Living Your Retirement

Living Your Retirement

As you focus in on living your best retirement life, here is a guideline to help you in preparing for your retirement journey.

Five years from retirement – Begin to prepare

Initiate the retirement discussion, among the topics to discuss are:

• • Help them consider a target retirement.
  • Create a plan to build cash.
  • Take advantage of catch-up savings opportunities in qualified retirement.
  • Discuss Social Security options and Medicare/health insurance.

Consolidate assets for efficiency and transparency in your planning retirement:

• • Review their overall asset.
  • Have an initial discussion about lifestyle and expenses in retirement.

Four years to retirement – Create a retirement vision

Begin to share your retirement vision.

Discuss changes in your anticipated lifestyle goals and expenses in retirement.

Assess health care, long-term care and potential disability needs.

Create or update your will and estate plan.

Three years to retirement: Prepare for your new place, passion and purpose

 Begin constructing your retirement vision with our client planning guide.

• • What will their days look like?
  • Where do they want to live?
  • Who will they be spending time with?

Adjust expenses and revisit portfolio reliance versus reliable income sources.

Consider making major purchases while still employed.

2 years to retirement: Build the foundation

 Review estate planning, focusing on updating wills and reviewing powers of attorney, health care proxies and beneficiaries.

Consider paying off mortgage and other debts or consolidating outstanding credit card and mortgage debt.

Refresh lifestyle retirement vision, including retirement date.

Revisit Social Security timing, health insurance needs and tax strategy.

Create a portfolio withdrawal strategy.

1 year to retirement: Ready, set, go!

 Confirm all financial resources: pensions, Social Security, investments and other income.

Consider searching for any potentially missing benefits from previous employers.

• • The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation maintains an unclaimed pension database.
  • The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration maintains a searchable “Abandoned Plan Database” for 401(k)s and other qualified plans.

Confirm distribution plans.

Consider doing a retirement lifestyle “dry run,” where you start living on your retirement income even while earning their full paycheck to get comfortable with cash flow. Excess cash can be saved in liquid assets to build up an emergency fund.

Confirm with your company’s human resources department all final compensation.

• • Gather copies of all plan documents, including qualified plans, health savings accounts and medical plans, while still
  • Obtain current information about 401(k) benefits, profit-sharing accounts, and any vested or unvested balances in those
  • Confirm total vacation and sick leave and check what unused leave can be cashed in at
  • Ask about the final paycheck: What pay period does it cover? What will the amount be? Is any of it unused leave balances?
  • Those that plan to move should give HR their next address to receive W2 statements and other

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