Fear Factor – Retirement Can Be Scary (But it Doesn’t Have to Be)

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INVESTMENT ALLOCATION

The question about knowing which investments to use starts well before retirement. With most people, it starts when they first start investing in their company retirement plan. Regardless of when it starts for you, we believe that the answer is education.

• Large-cap
• Mid-cap
• Small-cap
• Growth
• Value
• Bonds
• International
• Alternative investments

There may be a time and place for each of these in your investment lifetime, but how do you know what to use when? We believe that it’s important to work with an advisor over the course of your investment lifetime so that they can help guide you with your allocations.

Frankly, you may have looked at the list and thought to yourself that you don’t even know what they all mean. That’s okay! Most people don’t know. Again, education is the antidote to fear. That’s why Dave Ramsey encourages people to work with an advisor with the heart of a teacher. It’s all about education.

 

BALANCES

When is enough really enough? The key here is to understand that it’s not really about how much money you have in a lump sum. It’s about whether your income needs are met or not.

As an example, if you and your spouse have no debt, two Social Security checks, and two good pensions, it is highly likely that you don’t need a lot in terms of a lump sum to be invested for retirement. However, if you are lacking in terms of pension and/or Social Security income, you will need assets to create an income stream for you.

The short explanation is that it’s not about the balance that you have. It’s about your income. The question is two-fold:

• Do you know how much income you need after taxes in retirement?
• Do you know if you have that income need covered?

Again, we believe that education is the answer. Work with an advisor who can help you determine if your income needs are going to be met and, beyond that, how you can meet them. This will link back to how to allocate your investments during retirement; allocation is a critical portion of retirement income planning.

 

LONGEVITY

One of the greatest fears that people have about retirement is outliving their money. There are lots of points to understand and consider here, and it truly is a danger for which you need to be prepared.

• Do you know when the next bear market will be, how bad it will be, how long it will last, or how it will impact your retirement?
• How can you be prepared to make your money last, regardless of what the market gives you?

Depending on your circumstances, your advisor will work with you to help you determine if you need guaranteed income for life. However, even if you don’t need a guaranteed income stream, you will want to invest in such a way that you have a high probability of not outliving your money. This one ties in strongly with the balance that you actually need to have for retirement and the investment allocation. They are both critical elements to understand in your retirement planning.

These fears are the reason that we have created the GenWealth Ready to Retire Process. It involves a significant amount of education from the advisors to you as the investor. Additionally, it addresses in writing a plan for your allocations, how much you need to have in terms of retirement assets, and longevity.

Whatever your retirement fear may be, we believe that education is the antidote. Contact us to get your personalized retirement income plan through the GenWealth Ready to Retire Process.