BY DAVE KOPYC
Eventually in life we must face the reality of building out our own personal retirement plan for the golden years. We live in a society today where most of us will not have a pension benefit from our employer and we will have to take our life’s savings to create a paycheck once we lose the employer’s weekly or biweekly payment we receive in our working years.
For some of you that are reading this article it will send a chill up your spine with anxiety to think that this daunting task can be handled with great concern and respect for you, the individual that is receiving the payment and it is specific to you and your individual needs. The cookie cutter approach where you are grouped into an investment or specific type of investment program can cause you to lose some of the personal touch that you may have had during your accumulation years.
Retirement income distribution is probably the most important decision you will make in your pre- and post-retirement years. There have been many different strategies and concepts to accomplish retirement income in my 42 years of being in the financial services industry, and every strategy has pros and cons and should be specific to you and your family – no matter what the strategy may be. It is critical that 100 percent of your hard-earned assets do not go into any investment program. Diversification is your friend and low cost and flexibility follow closely behind.
For many years we have had very little opportunity in yields that are sufficient to pay your bills and protect your principal. That is not the case now and we have investments that exceed 5 percent as I write this article, and having money market accounts that are approximately the same rate with liquidity and flexibility to get to the assets. Risk assets was a choice that was selected by a lot of individuals because of the financial markets and the circumstances we were in with the Federal Reserve and the prolonged low interest rate environment. Most individuals that wanted safety and guarantees had very few choices, so they gravitated to risk assets. That is not the situation today and you need to be aware of the opportunities that exist.
I have seen many individuals that allocated retirement assets into investments that were not suitable for them for risk that they wanted for their retirement years. There should be a careful understanding that these hard-earned assets need to last a lifetime which for some of us could be three to four decades. Many investment banking firms are now developing programs that will address lifetime income and will be available to participants in 401k programs during your accumulation years. I am a major advocate for baseline income for all individuals that reach retirement to pay for their basic expenses, so you have comfort and very little stress in the golden years of your life.
Once you have allocated your retirement assets into your baseline income, we look to allocate assets for growth and purchasing power, so dollars today have the same purchasing power over the next two to three decades. This article will not address these concepts but in future articles, I will discuss them in greater detail.
I’ve been fortunate to work in the financial services business for 42 years and to say it has changed is an understatement. Most of the firms today have teams that work together to facilitate the needs and complexity of not only investment management, but also estate and asset protection during your retirement years. It is estimated that the “Boomer” generation will transfer the greatest wealth in the history of mankind, estimated to be more than 70 trillion dollars. Women are poised to inherit a large portion of this wealth, and it is imperative that they feel comfortable with their advisor and legal team that will help facilitate the ultimate destination of this wealth transfer. A lot of this wealth is in qualified assets such as IRA, 401K, and 403B plans which are complicated assets at death and need considerable amount of attention for legacy planning purposes. These assets also need to be considered when your advisor discusses wealth transfer that will ultimately come to them.
If you are young and just getting started building out your retirement plan, it is important to find someone to help you through this ever-changing landscape. I am a major advocate of working with an independent financial advisor who works through an open architecture platform that has no bias to any one investment or insurance product. Not everyone is suited to risk assets and some individuals have a hard time riding the roller coaster of volatility in the markets. It is imperative to ask questions and make sure the team you select has the capabilities to meet your personal investment needs and provides you guidance through all stages of your life.
We are at the end of 2023, and we tend to make new year’s resolutions. My suggestion is to stop procrastinating and find a team of professionals to help you achieve your goals for the future and make 2024 the year that you get it completed.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!