Since Retirement Planning is such an important part of
your financial plan, we thought it warranted a section of its own.
Many investors
feel once they have reached retirement and have money in the
bank that
their
worries
are
over.
Many
wait until
retirement
time to decide if these amounts are adequate to see them through the
remainder of their life. Retirement planning should begin early to allow
for one
of the largest risks - outliving your income.
The biggest pitfalls to sound retirement planning are generally considered
to be:
- Starting too late (PROCRASTINATION)
- Failing to save sufficient amounts
- Improper investment choices
First you must ask yourself what your
needs are at retirement and at what age you plan to retire. Once
you have decided, then you
can ask
yourself
how you are going to get there and if you can get there from
where you are. Sadly, many planning candidates -- upon consideration
of the amount
of savings necessary to provide their retirement goal -- discover
that "they
can't get there from here." If the savings and/or investment
return goal is beyond your reasonable capabilities, several
options exist:
- You may need to re-evaluate your income needs
in retirement, and make an appropriate reduction.
- You may
need to adjust your current standards of living downward in order
to free up additional dollars, which can then be
committed to
saving.
- You may need to adjust your time horizon to reflect
a later date of retirement than originally planned.
- You may reassess
and reallocate your current retirement investments in order to increase
the return you receive.
At any rate, this whole process must be updated
and verified periodically as you proceed toward retirement
in order
to make sure that there
have been no material changes in your planning
assumptions. We want to make sure you can retire when you want to. We're
here to help!
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