Regular progress meetings should be scheduled during the year to update and adjust your retirement income plan. Your advisor should behave more like a guide to help you navigate the changes in your life by adjusting your Retirement Road Map to keep it on track.
As part of this effort, a regular and ongoing review of all aspects of your strategy and plan is necessary to make sure they remain aligned with what your family wishes to accomplish and achieve over time.
Your advisor should follow a detailed checklist-driven, step-by-step process to ensure nothing is missed in the execution of your plan in the following key areas:
1.Financial Management
Ongoing review and update of your net worth projections over time. This should also include a review of your debt strategy, cash reserves, and major purchase assistance if necessary.
2.Retirement and Cash-flow Strategies
A complete and thorough annual update of your Retirement Road Map and step-by-step strategy should be done, which will focus on your values, goals, and benchmarking of progress. It summarizes:
- Your current assets and liabilities.
- Your needs and expectations.
- Your emergency provisions,
- Your family protection provisions.
- Capital projections to fund specific goals.
- Adjustments to the plan and strategy.
- The next most important steps and actions to take.
3.Investment Planning
Ongoing advice on the optimal strategy and recommendations to deploy your assets should be done.
The portfolios should be regularly monitored and systematically rebalanced to ensure they reflect your personalized plan and help you accomplish the financial objectives you have set for yourself.
4.Tax Planning
There are tax implications to each and every element of your Retirement Road Map, and a full review of the arsenal of tactics aimed at minimizing your tax burden should be completed. These strategies will help you pay as little tax as possible while working and have tax-efficient income once you stop working.
This should also include an analysis of your income tax return and a review of key credits and deductions for retirees.
5.Insurance and Risk Management
Once each year, a review of your plan should be done that focuses primarily on increasing the safety of your plan.
- Potential risks to your plan should be identified, and subject matter experts contemplate the best strategies to address them.
- Your insurance needs should be updated to determine the right kinds and amounts of coverage you should have. The review should consider your existing policies.
6.Estate Planning
A full review of your Estate Plan should be completed with the objective of:
- Ensuring your financially related wishes are clearly established in your estate planning documents.
- Making sure a sensible plan is in place to manage your assets if you are unable or unwilling to manage your own affairs.
- Establishing a plan for your money to make it into the next generation and to survive beyond that.
- Reducing taxes and estate fees where appropriate.
Subject Matter Experts
Your financial advisor should coordinate with your other key subject matter experts to help keep your plan on track. This may include your:
- Accountant
- Lawyer
- Insurance Agent
- Mortgage Broker and
- Real Estate Agent
If you need an expert in a particular area, your advisor should be able to source one for you.
The “What Ifs”
A key part of the ongoing relationship is the ongoing discussion of the “what ifs” as your life evolves over time.
During a 30-year retirement, many questions may occur, and retirees wish to know how these will affect their Retirement Road Map.
Common questions may include:
- Can we lend money to our children for a new home?
- Should we downsize our home?
- Can we afford to buy a cottage?
- Can we increase our spending?
- Should we decrease our spending?
- Should we adjust the beneficiaries of our estate plans?
- We need some extra cash; where do we get it?
- Should we adjust our investments?
- How much can we spend monthly for a retirement home?
- How do we fund extra health care at home?
- How do we give some money away today?
- We are our parents’ Power of Attorney; what should we do?
Your financial advisor should act as a guide to assist you in navigating the changing landscape of your life over time.
For more information, you can refer to Preserving Wealth: The Next Generation – The definitive guide to protecting, investing, and transferring wealth by Jack Lumsden, MBA, CFP®.
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This material is provided for general information and is subject to change without notice. Every effort has been made to compile this material from reliable sources however no warranty can be made as to its accuracy or completeness. Before acting on any of the above, please make sure to see me for individual financial advice based on your personal circumstances. The information provided is for illustrative purposes only. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses may all be associated with mutual fund investments. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated. Please read the Fund Facts and consult your Assante Advisor before investing.
Insurance products are services provided through Assante Estate and Insurance Services Inc.
