understand answers to that question to contact our team to find out more about how we can help.