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What Does a Financial Planner Do for You as Your Prepare for Retirement?

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In our final series on ways a fee-only financial planner can help you during your different stages of life, we go over the various ways we help those nearing retirement. For many of those nearing retirement, making sure they are truly ready to retire is their main concern. When planning for your retirement, we look at the big picture while also making sure the details tie together. We look at your income, assets, and various strategies that will optimize your resources during this stage of life.

First, we look at your various income sources such as Social Security, pension income, rental income, or oil and gas royalties. Based on your specific situation, we will look to see at which age it is best to claim Social Security. For those that have a pension, we help you determine which distribution option best suits your needs. These fixed income sources are often the foundation of your retirement, so it’s also important to review what sort of impact inflation will have on them.

We will also work with you to see if we can utilize any strategies specific to your situation. If you are someone that has a qualified retirement plan with employer securities, we will complete a Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) Analysis. We will also look into Roth conversions which can help with tax diversification. We then develop a tax-efficient distribution strategy for both your qualified and non-qualified investment accounts. Accounting for all of your retirement income, including required minimum distributions, we forecast your future income to see which tax rates you could be subject to and any potential implications of Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMA).

A large expense during retirement is funding health care. Once you retire, you will need to obtain healthcare on your own, and if you’re retiring before the age of 65, you will need to look for healthcare outside of Medicare. Health care costs are getting to be quite expensive, so ensuring you have the cash flow available for these costs is important.

Being in retirement, you may have goals and hobbies that you’d like to pursue. For example, in retirement you may want to travel, join an organization, or take on a new sport. For some, leaving a legacy to their heirs, whether it’s by funding their grandchildren’s education or leaving something specific for loved ones is important to them. We take into account these goals and include them in your financial plan.

If you have any questions about how we can help you during your stage of life, please feel free to reach out to us! This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized advice, and we suggest you discuss your specific situation with a qualified financial advisor.

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